Fall 1983 – Issue 30 - Stanford Lawyer - Stanford University

attention to the establishment of aunified first-year curriculum-soonto be discussed by Dean Mannwhichwill incorporate the "bestfeatures" of the experimentalCurriculum B program.Looking to future curricular developments,Dean Ely announcedthat he had formed two new committees-oneon Law and Biotechnology,the other on Law and InformationScience - both including facultyfrom other schools in the University,to consider the implications for legaleducation of these fast-developingfields.The Dean also voiced his interestin "the study of law as a profession,"by which he meant not only professionalethics but also the sociology,economics, and "culture" of legalpractice, all areas where other academicdisciplines could shed light.Teaching methodology is anotherarea where fresh approaches areneeded, Dean Ely said. "How can wereinject the interest without reinjectingthe sadism?" The School thisyear made some changes in responseto this concern. One was to requirethat grades be entered in nearly all ofa student's courses. After the firstsemester, he explained, studentswill be able to take only five courseson a "3K" (essentially pass/fail) basis.Previously they had been able totake all their courses 3K, though ofcourse few did. (At the same time, henoted, the School raised the mediangrade from 2.75 to 3.2, a level closerto that of equivalent law schoolsthroughout the country.)The School's students are, DeanEly reiterated, "outstanding." Theclass that entered in the 1982/83year had a median LSAT score of753, and their composite undergraduategrade point was 3.79. Themedian age has dropped slightly, to23, though there are several olderstudents with experience in the workworld and/or other disciplines. Theclass is roughly one-third female.Applications for the coming year(1983/84) dropped about 20 percentfrom the previous year, which wouldbe worrisome except that, Dean Elyexplained, similar drops have alsooccurred at the other leading lawschools. The reason appears to be afoul-up at the Law School AdmissionsServices, which in an earlyranking for their revised test placedsome scores in a lower percentilethan they should have been, apparentlydiscouraging a number ofpotential applicants from trying fortop schools.Dean ElyThe Dean expressed concern,however, over the recent decline inminority group members acceptingadmission to the School. Minorityrepresentation in entering classeshas dropped during the past threeyears from 22 percent to 16 percentto the present 11 percent. Thistrend, Dean Ely said, must not beallowed to continue. Consequently,financial aid - a cornerstone of anyminorities recruitment effort - is"my highest priority."The School this year accepted twobig grants that will help, he continued:the A. Calder Mackay ScholarshipFund that accompanied theendowment for the new MackayProfessorship; and the Harold G.King Financial Aid Fund (to be recognizedin the naming of the MootCourt room). Another effort toincrease student aid funds is focusedon the Carl B. Spaeth Fund, forwhich a mail appeal will go out inJune. The Dean welcomed suggestionsand assistance from membersof the Board of Visitors in thisimportant endeavor.Over all, he reported, the School'sfund-raising efforts have been goingwell. "We made our Law Fund goal"this year, he said, "and in additionhave received some generous' largegifts."Dean Ely then expressed his verygreat pleasure in meeting and gettingto know Stanford Law alumni/ae- "a really enjoyable part of thejob for me" - at events here at theSchool, and in gatherings throughoutthe country. The program for thepresent Board of Visitors meeting,he said, was designed with "a greatdeal of free, and two-way, communicationin mind." Opportunities forquestions and discussion were builtinto each of the sessions, and lunchesfeaturing student presentations anddiscussion were scheduled for thesecond day. Another form of feedback-from attorneys taking part inthe special panel on "SuccessfulLawyering" put together by BoardChair Les Duryea- should be takenas an invitation for further participation.Dean Ely encouraged the Visitorsto take full advantage of allopportunities, formal and informal,to exchange ideas and observationswith him, the faculty, and the staffofthe School.He closed by introducing AssociateDean Keith Mann, saying,"There is no one who has had moreto do with the development of excellencein this School over the pastseveral decades."Fall 1983 Stanford Lawyer31