VANDERBILT LAW SCHOOL EDUCATING LAWYERS FOR THE 21ST CENTURY Visit Vanderbilt Law School Twelve years ago, I visited Vanderbilt for from across the nation and a welcoming provides immediate advantages when you the first time as a faculty candidate— network of alumni who live and work interview for legal positions and begin and discovered an environment unique around the globe. You’ll find a dis- practicing law. among American law schools. Colle- tinguished faculty of experts who are Finally, you’ll find yourself at home gial and supportive, challenging and leaders in their fields, a rigorous curric- in one of America’s most livable cities. academically rigorous, Vanderbilt ulum and a wide array of academic, joint Like few other places, Vanderbilt’s Nash- offers a community where all of degree and interdisciplinary programs in ville setting lets you balance the rigors the elements required to create a modern building on a beautiful campus of study with abundant opportunities a great law school come together in a vibrant city. Most importantly, you’ll to enjoy a city with a remarkable blend in ways that surpass expecta- find a student-friendly atmosphere, a of cosmopolitan sophistication and the tions. I joined this community Vanderbilt tradition our students have feel of a friendly small town. in 2002 because, here, great treasured for decades. I invite you to visit Vanderbilt and scholars and teachers thrive. As You’ll discover that Vanderbilt discover these things for yourself. Vanderbilt’s Dean, one of my stands apart not only for the quality top priorities is maintaining of the legal training delivered by our Sincerely yours, the strong sense of communi- faculty of renowned legal scholars and ty that sets Vanderbilt apart teachers, but also for the support you’ll from other law schools. receive from one of the nation’s best Chris Guthrie Experience it, and you Career Services departments. Our aca- Dean & John Wade-Kent Syverud will find compelling rea- demic programs go beyond providing Professor of Law sons to make Vanderbilt outstanding training and connect legal your law school. You’ll theory to real-world strategies, knowl- find talented students edge and experiences. That approach 1 Shape your future anderbilt offers the resources “I chose Vanderbilt because the academic prestige, you need to shape your future by gaining rigorous curriculum and outstanding faculty experience, skills and analytic tools to tackle guarantee a first-rate legal education, and because difficult problems. Engaging courses that the collegial, congenial environment here fosters challengeV you to work harder and accomplish more community and collaboration. My experience has than you thought possible. Clinics, externships and been amazing—both academically stimulating other experiential learning opportunities that allow you and challenging.” to connect classroom training to real-world practice TaCara Harris CLASS OF 2013 settings. Mentors who are among the nation’s leading Associate, Baker Donelson Bearman Caldwell & Berkowitz, Nashville TaCara won the Vanderbilt Scholastic Excellence Award and the Fulbright & legal scholars. Innovative, interdisciplinary academic Jaworski Book Award for Legal Writing I and then was a teaching assistant for Legal Research and Writing. programs. Accomplished colleagues from across the nation and around the world. A state-of-the-art build- ing located on a world-class university campus. All of which combine to create an exceptional environment in which to prepare for careers in legal practice, public service, business, government or other areas where the application of law and legal reasoning shape positive outcomes for individuals and society. 2 Collegial culture, global outlook “Vanderbilt is a place where both anderbilt offers a and enduring aspects of a Vanderbilt le- students and faculty take ideas unique environment in which gal education. seriously. Each class is energized to pursue your legal educa- Law practice is increasingly global, by the intellectual excitement that tion. Here, you’ll benefit from and Vanderbilt graduates must be pre- aV rigorous law school experience that pared for a world in which fewer and comes from the exchange of ideas.” Suzanna Sherry Herman O. Loewenstein Chair in Law connects outstanding theoretical training fewer lawyers will work only with the Professor Sherry is a nation- ally renowned scholar of to professional practice settings across laws of a single state or nation. Even as constitutional law. Her book, the nation and around the world. our students benefit from Vanderbilt’s Judgment Calls: Principle and Politics in Constitutional Law graduates must be team play- small-school culture, they also engage in Law, co-authored with Daniel Farber, was published in ers, and our well-established culture professional practice far beyond our cam- 2008. promotes collaboration in a challenging pus through externships for academic learning environment. Students choose credit and stipend-supported experiences Vanderbilt for its longstanding reputation throughout the world. Our foreign study for collegiality, professionalism and re- summer program in Venice and the Inter- lationship-building. They recognize that national Law Practice Lab clinical course mutual support, teamwork and respect further extend students’ global outlook, for others’ views are essential to profes- as does the inclusion of approximately sional success. In fact, our students and 50 foreign-trained lawyers and judges alumni consistently say that the strong in our LL.M. program, who learn about sense of community among their col- American law alongside J.D. students leagues here is one of the most valuable in an enriched learning environment. For insights into the qualities we seek in Vanderbilt Law students, visit our website at www.law.vanderbilt.edu, and sample the profiles of our students and graduates. 3 “Vanderbilt teaches its students to be team players, in and out of the classroom. That was the case when I was there 25 years ago, and it still “ When I came to the Admitted is. Even more than when I was in law Students Program, I knew this school, I’ve come to value how unique was where I wanted to be. The and special Vanderbilt is, and how well it prepares other incoming students were its students to succeed.” extremely intelligent and driven, Richard R. Hays CLASS OF 1986 Managing Partner, Alston & Bird but also social and easygoing.” Will Marks CLASS OF 2014 Stephanie Parker, Class of 1985, Will is editor-in-chief of the Vanderbilt Law Partner, Jones Day, is president Review for 2013-14 after working as of the law school’s Board of a summer associate with Williams & Connolly in Washington, D.C., Advisors, a group of approx- during summer 2013. imately 50 alumni who meet twice a year to offer advice and counsel. Parker endowed the Ethel and Cecil Roberts Scholarship because “I wanted to give back to the law school, which had given so much to me. I received a wonderful education at Vanderbilt and was very well pre- pared for my career. I hope the scholarship will enable other students to have the same experience I did.” 4 Influential scholars, outstanding teachers earning to think like a social justice, health law and policy, and lawyer remains the bedrock bioethics. of a sound legal education, As a result, Vanderbilt students learn and Vanderbilt’s faculty is about the law from some of the nation’s Lknown for teaching students the rigor- leading legal scholars. Faculty expertise ous analytic and problem-solving skills translates into engaging coursework that used by legal professionals. Consistently takes students to the cutting edge of cur- ranked among the most productive in rent legal scholarship. More than that, the nation, Vanderbilt law professors are faculty members are committed teach- known nationally and internationally for ers and mentors, and Vanderbilt’s small their work in such areas as corporate and size allows students to enjoy substantial business law, law and economics, inter- access to faculty throughout law school. national law, environmental and property The availability of faculty to meet with law, energy law, intellectual property and come to know students as individuals Terry Maroney, who co-directs Vanderbilt’s law, criminal law, complex litigation, both in and out of class adds greatly to Social Justice Program, was invited to dis- cuss her scholarship on how judges deal constitutional law, law and neuroscience, the value of a Vanderbilt legal education. with emotion as part of an orientation program for newly appointed judges in “I joined Vanderbilt because the law school offers a superior 2012. She has since participated in several training sessions offered by the Federal intellectual and educational community. Its size, faculty, resources Judicial Center, the research and educa- and physical facilities are all conducive to the best sort of legal tion agency of the federal judicial system. education and scholarship.” Christopher Slobogin Milton R. Underwood Chair in Law A renowned scholar of criminal law who has authored more than 100 articles, books and chap- ters, Professor Slobogin is one of the 10 most cited criminal law and procedure professors in the country. He joined Vanderbilt’s law faculty in 2008 and heads the Criminal Justice Program. Juveniles at Risk: A Plea for Preventive Justice, co-authored by Professor Slobogin and published by Oxford University Press in 2011, offers proposals intended to encourage policy makers, judges and lawyers to re-examine and improve juvenile court practice. 5 Vanderbilt’s faculty ranked eighth among U.S. law schools in a study, “Scholarship Impact of Law Faculties in 2012: Applying Leiter Scores to Rank the Top Third,” conducted by a team led by University of Indiana professor Gregory Sisk. Vanderbilt ranked tenth among American Bar Association (ABA) law schools in Brian Leiter’s 2010 ranking of scholarship influence of faculty. “The thing I’ve been most impressed by at Vanderbilt is the quality of the Legal historian Daniel Sharfstein received professors.” a 2013 Guggenheim Adele El-Khouri CLASS OF 2013 Fellowship to sup- Clerk, Judge Stephen A.