Law Students of Hope

This past Friday, Marquette Law School held a celebration of hope – hope for our community, hope for the legal profession, and hope for our institution.  The 2011 Posner Pro Bono Exchange between Fr.  Fred Kammer, S.J., director of the Jesuit Social Research Institute at Loyola University in New Orleans and Mike Gousha, Distinguished Fellow of Law and Public Policy at Marquette Law School, followed immediately by the induction of 91 new law student members of the Pro Bono Society (bringing the total to 103 for the academic year), was bounded by hope.

How could we alumni, staff, faculty, and donors in attendance not find hope and admiration for so many law students who committed themselves to placing their legal education at the service of those in need, without credit or compensation, even in the midst of a difficult economy and increasing academic competition?  There is no requirement to perform such voluntary service, yet, each year, an increasing number of our law students choose to perform more than fifty hours of supervised, law-related, volunteer service in our community.  Whether at the Marquette Volunteer Legal Clinic, the Legal and Medical Partnership for Families, the Marquette Foreclosure Mediation Program, the Marquette Legal Initiative for Nonprofit Corporations, or any of a dozen other programs or placements, these students render a real service to those in need – and in so doing, begin a career commitment to the principal of pro bono publico – service for the good of the public.

Fr. Kammer reminded us that service to others, particularly service to the most vulnerable among us, is at the heart of Catholic Social Teaching and thus, a central theme of Jesuit education. 

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Public Service Conference to Consider Consumer and Community Financial Protection

Please join us for “New Directions in Consumer and Community Financial Protection,” the 2011 Marquette University Law School Public Service Conference.  We have an outstanding lineup of speakers, including Greg Zoeller, the Attorney General of Indiana and co-chair of the National Association of Attorneys General Consumer Protection Committee; Charles Harwood, the Deputy Director for Consumer Protection at the U.S. Federal Trade Commission; Don Graves, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Small Business, Community Development, and Housing Policy, U.S. Department of Treasury; and Kathleen Keest, Policy Director at the Center for Responsible Lending.

The Conference will focus attention on consumer financial regulatory reform at both the state and federal level, with a particular emphasis on the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act and its implications for low-income and disadvantaged communities, and local enforcement of consumer protection laws.  The Conference will be held on Friday, February 25, 2011, in Eckstein Hall.  CLE credit is available, and attendees will enjoy breakfast, lunch, and a reception.  Review the entire Conference agenda here and register today.  I hope to see you there.

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What I Wish I Had Known When I Started Law School, Part V

I arrived late to law school. Not late in the figurative sense, as in “late in life,” but literally late. I had skipped orientation in favor of squeezing out the very last vestiges of swelter that passed for summer in Washington, D.C. I was overconfident — and I was late. These two particular traits plagued me for some time to come, and they proved antithetical to the practice of law. Why something so obvious was not obvious to me I do not know, but I repeat the story here as an incentive for current students to cultivate from the start much better habits.

Law school is not an easy endeavor. It requires rigorous attention to detail, thorough preparation, and psychological grit. Although I picked up on these themes, I entered the cocoon of a small and close-knit study group to do so. This can be an effective adaptive strategy, but there are many other methods of study and coping that are equally if not more useful. Find a method that works for you. And don’t shy away from challenging courses, or those you think you will never utilize. I very much doubted the career utility of many of the “business-oriented” classes, but I took them anyway and they proved to be among the most helpful in practice, since I ended up focusing on consumer law.

Gradually I also came to realize that there was life outside of law school and that it was I who was excluding it. 

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