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BY ROBERT V. WHITMORE
With its foundation firmly established on the Michigan State University campus, MSU-DCL continues to enhance the student learning experience through innovative curriculum, a diverse faculty and new technology.
Associate Dean Michael Lawrence |
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Now in its sixth year as a private law college centered on a Big Ten campus, MSU-DCL has evolved into a technologically advanced law school with a global focus.
“Innovation is really the term that I would use to describe where we are today,” says Associate Dean and Professor Michael Lawrence. “We’re at the stage now where we really are seeking to innovate and upgrade our program to meet the needs of today’s students.”
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“We’re at the stage now where we really are seeking to innovate and upgrade our program to meet the needs of today’s students.”
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The new Geoffrey Fieger Trial Practice Institute is a prime example of an innovative program that provides students with an extra measure of preparation for a law career. “Historically we have been recognized for our training of trial lawyers,” Lawrence says. “We’re building on that history with the trial practice institute.”
New in 2001, the trial practice program includes 14 credit hours of focused course work, hands-on learning opportunities, and mentoring from trial attorneys, judges and law professors. The program provides one of two certificates available to law students. The other program is in child and family advocacy, offered jointly with the MSU School of Social Work.
“These programs have been embraced by students,” Lawrence says. “We’re not stopping there. We’re seeking to add new certificate programs and are now discussing adding a certificate in entertainment and sports law.”
In an era where some students already know in which area of law they want to practice, MSU-DCL also continues to expand its concentrations. This year the college added three new concentrations in Corporate Law, Environmental & Natural Resource Law and Health Law to go along with offerings in International & Comparative Law and Taxation. Completion of a certificate of concentration is noted on the transcript, Lawrence says, and “communicates to future employers and the world that the student has a focused course of study in their chosen area.”
Students also have opportunities for real-world experience through participation in the Rental Housing Clinic and the Tax Clinic, where they provide legal and tax services to low-income residents and foreign taxpayers in the Greater Lansing area. In addition, students find ample opportunities to prepare for a career in law through internships, externships and clerkships, along with participation in the Moot Court, MSU-DCL Law Review and other publications, the Student Bar Association and a variety of student organizations.
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“The legal systems are going to have to be linked in and harmonized, and lawyers are going to have to be able to deal with those different legal systems.”
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A global view
As the economies of the United States, Canada and Mexico become more intertwined, MSU-DCL remains committed to providing opportunities for its students to receive training in cross-border transactions. Through the Canadian Semester Abroad program, scheduled to start in Spring 2002, students can enroll at the University of Ottawa School of Law for up to one semester. A similar agreement with the law
Professor John Reifenberg, Jr.
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college at Pan Americana University in Mexico is also in the planning stages and could launch in the summer of 2002, according to John Reifenberg, Jr., professor of law and executive director of the Center for Canadian-U.S. Law. Both new programs are awaiting approval of the American Bar Association.
“Legal business follows trade,” Reifenberg says, noting that the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) has created a structure for joining the economies of the U.S., Canada and Mexico. “Once you join the economies,” he adds, “the legal systems are going to have to be linked in and harmonized, and lawyers are going to have to be able to deal with those different legal systems.” Reifenberg plans to continue building programs with law schools in both Canada and Mexico to expand student learning opportunities.
Charles Ten Brink, director of technology and library services
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Charles Ten Brink, director of library and technology services and professor of law, envisions a day in the not-too-distant future when students will enroll at MSU-DCL and receive a personal computing device that contains text books, statutes, cases and other collateral material.
“We’re on the cusp—in the next five or six years—of being able to present our students with a small instrument on which they have all of their course materials for the coming year,” Ten Brink says. The instruments merge the technology of the laptop, electronic books and handheld devices. “They’re about the size of one large text book,” Ten Brink says. “So instead of carting around your laptop and five or six huge text books in a backbreaking backpack, imagine having this one little instrument that would carry everything you need.”
While Canada and Mexico provide a natural focus for international studies, Reifenberg says that MSU-DCL is pursuing links with other law programs around the world, including an agreement with Vytautas Magnus University in Kaunas, Lithuania, to offer a graduate-level certificate in transnational law. The law college also has a “legal aid” agreement with a university in Kosovo to provide pro bono assistance to rebuild a law school destroyed during the military conflict there. Initial discussions are also under way that would create relationships with law programs in Chile and China.
At the forefront of technology
Today’s students are more comfortable than ever with web-based learning. Of the 252 students in this year’s incoming class, 100 percent reported they owned a laptop,
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Students attend a lecture in one of MSU-DCL’s amphitheater classrooms.
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according to Andrea Heatley, assistant dean for admissions and financial aid. The Technology Initiatives Program, which provides free laptops to incoming students who qualify, helps ensure that MSU-DCL students will have the basic tools to succeed in a rigorous learning environment.
With its fully networked building on the MSU campus, MSU-DCL already has a strong vantage point to remain at the forefront of technology in legal education, according to Charles Ten Brink, director of library and technology services and professor of law. “We now need to establish wireless networking within the building as well, in a way that will really be useful for the students,” Ten Brink says. Wireless networking would “free students from connectivity issues” and enable them to log on without plugging in from the student lounges and other common areas.
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“Computers can do wonderful things. But to a greater extent curricular enhancement is not about computers in the classroom—it’s about delivering the curriculum on the computer outside the traditional classroom, and also outside the traditional structure for delivering information.”
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While technology upgrades can keep MSU-DCL at the leading edge, the focus should remain on preparing students to practice law, Ten Brink believes. “It’s easy to get caught up in the bells and whistles that are available, separate and apart from what technology is doing to enhance the students’ legal education. We want to focus on the educational aspect of technology.
“We’re beginning to focus more on the delivery of curriculum—not necessarily in the classroom,” he adds. “People talk about computers in the classroom, and they [computers] can do wonderful things. But to a greater extent curricular enhancement is not about computers in the classroom—it’s about delivering the curriculum on the computer outside the traditional classroom, and also outside the traditional structure for delivering information.”
A diversity of faculty interests
While the law college has made great strides in providing a leading edge infrastructure for student education, the strength of MSU-DCL continues to lie in its faculty and staff, according to Dean and Professor of Law Terence Blackburn.
“We pride ourselves on having faculty who are very engaged with and open to the students,” Blackburn says, “and I really think that is the hallmark of the educational program here. The faculty have very broad ranging interests in a wide variety of topics. They are very diverse. This creates a good climate of intellectual discourse and discussion.”
It also adds up to an institution that is always moving forward, providing the latest in innovative teaching and technology to ensure that graduates will fare well in the employment market. Class surveys indicate that about 90 percent of graduates are employed within six months of graduation, while 8 percent of graduates choose to continue their education with other graduate programs.
“I’m very excited about where we’re heading,” says Lawrence. “We have our eyes focused on the outside world. We know where we want to go and how we can best serve the students in helping them to accomplish what they ultimately want to do, which is practice law.”
Assistant Dean Andrea Heatley |
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By the Numbers
The profile of the incoming class includes increasing numbers of enrollees from Big Ten schools, a higher number of Canadian natives, and students with higher LSAT scores and undergraduate GPAs, according to Andrea Heatley, assistant dean for admissions and financial aid.
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The incoming class, by the numbers:
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| First-year students |
252 (200 day; 52 evening) |
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Percentage of men: 54
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Percentage of women: 46 |
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Average age of day students
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25
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| Average age of evening students |
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30 |
| Average LSAT score |
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152 |
| Average undergraduate GPA |
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3.1 |
| Percentage of students identifying themselves as minorities |
24 |
| Number of students from countries outside the U.S. |
17 |
| Number of states represented |
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21 |
| Number of undergraduate schools represented |
117 |
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