Letter From the Dean
Open gallery
Goodbye and Hello
Dear Alumni and Friends:
This past year, we celebrated the centennial of Lewis & Clark Law School. Thank you so very much to the many alumni and friends who helped make our 100th year one of our very best. We appreciate your time and effort in mentoring our students, your continued willingness to lend your expertise to our community, your help for our graduates in their job searches, and of course, your generous financial support. I hope to see many of you at alumni gatherings around the country during this next academic year.
This spring, we not only said goodbye to 200 graduating students, but we also bid farewell to Martha Spence, our long-serving associate dean of students. In addition, we said goodbye to three of our distinguished faculty members who are retiring after a collective 146 years of teaching, scholarship, and leadership: Ed Brunet, the Henry J. Casey Professor of Law; Professor Steve Kanter, who served as dean of our school from 1986 to 1994; and Paula Abrams, the Edward Brunet Professor of Law, have now assumed their new titles as professors emeritus. We thank them for their tireless dedication and service to our school!
This fall, we said hello to 176 talented, energetic, and excited new law students. In spite of the nationwide decline in law school applications, our talented admissions team recruited a wonderful 1L class. We have high hopes for their future success. Our new students come from 27 states. Women constitute 53 percent of our new class, and ethnic minorities make up 23 percent. I wish to give special thanks to our scholarship donors who made it possible for many of these outstanding students to attend Lewis & Clark Law School.
As we enter our next century, we continue to celebrate our history and the solid foundation constructed by the amazing faculty and alumni of the Northwestern School of Law of Lewis & Clark College. We are surrounded by bright minds, passionate hearts, and generous supporters. These are the pillars that support us as we say goodbye to an exceptional first century and hello to our bright future.
I hope you enjoy this issue of the Advocate, which considers the past and future of energy law and introduces you to a diverse group of alumni working in that field, gives some parting words from our retiring faculty and staff, and highlights a few of the special events and awards we celebrated last year.
I am honored to serve as your dean.
Dean and Erskine Wood Sr. Professor of Law
