Spring Break
Pa. Dept. of Education inspects law school site
By: Chirag Desai
Issue date: 8/19/05 Section: News
Originally published: 8/19/05 at 12:53 AM EST
Last update: 8/19/05 at 1:04 AM EST
Originally published: 8/19/05 at 12:53 AM EST
Last update: 8/19/05 at 1:04 AM EST
Dept. of Education visit
A site team from the Pennsylvania Department of Education conducted a three-day site visit at the University July 27-29 to examine its application to open the law school in Sept. 2006. The five-member team reviewed various data and reports, including opinion pieces that were critical of the proposal itself. They also met with approximately 60 people all over campus, including a dozen students, various faculty, practicing attorneys and judges, all of the Senior Vice Presidents and more than a dozen trustees.
The team comprised two practicing lawyers - one from a local corporation, the other from outside Pennsylvania - one law professor and a law school dean emeritus, both of whom have served on many American Bar Association accreditation teams and one higher education specialist from the Departmnet.
"We viewed this visit as the pass/fail mid-term when there is only one test that matters: the ABA accreditation visit that won't happen until the second year the law school is up and running [October 2007]," University General Counsel and Chair of the Law School Development Committee Carl Oxholm, said. "It was our one chance to find out what we were doing wrong, so we could get it all right before the final exam. We wanted tough graders, and we got them."
Various people who met the team - always in confidence, behind closed doors - noted that they were extremely aggressive. The team met with a group of undergraduate and graduate students for an hour at the Westphal Picture Gallery. The PDE team noted that students had precisely identified issues that were key to the law school's success. They also said that they had added vital input to understanding the efforts that were being placed to make the law school a success.
The students themselves had mixed reactions to the meeting. "The representatives from the [Department of Education] made it seem that they felt the library would need to be improved by adding a law school," Jackie Lannutti, a sophomore majoring in Business Administration, said. "There are a few good things and a few bad things about Drexel getting a law school...[I] don't think getting a law school should be a the expense of students who are already here and programs that already exist." Crystal Axelrod, a senior majoring in sociology, however, felt that the meeting was "heavily focused on engineering majors with some business and health science."
"it was a complete waste of my time," she added.
At the end of the visit, the Team met with University President Constantine Papadakis, Oxholm, Vice President for Enrollment Management Joan McDonald, and two faculty members of the Law School Development Committee and provided an oral report of the visit.
"The Team gave us high marks for designing a law school that they concluded would add value to Drexel University, to the region, and to the Commonwealth," Oxholm said. "They noted that we had set a very ambitious schedule for ourselves, and that we were proposing to do things that would be new to legal education." He also added that the team were impressed by what had been accomplished in a short span of time, and ended by saying that they believed the University had the resources and energy to turn its vision into reality.
Faculty and Staff
The Law school development committee is currently working actively to search for its inaugural set of faculty that will develop the curriculum for the law school.
Marci Hamilton, the Paul R. Verkuil Chair in public law and director of the intellectual-property law program at the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law at Yeshiva University, was appointed to help design the intellectual-property curriculum for the College of Law, according to a University press release. Cardozo School of Law IP program is regarded as one of the highest-ranked intellectual-property programs in the nation, according to U.S. News & World Report.
The University has also hired a Pre-Law professional Coordinator, currently working with the Steinbright Career Development Center. Grant Keener's primary responsibilities include advising students and alumni on law school admissions and financial aid and also developing a comprehensive pre-law advising program.
Keener says that so far, he has found that most students and alumni are excited about the law school project and that having a law school will significantly help boost the University into the ranks of high-regarded and nationally prominent doctoral institutions. He added that there is concern, however, that the law school not initially be accredited. "This is a legitimate point of inquiry, but should not - in my judgement - be cause for undue concern," Keener said. "The reality is that no law school is ABA approved when it first opens."
He pointed out that seven law schools have received provisional or full-accreditation since 2000 and that he believes that even though there are "no absolute guarantees, there is, in my opinion, no reason to believe that Drexel will not be similarly successful in obtaining ABA approval."
A site team from the Pennsylvania Department of Education conducted a three-day site visit at the University July 27-29 to examine its application to open the law school in Sept. 2006. The five-member team reviewed various data and reports, including opinion pieces that were critical of the proposal itself. They also met with approximately 60 people all over campus, including a dozen students, various faculty, practicing attorneys and judges, all of the Senior Vice Presidents and more than a dozen trustees.
The team comprised two practicing lawyers - one from a local corporation, the other from outside Pennsylvania - one law professor and a law school dean emeritus, both of whom have served on many American Bar Association accreditation teams and one higher education specialist from the Departmnet.
"We viewed this visit as the pass/fail mid-term when there is only one test that matters: the ABA accreditation visit that won't happen until the second year the law school is up and running [October 2007]," University General Counsel and Chair of the Law School Development Committee Carl Oxholm, said. "It was our one chance to find out what we were doing wrong, so we could get it all right before the final exam. We wanted tough graders, and we got them."
Various people who met the team - always in confidence, behind closed doors - noted that they were extremely aggressive. The team met with a group of undergraduate and graduate students for an hour at the Westphal Picture Gallery. The PDE team noted that students had precisely identified issues that were key to the law school's success. They also said that they had added vital input to understanding the efforts that were being placed to make the law school a success.
The students themselves had mixed reactions to the meeting. "The representatives from the [Department of Education] made it seem that they felt the library would need to be improved by adding a law school," Jackie Lannutti, a sophomore majoring in Business Administration, said. "There are a few good things and a few bad things about Drexel getting a law school...[I] don't think getting a law school should be a the expense of students who are already here and programs that already exist." Crystal Axelrod, a senior majoring in sociology, however, felt that the meeting was "heavily focused on engineering majors with some business and health science."
"it was a complete waste of my time," she added.
At the end of the visit, the Team met with University President Constantine Papadakis, Oxholm, Vice President for Enrollment Management Joan McDonald, and two faculty members of the Law School Development Committee and provided an oral report of the visit.
"The Team gave us high marks for designing a law school that they concluded would add value to Drexel University, to the region, and to the Commonwealth," Oxholm said. "They noted that we had set a very ambitious schedule for ourselves, and that we were proposing to do things that would be new to legal education." He also added that the team were impressed by what had been accomplished in a short span of time, and ended by saying that they believed the University had the resources and energy to turn its vision into reality.
Faculty and Staff
The Law school development committee is currently working actively to search for its inaugural set of faculty that will develop the curriculum for the law school.
Marci Hamilton, the Paul R. Verkuil Chair in public law and director of the intellectual-property law program at the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law at Yeshiva University, was appointed to help design the intellectual-property curriculum for the College of Law, according to a University press release. Cardozo School of Law IP program is regarded as one of the highest-ranked intellectual-property programs in the nation, according to U.S. News & World Report.
The University has also hired a Pre-Law professional Coordinator, currently working with the Steinbright Career Development Center. Grant Keener's primary responsibilities include advising students and alumni on law school admissions and financial aid and also developing a comprehensive pre-law advising program.
Keener says that so far, he has found that most students and alumni are excited about the law school project and that having a law school will significantly help boost the University into the ranks of high-regarded and nationally prominent doctoral institutions. He added that there is concern, however, that the law school not initially be accredited. "This is a legitimate point of inquiry, but should not - in my judgement - be cause for undue concern," Keener said. "The reality is that no law school is ABA approved when it first opens."
He pointed out that seven law schools have received provisional or full-accreditation since 2000 and that he believes that even though there are "no absolute guarantees, there is, in my opinion, no reason to believe that Drexel will not be similarly successful in obtaining ABA approval."
