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Law School in the Nation’s
Capital
All over the country, students
newly admitted to GW Law School ask me: “Why
GW Law?” My first words in response: “Washington,
Washington, Washington.”
Our advantageous location in the heart of the
nation’s capital energizes the life of the
Law School on every level. In this issue of GW
Law School magazine you have a glimpse into
the dynamic and energizing effect our location
has upon the events and extraordinary vitality
of your Law School today.
I say, “Washington, Washington, Washington,”
because Foggy Bottom invigorates this Law School
in not one but three unique ways:
First, Washington brings to our campus a truly
remarkable range of people who re-imagine American
life and who develop and change American law.
Five of the nine Supreme Court justices have joined
GW Law in the past two years alone. Justice Samuel
Alito presided over final argument in our 2007
Van Vleck Moot Court Competition, as did Chief
Justice John Roberts in 2006. Justices Ruth Ginsberg,
Steven Breyer, and Antonin Scalia also recently
have engaged GW students, in and out of the classroom.
Former President Jimmy Carter visited GW just
this March, as did former Vice President Al Gore—fresh
from the Academy Awards! The former vice president
gave the keynote address at the National Environmental
Law Society conference that we were privileged
to host. Distinguished federal judges Richard
Leon and James Robertson, LLB ’65, judged
our Van Vleck semifinals, while Judge Ricardo
Urbina presided over the final trial of our Cohen
and Cohen Mock Trial Competition.
Being situated in the capital means our students
do more than read about the men and women who
shape America. They meet them.
Second, Washington offers our students a unique
array of employment opportunities: not only during
the academic year and in summers, but also as
they begin their professional careers upon graduation.
GW Law students are represented significantly
throughout the public sector—from Capitol
Hill to administrative agencies to the Department
of Justice. We are delighted that one-tenth of
our graduating class will serve as judicial clerks
in federal and state courts. We are particularly
proud of the four GW Law students who have been
selected as Supreme Court clerks in the past three
years.
Our success in the public sector is all the more
impressive considering our achievements in the
private sector. A new survey conducted by the
National Law Journal reports the percentages
for law school graduates who gain employment at
the nation’s 250 largest firms. GW Law placed
well within the top 20. Even more extraordinary:
Measured in absolute numbers, our law school is
eighth in the nation at producing young lawyers
who proceed to the nation’s largest firms.
Though GW Law students are educated in Washington,
they emigrate to almost every state to serve in
a wide variety of public and private positions.
Finally, Washington, D.C., is not only the seat
of this country’s government, it also is
the crossroads of international law and relations.
Our students have unique opportunities to engage
with members of the State Department’s Legal
Adviser’s Office and prominent figures in
the international community, including officials
at the World Bank and ambassadors from several
nations. Our India Project has received such wide
recognition for its work in intellectual property
law that India’s Ministry of Corporate Affairs
recently requested the chance to engage GW’s
faculty in the process of rewriting Indian corporate
law. I myself had the opportunity to travel to
China this past March to explore new collaborative
opportunities between China and GW Law. I learned
firsthand the reach of our alumni in China, including
both JD and LLM graduates. These exploratory initiatives
continue.
For all these reasons and more, and with just
pride, I tell our prospective students, “There
is no better place to study law than in Foggy
Bottom, at The George Washington University.”
The legal education provided here combines all
the advantages of living and studying law in Washington
with all the privileges of studying with our full-time
faculty of gifted scholars and teachers, and our
superb adjunct faculty, the finest in the nation.
Student access to our remarkable adjunct faculty
is yet another advantage of being in Washington,
D.C.
As you read this issue of the alumni magazine,
learning about all that is happening now at your
Law School, I invite you to find new ways to remain
a part of what is happening and to re-connect
with us. Our alumni help in so many ways. Your
financial support is critical to our success.
Your interest in hiring our graduates is crucial
to continuing our excellent placement. Your readiness
to reach out to newly admitted students ensures
that we will bring in yet another extraordinarily
qualified first-year class. In all these ways,
we at the Law School, faculty members and students
alike, are the grateful beneficiaries of your
generosity.
It is no overstatement to say that we could not
do what we do without your substantial support.
Nor is it an overstatement to say that together,
there is no limit on what we can yet achieve at
our Law School.
Frederick M. Lawrence
Dean and Robert Kramer Research Professor
of Law
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