Message from the Dean

We want to be great – not just good

The Law School of the future must have ambitions that are national and international in scope. Our curriculum and long-term planning reflect these goals.

The spring is now in full bloom, signifying the vitality of the season. This is a great cue, because there has never been a better time to be a member of the larger UB Law community. Just as the change of the seasons reflects a new beginning, the reforms that are occurring at UB Law are nothing short of a renaissance. Over the past year, we have attracted an excellent student body, hired new faculty with star potential, brought good governance and accountability in the Law School, and forged deeper relationships with our alumni, the bench and the bar. And we have reached out to Albany to make our case for support since we are the only public law school in the SUNY system.

Commencement at UB Law this year will be very memorable for our graduates and the community. It will be headlined by Prime Minister Raila Odinga of Kenya, who will deliver the Commencement Address on the rule of law. Prime Minister Odinga is one of the most charismatic politicians of our times. The commencement will also be special because SUNY will confer honorary doctorates to two prominent lawyers and global citizens. Irene Khan, the secretary general of Amnesty International, the world’s largest and most influential human rights organization, will be one of the honorees. The other will be J. Mason Davis Jr. ’59, a civil rights attorney who played an important role in the desegregation of Alabama in the 1960s.

You will recall that last year’s entering class was the most qualified in our history as measured by LSAT and GPA statistics. It was also diverse. As a result of that stellar class, the caliber of our applicant pool has gone up this year. We have every expectation that we will hold, and perhaps exceed, last year’s achievements. The academic profile of our student body is a big factor in our standing among law schools, and is a central plank for our push to be a top 50 law school in the country. This is one of the measures of academic excellence, and we are pursuing it vigorously. But I want to assure you that we are doing so while constructing a law school that looks like America. I could not be more pleased with the new faculty that we have hired over the past year. We have hired six new faculty with star potential. Last fall, we hired Professor Stuart Lazar (JD Michigan) to teach tax and Professor Ruqaiijah Yearby (JD Georgetown) to teach public health law. Four new faculty will join us in this fall. Professor Michael Halberstam (JD Stanford, PhD Yale) for civil procedure and civil rights law; Professor Wentong Zheng (JD, PhD Stanford) will teach commercial law; Professor Tara Melish (JD Yale) will teach international law and human rights; and Professor S. Todd Brown (JD Columbia) for bankruptcy, torts and corporations. These new professors have practice experience in major firms or organizations.

We are also becoming a destination for renowned faculty around the country. Professor Angela Harris from Berkeley Law School, a nationally known scholar in criminal law, will join the Law School in the fall as a visiting professor and Baldy Center Distinguished Scholar for the year to teach criminal law. We know she will greatly enrich our law school, and look forward to welcoming her among us.

Even though the economic crisis has hit us hard, we hope to hire several more faculty next year because of several departures. Professors Janet Lindgren, Judy Scales-Trent and Barry Boyer are retiring, and Professor Markus Dubber is leaving for the University of Toronto.

I believe that the mission of the Law School is to produce great attorneys and influential scholarship. In this regard, we are taking steps to create a rich and balanced curriculum. That is why we created this spring the Legal Skills Program to bring curriculum and administrative rationale, oversight and coherence to all skills offerings.

The Legal Skills Program will be headed by a tenured faculty member. We are carrying out internal reforms geared to more accountability and transparency in all our operations – academics, teaching and scholarship by faculty, oversight and coherence in our adjunct faculty, faculty governance and quality control across the board. All the units in the Law School – admissions, technology, communications and alumni relations, the law library, development, placement and the registrar’s office – are being capacitated to fulfill their missions. We have instituted town-hall meetings with students every semester to openly hear their concerns.

I believe that UB Law must be a national law school, not a regional one. The Law School of the future must have ambitions that are national and international in scope. Our curriculum and long-term planning reflect these goals. We are reaching out to all our alumni across the country to establish structures of support and advice. This is vital because no law school can aspire to greatness without the vibrant support of its alumni. Our alumni are generous and must continue to support us at higher levels as we raise funds for tuition scholarships to compete for top-notch students and establish chairs and professorships to attract and retain star faculty. We are reaching out to the bar and bench – locally and nationally – to create strong bonds. It is these efforts that we hope will help us build a stronger school with an excellent reputation.

Last, but not least, I want to share with you some good news. My ambition for UB Law is not simply to be an OK or good law school. I want UB Law to be a great law school – among the top 50 in the country. You will remember the pain we felt last year when we fell to 100 in the rankings. Well – because of the reforms that we are undertaking – we had an uptick of 15 points to 85 this year. That was the second-highest gain in the country. While I continue to have serious concerns about the matrix and methodology used to calibrate the rankings, we would be foolish to ignore their impact. Even so, I am convinced that our rankings will continue to rise with your support and the hard work and shared commitment of many people. I wish all of you a great and relaxing summer!