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 Dean's
Message
Dear Alumni and Friends,
I hope and trust that this message finds each of you well and prospering. You
are always on our minds, and we try to keep you as connected as possible to
all the things going on at your law school. You will see this in the coming
months when you access the law school's Web site (http://law.slu.edu) on your
computer. We have always strived to use technology to communicate with students,
alumni and friends about all the exciting opportunities available at the School.
Now, we're building on that by what we believe will be an even better, more
advanced Web site. In addition to the creation of our Faculty Guide, an on-line
resource that provides information on faculty members' areas of expertise,
legal background and thoughts on the legal profession, we're working on redesigning
our Web site in order to provide easier access to content and keep you updated
on all the activities going on at the School. Of course, our site already provides
valuable and efficient information, but we believe that improvements can always
be made, and we're working hard to make them.
Speaking of improvements, next year will be an exciting one as we welcome three
new faculty members to the law school. Professor Mark Bernstein joins us as
Director of the Law Library, after serving as the Deputy Director of the Law
Library at Duke University for the last ten years. He will also teach Advanced
Legal Research. Professor Frederic Bloom, a graduate of Stanford Law School,
joins the faculty after clerking on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth
Circuit and on the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.
He will teach Civil Procedure. Professor Nicole Porter will also join us. She
graduated from the University of Michigan Law School, clerked on the U.S. Court
of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit and practiced law for five years. She will
teach Contracts and Employment Discrimination. We have had a banner year in
recruiting new law faculty to the School of Law!
We've also had a great year as far as our Annual Fund is concerned. I want
to thank the hundreds of you, who, along with the many friends of this School,
have made a gift to the law school this year. The Annual Fund (wonderfully
nurtured by Dan Raniere and the members of the Alumni Council) has reached
$400,000 for the first time in our history, and overall giving has reached
a record of $3,000,000 this year. Your giving makes it possible for us to provide
that critical increment of excellence in support of our students and their
teachers. And you help us in so many other ways - serving as adjunct teachers
and speakers, recruiting students and hiring graduates. Thank you so much!
Obviously, this year has been a very busy and rewarding one, and despite the
reprieve that summer often brings for students, it doesn't slow down for us
at the School. Now, we can begin preparing for fall classes. In fact, I am
about to send an e-mail to the members of the Fall 2004 entering class in order
to tell them about the unique small section program that characterizes the
1L experience (each student will have, in addition to the small research and
writing classes, another small class each semester). I will also tell our incoming
students of our plan to have the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit
and the Missouri Eastern District Court of Appeals hear cases in the law school
courtroom during the next academic year. And they will learn that our annual
Childress Lecture (featuring Yale law professor and former Solicitor General
of the United States, Drew Days) will constitute the plenary session for the
Annual Meeting of the Missouri Bar in St. Louis on October 1. And finally,
I will tell them that they will be the first entering class to be welcomed
into a wireless Internet environment in the law school.
As you can see, we have many plans to continue making improvements that we
know will help Saint Louis University School of Law remain competitive with
other top law schools in the country. I can't stress enough how most of this
would not be possible without your assistance. We think of you, our alumni,
in all that we do. And we promise to always do our best to promote the quality
of your law school so that your law degree at Saint Louis University remains
an excellent investment.
Sincerely Yours,
Jeffrey E. Lewis
Dean and Professor of Law
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