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Dean's Message, Spring 2005

Dear Alumni and Friends,

As I write this note, nearly 250 Saint Louis University law graduates are studying for bar examinations in Missouri, Illinois, the District of Columbia and all around the country. Just as their predecessors, they will go on to practice law in firms large and small; they will become counsel to corporations and governmental bodies; they will become prosecutors and public defenders and judges. This is their heritage and their future. And they have their predecessors - the members of the Saint Louis University School of Law alumni network - as models for good and ethical lawyering in the public interest.

Our May graduates crossed the stage at Powell Symphony Hall for their hooding in a ceremony punctuated by the happy applause and congratulations of over 2000 family and friends. Our graduation speaker was St. Louis Cardinals Manager Tony La Russa. As you probably know, Mr. La Russa is a lawyer. He delivered a powerful message about discipline and preparation - two characteristics of his Hall of Fame career. Especially memorable to this writer was Mr. La Russa's advice to master one's situation by making stress your friend, not your enemy.

We have completed another academic year with great success. Once again our alumni have been exceedingly generous in support of the Annual Fund and in their support of our students and teachers. Specifically, Tom and Rita Keefe have done it again, establishing a second Professorship Endowment to honor their long-time friend, Vince Immel. Thanks to the Keefes, Professor Joel Goldstein will be inducted as the first recipient of The Vincent C. Immel Professor of Law in the fall. Lance and Joan Callis have also stepped forward once again, adding to a long list of programs and projects which they supported and created over the years. This fall we will welcome ten new Callis Scholars to the Class of 2008. These Callis Scholars are joining our law school community on full academic scholarships, because of Lance and Joan! We are forever grateful for these transforming gifts and for what they mean to our students and professors.

We will welcome three sterling new faculty members to campus this summer: Eric Miller, Kerry Ryan and Ann Scarlett. Professor Miller has law degrees from the University of Edinburgh and Harvard Law School, and comes to us after two years at Western New England School of Law. He will teach Criminal Law, Criminal Procedure, and Critical Race Theory. Professor Ryan has a law degree from Tulane and an LL.M. in Taxation from the University of Florida, where she taught last year. She will teach Estates and Trusts, Estate and Gift Tax, and Estate Planning. Professor Scarlett graduated number one in her law school class from the University of Kansas, clerked on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit for Judge Pasco M. Bowman, and on the Supreme Court of the United States for Justice Clarence Thomas. She will teach Business Associations and Civil Procedure.

This August we will welcome our newest crop of law students, chosen from the largest applicant pool in our history - over 2100 applicants. Our average entering 1L will have earned better than a 3.5 grade point average as an undergraduate, and will have scored near the 75 th percentile on the Law School Admissions Test. They are bright and accomplished and eager to begin the study of law. It is a true pleasure to teach our students. I can't wait for my Evidence class to begin at 8 a.m. sharp on Monday, August 22!

As this issue of Saint Louis Brief reaches you, it carries with it my wish that you have a pleasant summer and that you find some time for rest and relaxation. We all probably work too hard - this is often the lot of lawyers!

I send all best wishes to each of you from the School of Law campus at Saint Louis University.

Sincerely yours,

Jeffrey E. Lewis

Dean and Professor of Law