From the Dean T
globe, and we continue to expand academic and practice-based opportunities to prepare our students for the globalized practice in which they will forge their careers. To complement the in-class experience, we have developed a truly innovative leadership and professional development
he last five years have been times of growth and success for the now formally named Maurice A. Deane School of Law at Hofstra University. With your ongoing support, the future for this law school remains bright despite the challenges now facing the legal profession and legal education.
“
We could not wish for a more exciting and diverse place
”
to teach law and prepare our students for the America, and the world, in which they will be practicing law,
leading businesses, setting policy and making laws.
program. It allows students to identify their strengths and relate those qualities to different practice areas. It also enables them to begin the practice of law better prepared by developing strategic skills, such as business writing and making presentations, and crucial “soft” skills, such as effective communication, initiative and leadership. An employer survey found that our students are better prepared than most — surely a credit to these initiatives. As our superb faculty and administration have responded to these various challenges, we could not wish for a more exciting and diverse place to teach law and prepare our students for the America, and the world, in which they will be practicing law, leading businesses, setting policy and making laws. Bringing you back to Hofstra Law, figuratively and literally, has been crucial to our success. So many of you have given generously of yourself — your time, your insights, your financial resources — to allow us to accomplish so much in such a short period of time. I trust you will continue to support your alma mater on its path to becoming the best it can be under the leadership of Eric Lane, the Eric J. Schmertz Distinguished Professor of Public Law and Public Service, who has been named interim dean. Dean Lane’s long-standing career in public service and the legal academy and his deep commitment to Hofstra Law make him an exceptional choice for this role, which I know he will fill with vigor, vision and initiative. Thank you for making these five years wonderful and exciting for me. May our paths cross again in the future.
From its inception, Hofstra Law has been envisioned as an innovator, an institution designed to make a difference. We have continued this tradition and responded quickly and forcefully to the changes in the profession, which require our students to be “profession-ready” at graduation. To accomplish that task, we aspire to give our students a broad intellectual and ethical framework; hone their analytical, writing and speaking abilities; prepare them for an increasingly global practice; and provide them with an understanding of the needs of clients as well as the business demands and pressures of the profession. This vision has driven curricular innovation and ongoing change. Over the last five years we have expanded our in-house clinical offerings through innovative practicum courses and a unique prosecutorial clinic to allow a growing number of students to learn to represent clients while in law school. We have also continued to expand our simulation offerings. The NITA-based Trial Techniques Program, now in its 36th year, is the keystone of the experientially focused segment of the curriculum, in which many students engage as early as their first year. Upper-level offerings include a rich array of courses in trial strategy and practice, alternatives to litigation and transactional practice, all of which require students to make oral presentations and draft briefs. Small businesses expand sales abroad, couples adopt from abroad and criminal gains are hidden in off-shore accounts — our students are exposed to this transnational world not only through their first-year course work, but also through their J.D. and LL.M. classmates, an increasing number of whom hail from abroad. We also offer a range of experiences abroad, including new springbreak programs in Cuba and Ecuador. We have built relationships with some of the most highly regarded law schools around the
With my sincere regards,
Nora V. Demleitner Dean and Professor of Law
1
law.hofstra.edu