2008-2009 Annual Philanthropy Report University of Maine School of Law 2 Dean’s Letter Letter from the Dean she will work for the Social Security Administration’s Office of Retirement & Disability Policy. Jonathan Liberman, another 2010 graduate, worked part-time in the Cumberland County District Attorney’s Office during his third year at Maine Law. As a student attorney, he represented the State of Maine in a Sixth Amendment matter, arguing the case before the Maine Supreme Judicial Court and winning a favorable ruling by the Court. Our students never cease to impress me, both in their mature and collaborative approach to law school and in their achievements before and after graduation. Faculty Excellence and Public Service Our heightened profile reinforces Maine Law’s identity as a destination point. I am pleased to report that Malick Ghachem will join our faculty starting fall 2010 as Associate Professor of Law. Professor Ghachem will teach criminal law and procedure he University of Maine School of Law is on the move. As I and a variety of other subjects including legal history. He T complete my fifth year as Dean, and as we approach the holds undergraduate and law degrees from Harvard University Law School’s 50th anniversary, join me in pausing to reflect and a Ph.D. in history from Stanford. He has private practice and to celebrate on our good fortune and future. In the midst experience as an attorney at the law firms of Weil, Gotshal of financial challenge and uncertainty, in higher education and & Manges LLP and Zalkind, Rodriguez, Lunt & Duncan LLP in all our lives, the state of the Law School is strong and our in Boston, working primarily in the areas of criminal defense, trajectory exciting. employment discrimination, and commercial litigation. Professor Ghachem clerked for the Honorable Rosemary Barkett of the Heightened Profile and Stellar Students Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals in Miami, served as a lecturer Applications to the Law School increased substantially in political science at MIT, and is deeply committed to teaching this year, growing in number by over 60% from last year. This and public service. He is the author of a forthcoming book compares with an overall increase of about seven percent in entitled The Old Regime and the Haitian Revolution (Cambridge all law school applications nationally this year. We reached University Press) and has published a number of articles on out to many more prospective applicants than in years past, American and French legal history. and they clearly responded to our vibrant program and Professor Ghachem joins a strong group of colleagues at inviting community. With this wider reach comes greater Maine Law – great teachers, consistent contributors to public geographical diversity, with more numerous applicants from service and, as chronicled elsewhere in this Report, prolific around the nation and from Maine. Such a substantial increase scholars. Professor Jennifer Wriggins as Associate Dean for in applicants requires us to be more selective as we retain our Research has advanced the scholarly agenda and exchange small size. It also enables us to test the waters for modest at the Law School, even as she completed work on her growth in the coming years and to project a larger law school recently published book, The Measure of Injury. Co-authored with expanded curricular range. with Ohio State University Professor Martha Chamallas, As always, our students emerge as civic leaders whose this groundbreaking work demonstrates how the shape of public service makes a tremendous difference in Maine and American tort law is affected by social identity and cultural beyond. Morgan Maxwell, for example, a 2010 Maine Law views on gender and race. graduate, has been named a United States Presidential An ethic of public service is pervasive at the Law School Management Fellow (PMF). The PMF Program is a two-year and a central element of our identity as a constructive player paid government fellowship sponsored by the U.S. Office of in policy and civic affairs. During the past year, I had the honor Personnel Management for law and graduate students seeking to co-chair – with Maine Chief Justice Leigh Saufley and First experience in a federal agency. Students undergo a rigorous Lady Karen Baldacci, Chair of the Maine Children’s Cabinet – a assessment process before selection. Following the conclusion statewide Juvenile Justice Task Force. Informed by key experts of the two-year fellowship, PMFs usually have an opportunity in the field, including Maine Law Clinical Professor Christopher to convert their fellowship into a full-time permanent position. Northrop, the Task Force has released its final report with Morgan is a graduate of Stanford University and an Osher potential to re-make the juvenile justice system in Maine. Scholar at the University of Maine School of Law. As a PMF, At a time of turmoil in financial markets and regulation, our Dean’s Letter 3 Governance and Ethics Symposium Series at the Law School and public service, his kindness and wit, his personal warmth continues to engage national experts and regional leaders – we remember and aspire to all these attributes. Although from the private sector and the nonprofit community. Professor we mourn the loss of a dear friend, we also celebrate Judge Lois Lupica’s work with the American Bankruptcy Institute in Coffin’s amazing life and keep moving ahead with energy and a national study of the consumer bankruptcy system will help optimism, as he certainly would have us do. inform law and policy development at the state and federal Changes in the legal profession, coupled with the economic level. Students and faculty in the Cumberland Legal Aid Clinic downturn, have created a challenging job picture for our continue to make a huge difference in people’s lives, while the students. With your philanthropic support, we are able to Maine Patent Program and Intellectual Property Clinic together offer a substantial summer fellowship program for students assist inventors, facilitate technology transfer, and contribute working in the public interest. With your networking help, our to state research and development policies. The intellectual students and recent graduates get a huge boost in launching culture at the University of Maine School of Law is rich and their legal careers. We are encouraging our students to think productive. broadly about how best to use their law school education as a springboard to a wide array of work opportunities. Diversity and Global Reach We value a longstanding commitment to diversity at the Law School and now have an opportunity to present a model for Maine at a time of dramatic demographic change. With a concerted effort over the past several years, our enrollment of minority students has increased dramatically and is projected to be over 10% in the coming year. In April 2010, we honored former Maine Chief Justice Vincent McKusick and celebrated the launch of the McKusick Diversity Fellowship, with two fellowships awarded thus far. Our faculty and student exchange program with Howard University School of Law is gaining traction. Our continuing challenge is to sustain these improvements and momentum and to build a welcoming and supportive environment. The Law School also continues to extend its global reach, Meanwhile, as you know, higher education is facing financial welcoming exchange students to Maine and sending our pressures and difficult institutional changes, and the University of students to visit law schools in France, Ireland, Canada, Maine System is not immune. Nonetheless, in this fluid context, England, and Hong Kong. The annual French-American we are advancing steadily toward our entrepreneurial vision of Seminar provides an intensive two weeks of collaboration an even greater Maine Law School that stands out as a center among faculty and students from France and the United of intellectual excellence, as a top-notch teaching and research States. With a joint grant from France’s Partner University institution, as a pivotal player in Maine’s economic development Fund, Maine Law is deeply involved in collaborative research and public policy, and as a destination point for students and and policy work in maritime law with the University of Nantes in faculty from around the state and around the world. France, bolstering our anticipated development of a new post- The University of Maine School of Law Foundation continues professional LL.M. degree program. its planning and support for development of a new law center Further underscoring our attention to international affairs, suitable for such a great law school on the rocky coast of former U.S. Senator and Secretary of Defense William Cohen Maine. The Foundation, together with our Board of Visitors was keynote speaker at the Law School’s 2010 Convocation. and Alumni Association, is stepping up its efforts in seeking Secretary Cohen is a leading figure in international relations long-term finance and capital gifts to support our students and is President and CEO of The Cohen Group, a global firm and enable us to achieve our vision. The Annual Fund, as that provides advice to business and governmental clients in well, remains central to our current operation, supporting strategic opportunities throughout the world. He presents a life student scholarships, summer fellowships, faculty research, story and career history sure to inspire our graduates. and distinguished visiting lecturers. With this publication, we Looking Forward extend our sincere thanks to so many alumni and friends of the University of Maine School of Law. Sadly, this year marked the passing of Judge Frank M. Coffin, a remarkable man who leaves an inspiring legacy to the lawyers of tomorrow. He was a role model to so many and a committed friend of the University of Maine School of Law.