Dean's Column

Working Together

The annual mid-year meeting of the American Bar Association was held in Dallas, Texas the week of February 7. In conjunction with these annual mid-year meetings, the Section on Legal Education of the American Bar Association holds a workshop for the deans of ABA approved law schools. These workshops provide the opportunity for the deans to discuss important and developing issues in legal education. This year a significant portion of the agenda for the dean’s mid-year meeting was discussions of ways for law schools and state bar organizations to work together. In preparation for the meeting, deans were asked to provide to Dean Robert Walsh of Wake Forest University, the chair of the ABA Section on Legal Education, a description of ways the respective law schools and state bar associations of the state in which they are located work together. While this column will appear after the mid-year meeting, because of printing deadlines it is submitted in advance of the meeting. However, I anticipate that few, if any, law schools and state bars have a more meaningful or better working relationship than exists in here in West Virginia.

In responding to Dean Walsh’s inquiry, I reported that the West Virginia State Bar and the West Virginia University College of Law have for the past 20 years worked together to provide West Virginia Continuing Legal Education programs to the lawyers of our state. This joint venture between the State Bar and the College of Law has provided high quality, affordable continuing legal education programs throughout the State of West Virginia. The planning of the programs, selection of the presenter, the time and location is under the direction of the Continuing Legal Education Committee composed of members of the bar and representatives of the College of Law.

For a number of years, the law school dean has served as an ex-officio member of the West Virginia State Bar Board of Governors, and as such has regularly attended the quarterly meetings of the Board of Governors and has been offered the opportunity to participate in bar discussions. While the dean does not vote on matters coming before the Board of Governors, the dean is on the agenda for each meeting to make a report on behalf of the College of law. In addition, the dean, by virtue of that office, serves on a number of committees of the West Virginia State Bar.

The President and the President-Elect of the State Bar serve on the West Virginia University College of Law Visiting Committee. This Visiting Committee has 25 members and meets at least twice a year to provide counsel and advice to the dean and to assist with communication within the College of Law between the students, staff, faculty, and administrators; between the College of Law and West Virginia University administration; and between the College of Law and members of the legal profession.

The opportunity for the dean to attend the meetings of the Board of Governors and the representation of the President and President-Elect of the State Bar on the College of Law Visiting Committee contributes greatly to the communication between these two important segments of the legal profession in our state to the mutual benefit of each.

The dean of the College of Law is regularly invited to make a report on behalf of the College of Law at the annual meeting of the West Virginia State Bar, and a "Dean’s Column" appears in each issue of The West Virginia Lawyer. The opportunity to be on the agenda of the annual meeting of the members of the State Bar and to share information through the Dean’s Column in the monthly publication of The West Virginia State Bar, which is distributed to about 6,500 subscribers each month, provides an invaluable way for information from the law school to be communicated throughout our state.

The importance of the relationship between the law school and the legal profession in West Virginia is manifested to our entering students each year in orientation when representatives of the State Bar award a scholarship to one of the entering students on behalf of the members of the legal profession in West Virginia. While the scholarship provides very real and meaningful financial assistance to a needy and deserving student, it also underscores for the entering students how the legal profession and the College of Law are bound together by common goals. The scholarship awarded to the entering student each year continues to provide financial assistance to the student as long as he or she remains in good academic standing and the financial need continues. In addition, the West Virginia State Bar Auxiliary provides a scholarship for a student enrolled in our College of Law.

As I reported to Dean Walsh, these are some of the ways in which the State Bar and the College of Law "formally" work together. I further noted that the relationship between the bench and bar and our College of Law goes far beyond the formal relations described above. I explained that members of the bar actively assist the College of Law as adjuncts and with our Moot Court and Trial Advocacy programs, as members of the Development Council, Visiting Committee, and the West Virginia Law School Association. I reported that members of our faculty serve on committees of the State Bar or those appointed by the Court, such as to consider revision of the Rules of Civil or Criminal Procedure. I also noted that while the West Virginia State Bar is the mandatory bar organization in West Virginia, we are fortunate to enjoy meaningful and helpful relationships with the four voluntary bar associations in our state, The West Virginia Bar Association, The Mountain State Bar Association, the Defense Trial Counsel and the West Virginia Trial Lawyers Association.

We thank the members of the West Virginia State Bar and these voluntary organizations, both as entities and the individual members, for the many ways they contribute to our College of Law. It was with both a sense of pride and appreciation that I shared this information with the legal profession of this country.

At the February meeting of the West Virginia State Bar Board of Governors, the future of the legal profession was also an important issue. A significant portion of the discussion involved the proposed multi-disciplinary practice proposal, which is an issue facing the American Bar Association as well as the bar associations of each state. The members of the Board of Governors and its officers discussed the importance of the issue to the consumers in need of legal services, i.e., the public, and its implications to the legal profession. At the heart of the Board of Governors discussions was how do we disseminate information concerning this proposal to the members of the bar of West Virginia and then elicit from the members their position on this important issue. I join with the elected officers and representatives of the bar in urging the members of the bar in West Virginia to inform themselves on the issue of the multi-disciplinary practice proposals, to consider what the impact would be upon those whom we serve, and to understand what it means to us as members of our profession. While one’s initial impression may be that this issue affects only the very large firms in more populous areas, I left the Board of Governors meeting believing it is an issue of importance to the consuming public and all lawyers, regardless of the size of the firm or the community in which one practices.