Dear Friend,
From record bar passage rates to new joint degree programs, this past year Hamline Law School has blazed new trails while continuing to take pride in the qualities that have made Hamline a unique institution for legal education throughout our 35-year history. I'm pleased to be able to share an update with you on all we've accomplished during the past 12 months and to anticipate continuing successes for Hamline Law School during the coming months --- and years.
Our Recent Advances
First, I am pleased to share some of the highlights of the past year. We anticipate offering two new Joint Degree Programs for Fall 2008 enrollment. Hamline Law School has partnered with Hamline University Graduate School of Liberal Studies to create the JD/MFA in creative writing and the Hamline University Graduate School of Management to launch a JD/MBA.
Approved last spring, the JD/MFA provides a dramatically expanded interdisciplinary approach to writing and exploration of social and political issues through fiction and creative nonfiction writing.
In its final stages of development, the JD/MBA reinforces themes central to both schools' educational focus. Ethics, global awareness, strategic change, conflict management, critical thinking, collaborative problem solving, and effective communication are skills emphasized by both schools. The JD/MBA will enable lawyers and business professionals involved with law to help start-up companies succeed and navigate the challenges of a highly complex, global marketplace.
Through both of these new programs and our other joint degree offerings, our graduates will be prepared to make a difference when they graduate, and to flourish in a changing world for decades to come. These innovative joint degree offerings allow our students to make the best of the Hamline University experience, which is an important strategic step for the future of Hamline and our students.
Of course, no recounting of highlights would be complete without also reflecting on the aspects of our law school that have been a source of pride for the past year, as well as for the many years previous.
The Hamline Law Students
The success of our students provides a wonderful validation of our efforts to identify successful members of the legal profession. Our academic enrollment quality and diversity within the class has remained strong, the July first-time bar passage rate climbed above 93%, and improved placement rates reflect that more than 94% of students seeking employment secured positions within nine months of graduation.
Equally important, more than half of our students actively participate in volunteer pro bono work while in law school, and many more provide legal services through clinical placements and externships/practica to those in need of legal services.
What attracts students to Hamline? We stress the importance of the faculty and the curriculum we teach. Our nationally recognized scholars remain dedicated teachers who spend time to ensure that their students understand the law and how it applies to the legal issues clients often face. We also stress a collaborative approach to lawyering. Our students often work in teams, developing the skills to work as colleagues and to work with lawyers on the other side of a case or transaction.
Of course, we also know that Hamline is a warm and welcoming environment. Our walls of family photographs and our never-ending supply of M&Ms make Hamline a school that students value and remember fondly. The little things add up to national recognition by The Princeton Review, naming Hamline one of the ten most welcoming environments for nontraditional law students in the country.
Three Institutes --- Platforms for Curricular, Programmatic and Scholarly Growth
Since 1993, Hamline has developed its expertise in dispute resolution into one of the world's premiere research institutions and training programs in alternative dispute resolution. At the same time, we knew we faced a challenge to broaden our nationally and internationally acclaimed programs while continuing to build on the excellence in dispute resolution.
In 2006 we launched the Hamline Health Law Institute as our second Institute, providing programs, training, scholarly research and important coursework in a critical area of our nation's political and economic future. In two years, it has garnered significant national attention, developing courses, highlighting significant work on health care reform, and propelling our faculty's scholarship to international attention.
Beginning later in 2008, we will be launching the Hamline Business Law Institute, as our long-anticipated third Institute. The Business Law Institute will carry an interdisciplinary entrepreneurial focus, emphasizing the intersection of commercial law, corporate law, intellectual property and international business transactions, which together dictate the success or failure of American companies and the U.S. economy. The program will follow the pattern of the Dispute Resolution Institute and the Health Law Institute in providing strong coursework for our students, interdisciplinary educational opportunities, engaging scholarship, and practical training opportunities for students and lawyers.
While our institutes provide the framework for our academic program, we continue to do much more. Through all our efforts, we stress our core values regarding public service and emphasis on professionalism and its concomitant commitment to our public duty. To further this emphasis, last year we formalized this commitment with the launch of the Public Law Community, which brings together students, faculty, lawyers, and activists from the community to work together on issues of common concern.
We also continue to host the Richard T. Oakes Inn of Court, encouraging professionalism and mentoring for students and young lawyers by involvement of more senior lawyers and judges. The Oakes Inn is part of the American Inns of Court and serves as an additional opportunity to mentor third-year law students while reinforcing a lifelong emphasis on professionalism.
The combination of Hamline's three institutes, our support of mentoring opportunities, and our dedicated Public Law Community provide a structure to our curriculum, allowing students to diversify their learning, specialize their interest, and expand their horizons as best suits their interests.
Giving and Support
We are accomplishing much, but we cannot do it without your assistance. Your financial support plays a critical role for the law school in assisting students to gain access to legal education, supporting our faculty's cutting-edge research, and improving our community through clinical programs, externships and outreach efforts. We simply cannot meet our goals without your help.
As we strive to encourage prospective law school applicants to make Hamline their first choice, the ongoing commitment of our alumni to the law school becomes an increasingly important factor. Active alumni participation and financial support are important attributes of the law school for our highly qualified dean candidates. In this competitive law school environment, your donation in any amount helps us to send the message that we have the strong support of our alumni base.
Please be sure to make a gift this year before June 30, 2008 (the end of our fiscal year). Many of you have already done so, and we truly appreciate your generosity. If you have not yet given, please take a moment and do so now. You may give a gift in any amount online any time by filling out the online giving form at www.hamline.edu/law/give.html.
Please take a moment now to renew your commitment to our law school. You can help attract the optimal leadership and student body to Hamline through your gift when your support our clinical programs, moot court teams or any other aspect of a quality legal education that is important to you.
Our Future
This spring, we have taken a great deal of time to reflect on the state of our law school in preparation for our standard American Bar Association accreditation visit that will take place in the fall. We look forward to sharing with the ABA team our recent accomplishments, as well as our consistent successes during the seven years since our last accreditation visit. Our faculty quality exceeds every ABA standard, and our faculty commitment to diversity in faculty, staff hiring and student recruitment have been unwavering, and our admissions criteria, bar passage rates and graduate employment rates remain extremely strong by both local and national standards.
We also have a plan to continue our success and growth into the future. Our ongoing search for the next dean of Hamline University School of Law has demonstrated that Hamline is a highly attractive institution, eliciting a pool of exceptional leaders. We remain on schedule to complete the hiring process in coming weeks and have our next dean on board for the 2008-2009 academic year.
During the next five years, under a Board of Trustees-approved strategic plan, we will review our mission to enhance our student-centered approach to legal education through identification, assessment, and continuous improvement on student learning outcomes. We constantly will assess our curriculum to enhance our ability to deliver the right education for our students. We have so much to look forward to in building on our historical success.
Thank you for your continued support of Hamline University School of Law. I look forward to sharing its very bright future with you.
Regards,
Jon M. Garon
Dean and Professor of Law