Saint Louis Brief - Spring 2009 Dean's Message • Changing Lives • Stimulus: Through a Legal Lens Faculty View • Faculty Profile • Alumni Profiles • Class Notes PDF of Entire Issue • Brief Home

Dear Alumni and Friend,

As you peruse this issue of Saint Louis Brief, you will see that your law school is blessed with a very productive faculty — a faculty that takes seriously its professional responsibility to contribute significantly to the understanding and the development of the law.

Professor Nicolas P. Terry, Senior Associate Dean for Faculty, presents an impressive array of recent faculty scholarship, beginning on page 24 of the Brief. A remarkably wide range of expertise is displayed. This listing exemplifies how our faculty’s scholarship continues to contribute to the advancement of the law.

To help encourage and further the academic pursuits of our faculty, the School of Law provides a supportive scholarly environment with an array of faculty workshops and programs. A good example of the rich and diverse academic community at SLU LAW is the Faculty Workshop Program, run by Professor Anders Walker.

During the past academic year, 22 workshops were presented to the faculty, involving papers by nine of our own faculty and 13 faculty members from law schools around the nation. Those schools included: Cornell University, Emory University, George Washington University, Nova Southeastern University, Arizona State University, University of Chicago, University of Florida, University of Illinois, University of Kansas, University of Minnesota, University of Missouri, University of Notre Dame and University of Wisconsin.

And this summer our formative Summer Workshop Series continues. The series, run by Professor Matthew T. Bodie and Emerita Professor Sandra H. Johnson, provides opportunities for our faculty to present “ideas, article fragments, grand schemes and other scholarship that is still in mutable form” with “guest” law faculty chefs providing lunch.

Our supportive academic environment and dedication to excellent teaching are complementary, a fact easily illustrated by the work of so many of our faculty. For instance, Professor Anders Walker, who recently published a book, a book chapter and five law journal articles, was also chosen as “Teacher of the Year” by the graduating class this year.

The School of Law’s commitment to exceptional teaching — with a student-centric focus — is evidenced by our plans to achieve a student-teacher ratio of 14:1 within the next two years. This is central to our commitment to excellence. We also continue to attract outstanding teachers and scholars to your alma mater, as we increase the size of our faculty. This summer we will welcome four sterling, new colleagues to the law school campus:

• Professor Marcia McCormick will join us from the Cumberland Law School at Samford University. Professor McCormick has an impressive scholarly record in the areas of Employment Law and Federal Courts, both areas in which she will teach. She is a graduate of the University of Iowa College of Law.
  
  
• Leah Chan Grinvald joins us from the position of global corporate counsel at Taylor Made Golf Company. She will teach Contracts and Copyright & Trademark. She is a graduate of New York University School of Law and will strengthen our Intellectual Property curriculum.
  
  
• Chad Flanders, who has a Ph.D. in philosophy from the University of Chicago and a law degree from Yale Law School, joins us after serving as a law clerk for the Honorable Michael W. McConnell of the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit. He will teach Criminal Law and Jurisprudence.
  
  
• Efthimios Parasidis joins us after serving as a visiting assistant professor at Hofstra Law School; he is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania Law School. Next year, he will teach Torts and Biotechnology and the Law; over the long term he will also teach Patents, adding more strength to our Intellectual Property faculty.

The strength and breadth of our faculty continue to provide our students with a first-rate legal education. And SLU LAW is blessed to have so many accomplished alumni providing sustained and substantial support for the School of Law’s educational programs. After 10 years as your dean, I can say from experience that you truly make a difference in the quality of legal education at Saint Louis University. Thank you.

Yours sincerely,

Jeffrey E. Lewis
Dean and Professor of Law