1994, and 2004. He has served as Chief Justice since 1993, being re-elected to that post three times following his initial election as Chief. The recognition of Chief Justice VandeWalle’s leadership ability extends well beyond the borders of North Dakota. He has served as President of the Conference of Chief Justices and as Chair of the National Center for State Courts. In both of those organizations, he has been a strong advocate of ensuring the administration of justice through a healthy and independent judicial system. He has also been actively engaged with legal education and entry into the legal profession, serving as Chair of the Council of the American Bar Association Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar in 2001 and 2002. Erica Moeser, the Executive Director of the National Conference of Bar Examiners, describes his role on the Council as bringing “superb diplomatic skills to a fractious body at a very difficult time in its history. He was very effective in carrying out the mission. In all of his national activities he was and remains a great ambassador for North Dakota and he’s used his volunteer time and experience to bring home many ideas that have been useful to North Dakota.” His connection to contemporary legal education is strengthened by his continued service on ABA accreditation site visit teams. In spite of his busy schedule and the heavy demands of the site visit process, the Chief averages one accreditation visit to law schools every other year.
The Importance of the UND School of Law to North Dakota As a nationally respected figure in educating and admitting lawyers to practice, Chief Justice VandeWalle is aware of the importance of legal education to the people of this state and convinced of the need for the quality of legal education at the UND School of Law to remain very high. He has noted on many occasions that most of the citizens of North Dakota are going to be served by lawyers who have been educated at UND.
“The door to this law school opens the door to many opportunities.” Photo Above: Lecturing to first-year students, Chief Justice VandeWalle often brings his expertise to the law school classroom. Photo Above Left: The 1958 North Dakota Law Review staff (from left) John Michael Nilles, faculty advisor Charles Crum, Armond Erickson, editor-in-chief Gerald VandeWalle, and Cecil E. Reinke.
Explaining why it matters that North Dakota continue to support a good law school in this state, VandeWalle has said, “Over ninety percent of the lawyers
WINTER 2009
7