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Enjoying Today, Envisioning Tomorrow
As I walk through the halls of
the six renovated buildings which now comprise
the GW Law School campus, it is obvious that we
have grown tremendously and have made great progress
in fulfilling our commitment to excellence in
legal education. GW Law has great strengths and
is taking enormous strides—positioning us
to reach even greater heights in the years ahead.
This last year has been without question the most
satisfying year of my professional career, and
one in which I take great pride. Let me share
with you some of our accomplishments.
Students
No class in the history of the school has better
credentials than the class we brought in this
fall. Compared to the previous year, the median
GPA of those enrolled in the full-time program
rose from 3.59 to 3.62, while the median LSAT
remained the same at a record high of 165.
The clerkship hiring season is well under way,
and students and alumni have been very successful
in securing clerkships for the 2007-08 term. So
far, 10 GW students and recent alumni have accepted
federal appellate clerkships with the D.C. Circuit,
4th Circuit, 5th Circuit, 7th Circuit, 9th Circuit,
10th Circuit, and 11th Circuit. One of our graduates,
Jennifer Mascott, who currently is clerking for
Judge Kavanaugh on the D.C. Circuit, will clerk
for Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas in 2008—the
fourth GW graduate to clerk on the Supreme Court
since 2003. (One of our alumni served among Chief
Justice John Roberts’ first set of clerks
on the Supreme Court.) An additional 10 students
have secured federal district and other trial-level
federal clerkships, and two students will clerk
for state appellate courts.
Academic Programs
The Law School expanded its academic programs
significantly during this last year to include
three major initiatives. The first is a partnership
between the Law School and the Indian Institute
of Technology at Kharagpur, the first law school
in India associated with one of its prestigious
IIT institutions. We have come to call this partnership
the India Project. The new law school located
both in Calcutta and on the Kharagpur campus nearby
specializes in the study of intellectual property
law—a vitally important part of India’s
economic future.
Second, thanks to substantial corporate funding,
the Law School is now home to the Creative and
Innovative Economy Center. This new center focuses
on activities intended to improve the protection
of intellectual property rights in the developing
world. In this, the information age, this is a
vitally important task for the many American industries
that rely on intellectual property laws for the
protection of their products. Just in the last
six months, this center has hosted major receptions
at the Cosmos Club, on Capitol Hill, and in Germany.
The third developing initiative is the Humphreys
Complex Litigation Center. Professor Roger Trangsrud
directs the center, which will study this important
and controversial branch of civil litigation in
the United States and how our state and federal
courts should respond to the special challenges
that managing such cases entail.
Faculty
During the 2005-06 academic year, our faculty
members wrote 41 books, 111 law review articles,
11 book reviews, and more than 85 articles in
newspapers and other periodicals. Our scholars
are routinely consulted for comment on major developments
in their fields of expertise and several have
become frequent contributors to our national media.
We are fortunate to welcome three additional accomplished
young scholars who also will fill important curricular
needs at the Law School.
Facilities
With the completion of renovation of faculty
offices on the fourth floor of Stockton Hall,
the Law School marks the culmination of its 10-year,
major Law School Renovation Project. In addition,
the Law School now occupies all but one floor
of Lisner Hall and has renovated these five floors
to include a dedicated student lounge. For the
first time, there also will be a full-service
food court located within the Law School complex.
Development
Private support during the last year has been
extraordinary. New major gift commitments from
the Jacob Burns Foundation enabled the Law School
to establish the Jacob Burns Professorship, providing
us a fully endowed chair for the director of our
clinical programs. By the way, this year marks
the 35th anniversary of the clinical programs.
Alumni
Our Office of Alumni Relations continues to work
successfully to build new and stronger ties to
our large alumni population, which stands about
20,000 strong. I appreciate meeting so many active
alumni groups across the nation and around the
world.
Frederick M. Lawrence
Dean and Robert Kramer Research Professor
of Law
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