Dean's Column

FALL PREVIEW

It is too early to think about the end of summer. My "to-do" list suggests it should still be early June. My golf game is certainly not in mid-season form, and Susie and I are still planning most of the "fun things" we wanted to do this summer. When the academic year ended with commencement on Mother's Day, it seemed a real bonus to begin our summer in mid-May. However, in mid-July the academic year calendar means that summer is now almost over. Therefore, planning for the fall semester is well underway and I would like to share with you some of the events and activities planned for the fall semester.

The summer Trial Advocacy Program, which has been very successful and popular with our students, is scheduled to begin on Sunday, August 6. This NITA-type program makes it possible for students to satisfactorily complete the Trial Advocacy requirement in a compressed nine-day period. A student/faculty ratio of 4 to 1 provides a great deal of individual instruction for each student and provides a very effective way for the students to learn basic trial skills.

The following week on August 16 we will welcome the Class of 2003 and begin orientation. We continue to look at what we do during our orientation in an effort to better acquaint our entering students with what will be expected of them in law school and to give them an understanding of the types of study skills and work ethic that will be needed to succeed academically in the College of Law. Also during orientation we want our students to begin to appreciate the ethical obligations of our profession. Classes for the fall semester begin on Monday, August 21.

Fall semester is always a busy time on our campus. The University traditionally schedules a number of activities in conjunction with home football games. This year the University has set the fall Visiting Committees meetings for Friday, September 15 and Saturday, September 16 in conjunction with the Maryland football game. The College of Law's Visiting Committee plays an important role in facilitating communication within the law school and between the law school and the University, and in helping us to keep in touch with all aspects of the legal profession.

On Sunday, September 17, we will welcome to Morgantown and to our campus the ABA/AALS site visitation committee. This committee, comprised of seven members, is chaired by a dean and includes a law librarian, a clinician, representatives of the American Bar Association and the Association of American Law Schools, and non-law school university administrators. They will be visiting our College of Law Monday through Wednesday. They begin and end their visit with a meeting with the President and Provost; visit essentially every class offered during that period of time; meet with faculty, staff, students, administrators and representatives of the West Virginia legal profession; and, in spite of the enormous amount of materials that will be provided to them in advance, will undoubtedly have a number of additional questions. The self-study, which has been discussed in previous Dean's Columns, constitutes the strategic planning component associated with the sabbatical reaccreditation.

On Friday, September 29, we will welcome a panel of judges from the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals to our College of Law to hear cases. This will be the first time that judges from the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals have heard cases at our College of Law, and this, combined with annual visit of the West Virginia Supreme Court during the second semester, will provide an exceptional learning experience for students during the 2000-01 academic year.

On Friday and Saturday, October 6-7, the University has scheduled the Fall Family Weekend in conjunction with the Idaho football game. Given the demand for tickets and hotel rooms, the University has not scheduled additional activities in conjunction with the Notre Dame game on October 21 and, except for the CLE program, we have not scheduled any additional activities at the College of Law. The Dean's Partners Dinner will be held on Friday, October 27 at the College of Law. This annual event is to express appreciation for those contributions to the College of Law at the Dean's Partners level or higher. This is also the weekend of the Morgantown Balloon Festival which will provide additional color and festival air to the community. On Friday, November 3 we will celebrate Law School Day in conjunction with Homecoming Weekend and our football game with Syracuse. Again, this year Law School Day will be on a Friday (November 3) with a buffet in the College of Law atrium. We will welcome the Class of 1950 to the Emeritus Club and the reunion classes of 1955, 1960, 1965, 1970, 1975, 1980, 1985, 1990, and 1995. Again the emphasis will be on the opportunity to visit with one's classmates and to reminisce about bygone days. The lack of a "formal program" at Law School Day has been well received the last several years and places the emphasis on the reunion aspect of the weekend. We will celebrate Mountaineer Week November 10-18 with the annual Crafts Fair and Quilt Show scheduled for November 10, 11, and 12. Mountaineer Week activities conclude on November 18 with the East Carolina football game.

As has been true for the past 20 years, the Mountaineer CLE series will be offered in conjunction with the home football games. This joint venture between the West Virginia State Bar and the College of Law has provided high quality continuing legal education programs at affordable prices to the members of our bar since the new Mountaineer Field opened in 1980. As I noted in a previous Dean's Column, now that we have the "stadium steps" over law school hill, the short journey from the law center to the stadium has been made considerably easier but not nearly as adventurous.

In addition, when the students return this year they will do so to a newly renovated student lounge, made possible by a generous gift from a donor who at this time wishes to remain anonymous. While change is often difficult for some to accept, I have yet to encounter the first person to express regret or remorse with replacing the orange upholstered furniture which has dominated the student lounge since the move to the "new" law school in 1974.

Before the semester ends with finals beginning on Wednesday, December 6 (and ending on Saturday, December 16), we anticipate the dedications of the Steptoe & Johnson and Jackson & Kelly Professorships and several other endowments of a similar size.

As this preview of the fall semester indicates, it will be an active fall in which our College of Law will be engaged with the legal profession in our state, with the legal community in this country, and in campus activities. The visit of the Fourth Circuit panel and the speakers in the various lecture series will provide intellectual stimulation for the law school community and the celebration of the endowment gifts give promise of even better days in the years ahead.