LSU has granted the Professor Emeritus title to three longtime and recently retired LSU Law professors in honor of their distinguished careers and service to the Paul M. Hebert Law Center: William E. “Bill” Crawford (posthumous), Paul Baier, and Wendell Holmes

“Professors Crawford, Baier, and Holmes are icons at the Paul M. Hebert Law Center who, during their combined 134 years of service to LSU Law, made tremendous contributions to our school and helped countless students master difficult topics and achieve their professional goals,” said LSU Law Interim Dean Lee Ann Wheelis Lockridge. “They are all already missed, each in his own way."

Professor Crawford taught his final class at LSU Law on Nov. 20, 2019 and retired in January 2020 as the longest-serving LSU faculty member in the university’s history. Along with teaching at LSU Law for 53 years, Professor Crawford was also an alumnus of LSU (1951) and LSU Law (1955), where he was editor-in-chief of Louisiana Law Review. He passed away on Jan. 2, 2021 at the age of 93. During his more than five decades at LSU Law, Professor Crawford taught Torts, Louisiana Civil Procedure, Products Liability, Security Devices, and Legal Ethics, and he also spent six summers teaching in Greece with the Tulane summer law program.

Professor Baier taught his final class on Wednesday, November 27, 2019 and retired in January 2020 after 47 years at LSU Law, during which he established himself as an expert in constitutional law, civil rights litigation, and appellate advocacy, serving as Special Assistant State Attorney General in several U.S. Supreme Court and Fifth Circuit cases, including the Louisiana higher education desegregation case. Along with teaching Constitutional Law I and II, Constitutional Law Seminar, Advanced Appellate Advocacy Seminar, the Constitution and American Civilization, and the Law Review Seminar at LSU Law, he also taught courses at the LSU Honors College with Professor James D. Hardy, Jr. as well as summer programs with U.S. Supreme Court Justices Harry A. Blackmun and Antonin Scalia.

Professor Holmes retired at the end of the Fall 2020 semester after 34 years at LSU Law, where he taught Contracts, Business Associations, Commercial Paper, UCC Sales, UCC Security Devices, and Obligations, among other courses. He taught his final class on Tuesday, Nov. 24, 2020, following a semester of teaching a hybrid mix of in-person and online classes; a semester like none other before it, aside perhaps from the one preceding it. Professor Holmes joined the LSU Law faculty in Fall 1987 after teaching for four years at the University of Mississippi School of Law and serving as a visiting professor at LSU Law during the fall semester in 1986. During his time at LSU Law, Professor Holmes often served in faculty leadership positions, chairing the Promotion & Tenure Committee and other committees on a regular basis.

We are on a mission—one that we know our late alumnus, friend, and dedicated supporter Gene Fendler would whole-heartedly endorse. Gene loved the Paul M. Hebert Law Center and our students. He celebrated their accomplishments and encouraged them through their struggles. Gene was a truly remarkable family man, lawyer, and leader.

LSU Law, working with family and friends, has established the Gene Fendler Memorial Scholarship to support the financial needs of today’s students. Our core mission is to produce outstanding graduates for the legal profession—the profession that Gene deeply loved and loyally supported. But, today, students struggle as they finance more and more of their legal studies. Student debt, now averaging over $80,000 upon graduation, has a significant impact on our graduates and their lives. Gene cared about the welfare of our graduates, and a scholarship in Gene’s name will provide needed financial support to our students.

Prior to his passing in October 2020, Gene had advised our students, saying, “You could not have chosen a better law school than LSU Law. Even in these uncertain times, the preparation for your legal career is second to none. Pay attention to the professors, study hard, and you will find that it was all worth it. The three years will pass quickly, but the legal skills and friends you make will last a lifetime.”

Our goal is to establish the Gene Fendler Memorial Scholarship with $100,000—and with your help, we can reach our goal.

Make your donation to the Gene Fendler Memorial Scholarship online at lsufoundation.org/fendler, and thank you for your support of LSU Law and our students! Contact Karen Soniat at 225-938-7763 or ksonia2@lsu.edu for more information or if you’d like to make your gift by stock.

Michele Forbes, who retired as LSU Law Registrar and Director of Student Academic Services on Sept. 30, 2020 after 36 years of service to LSU and the Paul M. Hebert Law Center, has been honored by LSU with the title of Director Emeritus. Forbes also recently received the Distinguished Service Award from the Southern Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers (SACRAO) for her career of service in the admissions and records profession.

Forbes began her career at LSU in 1984, when she joined the LSU Office of Admissions as a clerk, and she served in the office for approximately 15 years. In 1999, she joined the LSU Law staff as Director of Admissions and Student Affairs, and in 2004 she was appointed Registrar and Director of Student Affairs (later revised to Registrar and Director of Student Academic Services). Forbes was an integral part of the LSU Law leadership team for more than 20 years, spearheading much of the innovation that has improved admissions and student services.

In our latest Dean's Council Spotlight, 1995 LSU Law graduate Jennifer Anderson talks about her work as an employment litigator at Baker Donelson in Baton Rouge, shares her advice to current law students, and discusses why she supports LSU Law and the Dean's Council.

"I am grateful for my legal education and the career it set in motion," she says. "It just feels right to give back and contribute to the continuation and enhancement of the law school’s programs and services."

Growing up in Waycross, a small, rural city in southeast Georgia where “few Black men or women were employed in the legal profession,” LSU Law 3L DeMetris Causer says his family encouraged him to pursue a legal education and “become the change I desperately wanted to see.”

Now, Causer is preparing to become the first member of his family to obtain a post-graduate degree and the first to enter the legal profession.

“After graduating, I will return to Georgia and sit for the Georgia Bar Exam. More, I will begin my legal career either in the public sector, ideally with the City of Atlanta’s Legal Department, or in the private sector with the firm I clerked with following my 1L year,” says Causer. “My career goal is to remain active with my community and run for local, state, or national office. Above all, I have plans to start a family and raise children who will know that no matter their surroundings, they can become anything they set their minds to.”

During his time at LSU Law, Causer has established himself as an active student leader while excelling academically. He’s a three-year member and former president of the Black Law Students Association, a Board of Advocates member, and a Dean’s Scholar. He has spent a summer as a legal intern at the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, has been a legal extern with Build Baton Rouge, and he’s one of four students on the 16-member LSU Building Name Evaluation Committee.

As he prepares to graduate from LSU Law, Causer says the generous support of those who have helped fund his scholarships has played a vital role in his success.

Learn more about Causer — a recipient of the Lee Andrew Gallaspy Endowed Scholarship, Whitehead Law Firm Scholarship, and John Minor Wisdom Endowed Scholarship — and find out how you can support talented students like him through scholarships at LSU Law.

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