A piece of
enduring beauty
L
ater in the day, at the dedication of South Hall, the focus was on the building’s importance to a Michigan Law legal education and on the institution’s gratitude for the extraordinarily generous donors who made the building possible. Speakers at the event—officiated by Bruce Bickner, ’68, chair of the building fundraising committee—included Justice Kagan, U-M President Mary Sue Coleman, U-M Board of Regents Chairman Laurence B. Deitch, ’72, and Dean Caminker. During her speech, Coleman quoted Law Quad benefactor William W. Cook, an 1882 graduate, about the importance of the kind of strong and wide-reaching legal education that Michigan provides: “The character of the legal profession depends on the character of the law schools. The character of the law schools forecasts the future of America.” Caminker spoke of the Law Quad’s “magnificent architecture” that has “supported our educational mission” for many decades. “Our wonderful new additions will be equally inspirational,” he said. “But they will also do so much more, as pedagogy has changed significantly over the past eight decades.” Construction of the building, which houses state-of-the-art classroom and clinic spaces as well as faculty and staff offices, began in 2009 and was completed last winter. Each classroom is equipped with flexible, easy-to-use technology to make it easier for professors to bring their points to life. All five full-size classrooms include intuitive, touch-panel control systems, document cameras, a larger touch screen that allows professors to annotate documents projected on video screens, and much more. Two of the rooms are fully equipped for videoconferencing and distance learning. Other areas of the building call for more specialized equipment—some of it carefully designed to protect the sensitive information lawyers customarily handle. The clinical suites boast five interview rooms with digital equipment that can produce video or audio recordings at the push of a button.