Thursday October 18, 2007

Imagine sitting around a table speaking with leading attorneys from around the United States about developments in the legal practice and changes in the marketplace. As Dean, I have the opportunity to do that every six months, as my Dean’s Advisory Board gathers here at the University of Detroit Mercy School of Law to look at our curriculum, provide suggestions about ways we can better prepare our students for the jobs for which law firms are hiring, and offer general advice about ways to make our students even more competitive in the marketplace.

More recently, however, not only have I been speaking with the Dean’s Advisory Board (DAB), but I have also been inviting students at the School to meet and speak with them as well. When we spoke at our last meeting about our innovative Law Firm Program, the Board heard not just from me and the faculty, but also from students. Students on various Moot Court teams spoke about the competitions in which they were competing; students from our Clinics described the clinical training they were receiving; students discussed recent challenges of the Law Review. Now we have created a tradition of inviting dozens of students to mingle with the members of the Board following each meeting.

That explains how it was that different UDM students had an opportunity to speak recently with partners from law firms from around the country. A partial list of those firms includes places like Arnold and Porter (DC); Shearman and Sterling (NY); Baker McKenzie (Chicago); Pepper Hamilton (Philadelphia); Quinn Emanuel Urquhart Oliver & Hedges, LLP (CA); Thacher Proffitt Wood (NY); Arent Fox (NY); Mayer Brown (Chicago); Dewey & LeBoeuf (NY); Sedgwick, Detert, Moran & Arnold (CA); Hughes Hubbard and Reed (NY); Paul Hastings (NY); and many more. And the list of firms leaves out the numerous corporate counsels, such as the attorney in charge of litigation for Amazon.com in Seattle or the Deputy General Counsel at Verizon in DC.

As Dean, I truly enjoy watching our students rise so well to the occasion. They always speak with great confidence and knowledge. And I consistently hear from the partners at our meetings how impressed they are with our students. I am pleased to report that the impressions of these attorneys translate into more firms interviewing our students and offering them jobs.

Of course, there are never any guarantees about legal jobs or the legal marketplace. But I know that our approach at the University of Detroit Mercy School of Law has been profoundly influenced by the advice I receive from the DAB. And I know that our students have benefited tremendously from the DAB’s growing knowledge of our school and our students. You can read more about the experiences of our students with the DAB on our website.