Raising the Bar

David A. Logan, dean of Roger<br>Williams University School of Law
David A. Logan, dean of Roger
Williams University School of Law

Law school dean says progress being made by faculty and students



David A. Logan


Position: Dean of the Roger Williams University Ralph R.
Papitto School of Law



Background: Professor at Wake Forest University’s School of Law for
22 years; prior to that, he practiced with Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver &
Kampelman in Washington, D.C., for three years.


Education: Juris Doctor degree from the University of Virginia School
of Law; master’s in public policy and administration from the University of
Wisconsin; Bachelor’s of Science in political science from Bucknell University
in Lewisburg, Pa.


Age: 54


Residence: Bristol


David A. Logan took over as dean of Roger Williams University Ralph R.
Papitto School of Law in June 2003.


 





Q. As the new dean, what is your vision for the school?


A. The short-term is to secure the base, to make sure that we are
considered a strong regional law school, competitive with all the schools in
New England, in both recruiting students, recruiting faculty and our placement
of students. Further out – and these two strategies are not mutually exclusive
– make sure the law school is recognized outside of the region for the quality
of its program, and the two are related. We’re not just some sleepy little law
school on the coast of New England, but we have very high-powered faculty doing
work equivalent to that of faculty at many long-established law schools. These
two strategies evolve at once.


 



Q. How do you plan to accomplish these goals?



A. You can start with (hiring faculty like Nancy L. Cook, Niki Kuckes
and George C. Nnona, associate professors). If you compare that to any four
people who joined law school faculties in New England last year, I venture to
say that there is no more prestigious group that joined a law faculty, in terms
of both academic credentials as well as career accomplishments. So one thing
you do is build a great faculty. One of the great things about (the school)
being 10 years old is that the market for law teachers is very strong for the
employer. So starting a law school in the 1990s as opposed to the 1960s meant
that we could go into the market and lure here, over the last 10 years, people
who in other markets might never come to a startup law school. For a small faculty
in a relatively new school, we have been very productive as scholars, and that’s
very important in securing the national reputation. Another part of the strategy
is to bring to campus outstanding scholars to speak to our students and faculty.
I also think it’s really important to recognize that Roger Williams University
is a very ambitious institution, also quite young, so we are very conscious
of the advantages of being part of a university, and have a number of joint
programs with other parts of the university, as well as a couple programs that
are based overseas. As we move forward, we’re constantly aware of opportunities
to partner with the university and take advantages of synergies between them.
One other aspect is that we have a joint program with the University of Rhode
Island, a number of specialty programs that enable students to get advanced
degrees in, for example, marine affairs, and learn the environmental and scientific
aspects of it there and learn the legal aspects here.


 


Q. How do you plan to create more of a connection between the university
and the community?


A. One of the reasons I came to Roger Williams was that progress has
already been made on that front – we have something called the Feinstein Institute
for Legal Services. What it does is enable us to organize and carry out a mandatory
public service requirement – we’re one of 13 schools in the country that requires
that as a condition of graduation that their students do nonprofit work while
in school, not for credit and not for pay. It adds a real significant dimension
to what goes on in this building – the students are not allowed to close themselves
off. There also are for-credit externship programs here, and this is really
one of the great things about being the only law school in the state – our students
can be placed as externs virtually anywhere in the state without competition.
A number of our students, after they graduate, go off and clerk for judges for
a year or two. That puts them more out in the legal community as a sort of special
status before they become practicing lawyers. We also have three legal clinics
– criminal defense, disability law and one in community justice/legal assistance.
That’s directly putting our students and abilities out into the community yielding
benefits.


 


Q. What do you think has led to the rise in the number of students passing
the bar the first time?


A. This was before I came, so all praise goes to my predecessors and
people who were here to do this. As we have become more established, we have
been able to recruit and retain students with stronger test-taking skills, and
the bar exam is a test and a big part of the exam is a standardized test called
the MBE. The major test to get into law school is the LSATs and they’re both
multiple-choice tests and guess what – if you’re good at the LSATs you’re probably
good at the MBEs. One way that we’ve been able to improve their prospects is
we are devoting significantly more money to scholarships. We did a thorough
revision of the curriculum to make sure students had substantial exposure through
required and recommended courses, to all of the topics that appear on most of
the state bar exams. Faculty and deans are now actively encouraging students
to think long and hard about taking electives that may be interesting, but maybe
aren’t as essential to success on the bar exam. Every single third-year student
has an interview with Dennis Tomsing, our assistant dean of student affairs,
to talk about what they’re doing to get ready for the bar exams, while they’re
still students. Part of it’s to talk about the curriculum, part of it is strategy
on which bar exams to take.


 


Q. How can you, the law school, and the university use your location and
status as the only law school in Rhode Island to your advantage?


A. A number of my colleagues have been heavily involved in efforts
to change Separation of Powers in Rhode Island, criminal justice issues, merit-based
selection of judges. We are, as the only Rhode Island law school, uniquely situated
to participate in important public debates, and we have an established tradition
of doing that. Access to the corridors or power and opportunities to influence
public opinion are enhanced by being the only law school in the state. Opportunities
to serve at the highest levels come by way of the dean and members of the faculty
that would not be the case with a state with multiple law schools.


 


Q. Are there as many students interested in law as past generations?


A. Applications are going through the roof. I think there was a slightly
higher spike in the late 1980s or early 1990s, but the post baby boomer generation
is fascinated by law school. In 10 years, our applications have grown 200 percent.
There are some psychological factors. The impact of TV series like ‘The Practice’
and public perceptions of lawyers have had a huge impact. They’re intrigued
by the high stakes, emotional opportunities that lawyers have to get involved
in people’s lives. A B.A. or B.S. isn’t what it used to be and the perception
is that degrees beyond a bachelor’s degree are necessary to get good jobs, so
a law degree or some other advanced degree is a sensible way to extend your
education. People have figured out that – at least for a small percentage of
lawyers – you can be very rich. Finally, I think there is continuing interest
in public service and some people see it as a way to pay back to the community.


 



Q. What are the most popular areas of study? Did the Enron and other corporate
scandals have an impact on this?



A. I think that America is powerful now not so much for the things
we make, but from the ideas that we have, and as a result there is clearly greater
interest in intellectual property – copyright law, patent law, trademark law,
unfair trade law, misrepresentation, tort law, business torts. If you were to
look at the list of the biggest jury verdicts over time, a lot of people who
dislike the trial system would say it is tort judgments – it’s rollover trucks
and drug companies being hit for millions of dollars by juries. If you look
closely there are certainly cases like that, but if you look at the big-dollar
cases, much more likely to be big corporate battles. In the real world, these
are incredibly high-stakes areas in which to practice. There continues to be
strong interest in environmental law. To answer the question about a big change
in interest in business after Enron, I haven’t seen that, and I’m sort of at
a loss as to explain why. One thing might be the shortened attention span of
Americans – the scandal du jour. The stuff with Bill Clinton was five years
ago and it seems like ancient history. It’s pretty intricate stuff – the interesting
thing is that there have been almost no indictments handed down yet because
it’s hard to explain what these (people) did. It was such an intricate scam
that had its roots in legitimate, aggressive accounting, and that’s not an easy
thing to put on ‘Entertainment Tonight.’ I think 9-11 has rekindled interest
in civil liberties practice – that has continued to keep students interested
in criminal justice issues.



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