March 2005
Dean Heidi M. Hurd
David C. Baum Professor of Law and Professor of Philosophy
Co-Director of the Program in Law and Philosophy
Telephone (217) 333-9857
hhurd@law.uiuc.edu
Dear Students, Faculty, Staff, Alumni, Campus Administrators, and Friends,
Every February in anticipation
of the Spring's budget decisions, the Provost asks the deans of the
colleges on the Urbana-Champaign campus to write an Annual Report that provides
a summary of the state of their school and its achievements of the past 12
months, and that outlines the goals of the year to come and the obstacles
to their success. As I read over my "State of the Law School" section
of the College's Annual Report, I was struck by its testament to the
tremendous energy and achievements of all of you--faculty, staff, students,
and alumni--and I thought that you would like to read it so as to share
pride in the successes we can all claim for the College over the past 12
months.
In what follows, I will first excerpt the opening section of the College's
Annual Report. I will then tell you about some reasons why you should be confident
that, a year from now, I will have an equally impressive number of new successes
to report to the Provost:
- "The State of the School" (an excerpt from the College of Law's Annual Report to the Provost)
- The Appointment of two New Faculty Members!--Professors Jennifer Robbennolt and Ekow Yankah
- The Appointment of Professor Richard Painter as Special Assistant to the President and Associate White House Counsel
- The Gift of a New Professorship: The Ross and Helen Workman Professorship
- The Students Answer the Workman Challenge: An Endowed Table!
- The Appointment of a New Assistant Director for Admissions and Financial Aid, Kelly Griffith
- The New Online Journal of the University of Illinois Business Law Society
- The College's Visitor of the Month: Judge Junko Semmatsu from Japan
- The College's Third Annual Gala Dinner-Dance and Keynote Address by President B. Joseph White
- The March Calendar of College of Law Events
THE STATE OF THE LAW SCHOOL (an excerpt from the College's February 2005 Annual Report to the Provost)
This has been a year of tremendous gains within the College of Law and a year characterized by great optimism for its future. During the past 12 months, the College:
- Added six full-time tenured/tenure track faculty to its ranks, increasing the size of the tenured/tenure track faculty by almost 20%, from 33 to 39, and drawing from such schools as Texas, Wisconsin, and Emory (all highly ranked law schools of considerable academic strength).
- Received national acclaim for its hiring agenda, including the Number 1-ranking in the Leiter Reports (the alternative in law school rankings to the US News & World Report rankings) for hiring three of the nation's top 18 lateral faculty members--more than any other school in the nation. Yale and Stanford being tied for second, each being credited with two of the top 18 hires.
- Enhanced the diversity of the faculty, adding two women and one African-American at the start of the 2005 academic year, making it one of the leading law schools in the nation for gender diversity.
- Improved the student/faculty ratio by reducing it from 16.17 to 14.44.
- Improved its professional ranking (the US News &World Report ranking accorded it by practicing lawyers and judges), placing it 17th in the nation, and held constant its academic ranking (the US News &World Report ranking accorded it by academics and deans), placing it 20th in the nation.
- Implemented a salary equity program that helped to prevent faculty members considering lateral moves to other law schools from leaving the University of Illinois.
- Improved its student credentials, for the first time attracting an entering class within the top 90% in the nation that boasted a 163 LSAT median (up from 162 in 2003-04) and a 3.42 average G.P.A.
- Increased the diversity of the
incoming class to an all-time high (from 35.6% in 2003 to 38.6% in 2004),
placing it first in the Big 10 for law school diversity.
Increased the out-of-state student population to an all-time high (from 25% in 2003 to 37% in 2004), significantly restoring its claim to being a truly national law school. - Incorporated small-section substantive first-year classes into the Fall curriculum, affording every first-year student a 30-person discussion class in addition to the usual large-section lecture classes in the opening semester.
- Expanded the curriculum to restore small specialty classes, writing-intensive seminars, and experiential and simulation clinical offerings that had been eliminated in response to budget cuts.
- Attracted a number of very substantial major gifts, including an unrestricted multi-million dollar estate gift (the second largest gift ever given to the College of Law), a $1M estate gift and interim pledge funding to establish an ambitious health law and policy program, a six-figure gift with which to inaugurate a loan repayment assistance program, several new faculty scholar positions and professorships, and a number of new endowed student scholarship funds.
- Increased the College's Annual Fund by 28.3% (from FY03 to FY04).
- Increased the total number of donors giving to the College of Law by 20.7% (from FY03 to FY04).
The
Appointment of Two New Faculty Members!--Professors Jennifer Robbennolt
and Ekow Yankah
I am absolutely delighted to tell you all that we are already well on our way
toward implementing the agenda that I mapped out in my report to the Provost
this month. Very excitingly, our ambitious efforts to attract stellar new faculty
members to the University of Illinois have reaped early rewards.
Jennifer K. Robbennolt has accepted the College's
offer to join the faculty as a full Professor of Law and will move to Champaign
this summer with her husband, Grant Robbennolt. Dr. Robbennolt is currently
Associate Dean for Faculty Research and Development, Associate Professor
of Law, and Senior Fellow of the Center for the Study of Dispute Resolution
at the University of Missouri-Columbia School of Law. Professor Robbennolt
is a nationally renowned scholar in the area of psychology and law, torts,
and alternative dispute resolution. Her research integrates psychology into
the study of law and legal institutions, focusing primarily on legal decision-making
and the use of empirical research methodology in law. Her most recent empirical
work examines the role of apologies in the settlement of civil cases. She
currently serves as the Secretary of the American Psychology-Law Society
and is on the editorial board of the journal Psychology, Public Policy,
and Law. She has published scholarly articles on law and psychology
in such journals as the Michigan Law Review, Law and Human Behavior,
the Arizona Law Review, and the Journal of Applied Social Psychology and
has co-authored the third edition of the casebook, Dispute Resolution
and Lawyers. Professor Robbennolt has twice been awarded the Shook,
Hardy, & Bacon Excellence in Research Award and has won the Blackwell
Sanders Peper Martin Distinguished Faculty Achievement Award for distinguished
achievement in teaching.
Dr. Robbennolt graduated magna cum laude with a B.S. from Willamette University
and went on to earn her M.A., J.D. with highest honors, and Ph.D. in psychology
from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Professor Robbennolt served as a law
clerk to the Honorable John M. Gerrard of the Nebraska Supreme Court and as
a post-doctoral research associate and lecturer at Princeton University's
Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs and Department of
Psychology.
Ekow N. Yankah has
also accepted the College's offer to join the faculty as an Assistant
Professor of Law. Professor Yankah graduated from the University of Michigan
in 1997 with a B.A. in Political Science and a minor concentration in Chemistry.
In 2000, he received his J.D. from the Columbia University School of Law,
where he was a very active member of the Black Law Students Association Political
Action Committee and served on the Regional Board of Directors for the Unemployment
Action Center. At Columbia, he was awarded the U.A.C. Advocate of the Year
and the Parker School of International Comparative Law Award, and was a Harlan
Fiske Stone Scholar. He then became a Law and Philosophy/Legal Discourse
Fellow at Columbia University. He received his BCL, a postgraduate law degree,
from Oxford University, where he studied legal philosophy and received a
Lord Crewe Scholarship Award. Professor Yankah is currently an Associate
at Boies, Schiller and Flexner in New York City. His main practice areas
have been complex commercial litigation and pre-litigation strategy and resolution.
He has represented Fortune 500 companies as well as high net worth individuals
in a variety of matters, including contract disputes and allegations of RICO
violations.
Professor Yankah is the author of "Good Guys and Bad Guys: Punishing
Character, Equality and the Irrelevance of Moral Character to Criminal Punishment"
in 25 Cardozo Law Review 1019 (2004), and his current scholarly work is on
the
nature of coercion and its role in diluting personal responsibility. A very
gregarious and engaging speaker, Professor Yankah is sure both to challenge
and entertain students who are lucky enough to take his torts and criminal
law classes in the years to come.
Professor Richard Painter is Named Special Assistant to the President
and Associate White House Counsel
I am delighted to inform you that Professor Richard Painter has been appointed
Special Assistant to the President and Associate White House Counsel, and will
be the person with primary responsibility for handling ethics matters that
arise in the White House and the Executive Office of the President. His office
will handle required reporting of staff members' financial holdings,
appropriate handling of conflicts of interest, other matters arising under
the Ethics in Government Act of 1978, and general ethics questions. He will
report to White House General Counsel Harriet Miers, the successor to now-Attorney
General Alberto Gonzales. Professor Painter's appointment will require
him to take a leave of absence from the College of Law for at least a year.
While we will miss him in our classrooms and hallways, we are proud and pleased
to lend Washington his very considerable talents and his uncompromising dedication
to elevating ethics above interests and we look forward to having him share
his experiences with our students upon his return.
The Gift of a New Professorship: The Ross and Helen Workman Professorship
in Law
Just as new faculty appointments give us grounds for confidence in the College's
future, so too do the latest ways in which our alumni are advancing the mission
of their beloved alma mater. This month I would like to announce the establishment
of our newest faculty position, the Ross and Helen Workman Professorship in
Law! Ross and Helen have been wonderful supporters of the College of Law and
the University of Illinois for many years, and this most recent and much appreciated
gift is yet another example of the formative impact that their generosity has
had on the College of Law.
Ross and Helen's philanthropy throughout these many years will be reflected in the successes of the College of Law and the larger University many years from now. Their generosity will provide invaluable research support to countless generations of faculty members whose careers at the College of Law will long-sustain its historic greatness. Please join me in thanking Ross and Helen for their continued investment in the College of Law's agenda of excellence.
The Students Answer the
Workman Challenge: An Endowed Table!
We love to think of generous contributions to the College as challenges
to the rest of us to put our time and money where our mouths are! Thus,
I am tickled
to tell you that in answer to the Workmans' newly-funded professorship
and estate-funded chair, 1Ls Daniel Donger Hwang and Alec Davis have endowed
a table--a foosball table, that is! Mr. Hwang, 1L class rep, and his classmate
Mr. Davis were trying to think of ways to bring more people to the Huizenga
Commons. Their idea was to rent a foosball table, host a tournament to raise
funds, and then purchase a table to be left in the Commons. Ultimately Mr.
Hwang's can-do spirit got the better of him though and he purchased the
table personally so that the tournament could start as soon as possible. College
of Law students, faculty, and staff should watch their inboxes for news about
the 1st Annual College of Law Foosball Tournament!
Now I'll take Daniel's and Alec's challenge to our alumni.
Hanging out is a grossly under-appreciated activity! But as we all look back
on our law school days, surely some of the times we remember best were the
times when we simply hung out with our friends, gossiping about classes, professors,
and classmates, and nervously dreaming of future successes. Whether by pitching
pennies on the steps of Altgeld Hall or scoring bull's-eyes in Beer
League Darts, students need to find ways to put their studies behind them,
if only
for an hour or two. Now the challenge: Our students (and a number of faculty
who would plead the Fifth Amendment!) would love to have a piano and a pool
table at the College of Law. Lean budgets and restrictive purchasing policies
conspire to prevent me from delivering on this wish list. So I'm hopeful
that one or more of you will be inspired by the memories of your days at the
College of Law, whether in the Law Building or in Altgeld Hall, to help us
bring these community-building tools to the College. If by a gift-in-kind or
a good idea you have a way of helping us build a warm and interactive community
that has more than books and study carrels, please call or email Shon Herrick,
Assistant Dean for Development and Alumni Relations, at 217-244-0001 or herrick1@law.uiuc.edu.
The Appointment of a New Assistant Director for Admissions and Financial
Aid, Kelly Griffith
I am very pleased to tell you that the College has appointed Kelly Griffith
as its new Assistant Director for Admissions and Financial Aid. Originally
from Dallas, Texas, Kelly obtained her undergraduate degree from the University
of Illinois in 1993. She then attended Saint Louis University School of Law
and received her J.D. in 1996. She had the privilege of being a Visiting Student
her third year of law school at the University of Illinois College of Law and
believes that her career as a prosecutor was sparked by the influence of the
professors in the Trial Advocacy course. She began in the Champaign County
State's Attorney's Office in January 1996 while still attending
classes at the College of Law. Before joining the staff of the College of Law,
she was an Assistant State's Attorney for almost nine years and primarily
handled a violent felony caseload, including sexual assault and murder cases.
Kelly will assist Paul Pless's very energetic team in the Admissions
Office to recruit the incoming class of 2008 and to provide valuable financial
advice and assistance to students who are now faced with tuition fees that
are many multiples of those that our alumni remember.
The New Journal of the University of Illinois Business Law Society
As one of its first endeavors, the newly-founded University of Illinois Business
Law Society has launched The Journal of the Illinois Business Law Society (BLS),
an undertaking inspired by an innovative trend in legal publication. This journal
utilizes weblog technology, which is a simple and immediate way of publishing
ideas one at a time. Student editors of the journal write and publish articles
on a regular basis regarding recent developments in the area of business law;
and these articles are then instantly accessible to all Internet users. Readers
are themselves able to contribute to the content of the journal by directly
publishing their own responsive comments on the website. This initiative was
spearheaded by Lance Johnson, founder and president of the BLS, who wanted
to provide students with an opportunity to hone their legal research, writing,
and analytical skills, while focusing on legal topics of particular interest
to them. The idea to use weblog technology for publishing student research
was recommended by the College's own Professor Larry Ribstein, an experienced
"blogger" himself,
who recognized that the unique advantages of Internet publication provided
a worthy complement to traditional law reviews. The dynamism of the technology
now allows faculty, students and professionals to interact in a way not previously
possible. The goal of the journal is not only to provide students with a rewarding
intellectual experience, but also to provide readers with a source of valuable
information and a means of contributing to the dialogue that shapes many topics
in business law. To achieve this goal, the journal's staff invites law
professors, practitioners, and students to submit articles or user comments
for publication on the website. To submit an article for publication, please
email it to the editors of the journal at buslaw@law.uiuc.edu.
To view the journal, please visit www.iblsjournal.typepad.com.
The College's Visitor of the Month, Judge Junko Semmatsu
As I do every month, I want to tell you about one of the College's
very enriching international visiting scholars, Judge Junko Semmatsu of the
Osaka
District Court in Japan. She is the second judge to be in residence at the
College of Law under our agreement with the Supreme Court of Japan and their
Overseas Training and Research Program. Judge Semmatsu graduated from the Faculty
of Law of Waseda University in Tokyo, receiving an LL.B. in March of 1999.
Later that year, she passed the Japanese National Bar Examination, a very substantial
achievement given that the bar passage rate in Japan is only 3% of all those
who take the exam! Judge Semmatsu subsequently completed a required 18-month
course of practical legal training at the Legal Training and Research Institute
of the Supreme Court and was appointed as a judge in October 2001. She is currently
an associate judge with the Osaka District Court, hearing civil and administrative
cases. While at the College of Law, Judge Semmatsu is auditing a number of
regular law school classes, as well as visiting the Illinois and Federal Courts
and the Illinois Supreme Court. She has a special interest in investigating
the law that governs domestic violence and child abuse cases in Illinois.
The College's Third
Annual Gala Dinner-Dance with a Keynote Address by President B. Joseph
White
I want to close this month's message by issuing all who read this a warm
invitation to attend the College's Annual Spring Gala. This sparkling
affair (black tie recommended!) has become a much-anticipated annual event,
with long wait-lists every year for those eager to join faculty, students,
staff, alumni, and campus colleagues in celebration of College's many
achievements. This year we are hoping that many will kick off the Final Four
Tournament in St. Louis with an evening of feel-good toasts, impressive distinguished
alumni awards, a path-charting keynote address, and hours of dancing! We are
enormously fortunate this year to have as our Gala Keynote Speaker the newly-appointed
16th President of the University of Illinois, B. Joseph White. As those who
attend will soon discover, President White can hold a room in the palm of his
hand! We are also delighted that Chancellor Richard Herman and his wife Susan
Herman and Provost Jesse Delia and his wife Ruth-Anne Clark plan to attend
this gala event. Tickets go very quickly, so please don't wait to RSVP!
Join us all on Friday, April 1st, at 6:00 pm at the Champaign Country
Club for an evening that will remind us all how very lucky we are
to share the University of Illinois College of Law. For additional information
contact Barb Suderman at 217-333-2628 or sudermn@law.uiuc.edu.
I hope to see you at the Gala!
Heidi M. Hurd
Dean, College of Law
David C. Baum Professor of Law and Professor of Philosophy
Co-Director of the Program in Law and Philosophy
Calendar of College of Law Events
March 2005
March 1, 12:30-1:30 pm, Max L. Rowe Auditorium: Elder Law Lecture: James Poterba, Mitsui Professor of Economics at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, "Individual Decision-Making and Risk in Defined Contribution Pension Plans."
March 4-5: Class of 2008 Open House. For more information contact Kelly Griffith at 217-244-6415 or kgriff@law.uiuc.edu.
March 5, 7:00 pm: The Black Law Students Association of the University of Illinois College of Law celebrates its 12th Annual Alumni Banquet. The theme this year is "Progress through Solidarity," which reflects a goal of reinforcing the already strong ties between BLSA students and alumni. The speaker this year is an alumnus of the University of Illinois College of Law Class of 1986, the Honorable Patricia Brown-Holmes, who is an associate judge of the Circuit Court of Cook County. She is currently an adjunct professor at Loyola University Institute for Paralegal Studies, as well as a former adjunct professor at Northwestern University College of Law and the Advocacy Institute for the U.S. Department of Justice. The banquet will be held in Chicago at the Doubletree Guest Suites, 198 East Delaware Place Chicago, Illinois 60611. Everyone is invited and encouraged to attend. For reservations, please contact Lolade Mustapha at blsa@law.uiuc.edu.
March 7, 4:00-5:00 pm, Max L. Rowe Auditorium: Van Arsdell Lecture: Stephen Gillers, Emily Kempin Professor of Law at New York University School of Law, "Do Lawyers Share Moral Responsibility for Torture at Guantanamo and Abu Ghraib?"
March 8, 4:00-5:00 pm, Pedersen Pavilion: Dean Hurd and the Class of 2005 will officially kick-off this year's Class Gift Pledge Campaign for the 3rd-year law students. For more information contact Barb Suderman at 217-333-2628 or sudermn@law.uiuc.edu.
March 11-12, Max L. Rowe Auditorium: Undercover Policing and Emerging Enforcement Powers: Perspectives from Two Sides of the Atlantic Conference. For more information see www.law.uiuc.edu/conferences/policing/index.asp.
March 14, 6:30-8:30 pm, Room B: Stage-Fright Workshop, sponsored by Professor Gunsalus.
March 15, 12:00-1:00 pm, Room 200: Lunch with the Dean. Students are welcome to stop by Room 202E to sign up for lunch with Dean Hurd.
March 15, 4:00-6:00 pm, Max L. Rowe Auditorium: Consul General of Japan Lecture: Yutaka Yoshizawa, Consul General of Japan, will discuss issues relating to the Japanese economy and the effects of the Tsunami. Sponsored by Japan House.
March 17, 4:00-5:00 pm, Max L. Rowe Auditorium: Chief Illiniwek Forum: Dr. Joseph Gone, Assistant Professor of Psychology and American Culture at the University of Michigan, will discuss Chief Illiniwek. For more information contact sba@law.uiuc.edu.
March 31, 4:00-6:00 pm, Room D: Rick Garcia, Political Director
of Equality Illinois, "Gay Rights: The Illinois Human Rights Act Amendment
and Beyond." Sponsored by the Sexual Orientation and Legal Issues Society
and the Law School Democrats. For more information contact solis@law.uiuc.edu.
