Last August, I wrote that 'we are cautiously optimistic' as we move forward with our fall semester. I am pleased to say that optimism was fully warranted as we opened our campus with few glitches. So far this fall we have no reported coronavirus cases on our law campus. Our students and faculty are adjusting to the hybrid learning system -- coming to campus for some classes and attending remotely for others.
We are still operating under Oregon regulations allowing no more than 25 students in any classroom regardless of size. The hybrid system has required some audio upgrades in classrooms so that students on Zoom and students in the classroom can all hear each other as well as their professor. With some clever short-term workarounds, and expensive but worthwhile new classroom equipment, we are proud that legal instruction has continued unimpeded.
Our first-year students are doing well even under these most unusual circumstances. In my Zoom meetings with them, the 1L students note appreciation of our efforts to ensure that they have in-person class time to meet fellow students and form bonds with them. They also express appreciation for faculty who are using new techniques to teach in the hybrid model and finding new ways to engage students in discussion. It is not easy for faculty to simultaneously manage both a classroom and the Zoom rooms. But the Socratic method is still alive and well – remember your days when you hoped you were invisible in class because you weren’t as prepared as you wanted to be? No such luck!
Outside of the classroom, the law school has been busy. Our clinics are engaged with the community as they provide practical training for students; our faculty scholarship is strong, recognized by colleagues throughout the nation; and our employment data for graduates continues to look promising. Alumni and friends are increasingly supporting students and law school initiatives with donations. (If you want to join them, click here).
As we move forward, there is much we cannot predict in this COVID era. Stress and anxiety flair up and down for our students, faculty, and staff, as I suspect they do for you. Please take care of yourselves and know that I look forward to seeing you soon in person!
My very best,
Global Law Alliance Champions Wild Animals, Wild Spaces at Lewis & Clark Law School
Combining its nationally recognized expertise in environmental law and animal law, Lewis & Clark Law School announced the creation of the Global Law Alliance for Animals and the Environment (the “Alliance”). The Alliance is a champion for wild animals and wild spaces across the globe, working to protect animals and the environment through the development, implementation, and enforcement of international law. Law students (JD and LLM) actively participate in the work through two clinics within the Alliance. Read more...
Lewis & Clark Law School Ranked #2 in Public Interest Jobs for 2019
Lewis & Clark Law School ranks #2 in the nation for full-time, long-term (FTLT) public interest job placement, based on Class of 2019 employment data and ABA disclosures from all law schools. Read more...
Lewis & Clark Law Student Legal Observers Attend Portland Protests
Lewis & Clark law students were highlighted in the October 2020 issue of Multnomah Lawyer for their work as Legal Observers (LO) during the protests that have been happening every night since May 25 in downtown Portland. Read more....
LITC Secures Win for Jamaican Farmworkers
The Low Income Taxpayer Clinic (LITC) is co-counseling with attorney Ellen Kreitmeier to represent several farmworkers from Jamaica who were in the United States on H2A visas to harvest apples in 2018. The IRS rejected the farmworkers’ claims for a personal exemption based on a misapplication of a provision in the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. This caused the farmworkers to pay taxes on every dollar earned. Read more...
Alum Works to Pass First Emergency COVID Workplace Standards in Virginia
Jason Yarashes ’12, lead attorney and program coordinator of the Virginia Justice Project for Farm and Immigrant Workers at the Legal Aid Justice Center, led the charge to get Virginia to pass the first COVID-19 enforceable emergency workplace standard in the United States. Other states, including Oregon, are using this development to try and push their respective states and localities to do the same. Read more...
Student Spends Summer Firefighting and Clerking
Jacqueline O’Keefe (3L), shared with us her experience as a firefighter, and clerking this summer for a federal judge: “The 2020 season was my sixth season fighting fire. I started in 2014 on a contract fire engine company owned by my friend’s dad. Contract fire engines and crews get called by the state, tribal, or federal government when there are not enough government resources to respond to a fire. It took some getting used to. On my first fire, of the 25 person ‘strike team’, I was the youngest, least experienced, and the only woman. You also generally work 16-hour shifts for two weeks straight then get two days off and go right back out. Read more...
Lewis & Clark Law School Co-Hosts International Peacemaking Colloquium
Lewis & Clark Law School co-hosted with the National American Indian Court Judges Association (NAICJA) the international 2020 Peacemaking Colloquium which highlighted Tribal/Indigenous/State dispute resolutions with participants from the United States, Ireland, Columbia, England, and Scotland.Read more...
Leveraging U.S. Law for the International Protection of Pangolins
The Global Law Alliance took action to protect pangolins through the filing of a petition under the Pelly Amendment, 22 U.S.C. § 1978, in response to the conservation crisis facing pangolins.Read more...
The passing of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the second woman to ever sit on the nation’s highest court, saddened the Lewis & Clark community. In 1992, Ruth and Marty Ginsberg delivered the commencement address; the law school shared the full text of that address, in this news story. Read more...
Faculty News
First Recipient of the Huffman Scholarship Award Announced
Professor Jim Oleske is the first recipient of the annual Huffman Scholarship Award, which recognizes outstanding faculty scholarship. Emeritus Dean and Professor James Huffman endowed the award to be given annually to a faculty member chosen by a three-member faculty committee, based on scholarship written the year prior. Read more...
Professor Lydia Loren’s Article Selected as Best Law Review Article
Dr. Raj Reddy Leads Global Animal Law and Animal Law LLM Degree Program
Dr. Rajesh K. Reddy is stepping into a new role as the Global Animal Law and Advanced Degree Program Director for the Center for Animal Law Studies (CALS) at Lewis & Clark Law School, after serving as the Animal Law LLM Program Director since 2018. Read more...
Alum & Student Awards
24th Annual Mentor & Mentee Award Winners
The 24th Annual Lewis & Clark Law School 1L Mentor Program honored mentors Elizabeth Savage ’14 and Ryan Kunkel ’15 with the Andrea Swanner Redding Award. Mentees Chloe Williams ’22 and Jenna Richards ’22 both received the Outstanding Mentee of the Year Award. This year, the in-person ceremony was canceled due to COVID-19.Read more...
Environmental Law Alums & Students Honored
Lewis & Clark’s environmental law program honored several alumni on October 13, 2020 in a virtual event. Three alums were honored as Distinguished Environmental Law Graduates in recognition of their significant contributions to the environmental or natural resources law fields. Read more...
Alums Honored by the Oregon State Bar
The Oregon State Bar is honoring four alumni from Lewis & Clark Law School: Román D. Hernández ’00, Rob Schecter ’11, Olivier Jamin JD ’17, LLM ’18, and John Haub ’76. The2020 Annual Awards, will be presented on November 6, 2020, in a virtual ceremony. Read more...
