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February 2008

Welcome to The Drexel Docket – Drexel Law's e-newsletter. The Docket brings you updates about the college; stories about what the faculty and students are doing; and news we think will be of interest to current and prospective students, pre-law advisors, co-op sponsors, alumni of the University, and friends of the law school. If you have comments or suggestions, please send them to us using the link at the end of this issue. We invite you to visit us at http://www.drexel.edu/law.

1. Drexel Law Has Great News!
2. Career Symposium a Hit
3. Faculty Focus: Karl Okamoto
4. Homeless Advocacy Project - Aiding Through Pro Bono
5. Student Spotlight: Elizabeth Nicolas
6. Bringing Constitutional Literacy to High School
7. Co-op Spotlight: Law Offices of Rhonda Hill Wilson, P.C.
8. Around Campus
9. Upcoming Events

Drexel Law Has Great News!

The American Bar Association has granted Drexel College of Law provisional accreditation. With this milestone event, there is no doubt in our minds that we will quickly achieve our goal of becoming a leader in legal education. To learn more about Drexel Law’s innovative co-operative education program, unique academic concentrations and outstanding faculty, please visit our web site at www.drexel.edu/law.

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Career Symposium a Hit

Determine what energizes you while you are in law school and apply it to your prospective career. Seek out mentors. Meet people in person before you send your resume to them. Never underestimate the value of a judicial clerkship after graduation.

These were just some of the many nuggets of wisdom shared with more than 100 students by the 37 attorneys who participated in the first annual Drexel Law Career Symposium in January. Organized by the Career and Professional Development Office, the full-day event featured a dozen panels on a broad array of practice areas and career options.

“The symposium was a tremendously helpful event, and the invaluable information shared by the guests was enlightening and motivating,” says Cory Thomas, a 1L interested in environmental and land-use law. “I was very impressed with the speakers’ professional experience, their excitement about Drexel, and the breadth of work available in the respective specialties. It was nice to hear how our current courses will benefit us in whatever area of law we choose.”

For Michelle Payne, a 2L who’s still trying to determine which field of law is right for her, the symposium held surprising benefits. “Although I wasn’t expecting this event to help me personally in my quest for the right job, I definitely ended the day feeling like I learned more about the profession and where I might fit,” she says. “I have a much better sense of the fields that I’m not interested in and the sort of office culture that I’m suited for. I like to write, and meeting a journalist who’s also a law school grad hit it home for me that being a writer is something I really can pursue.”

For some 2Ls currently participating in the co-op program, the panelists’ comments helped tie together what they’re learning in the classroom and on the job, while for others it was a window into alternative options. And students weren’t the only ones who benefited from the day, as panelists spoke highly of the experience from their end as well.

“The administrators and students had a contagious enthusiasm and earnestness, and I hope the school can continue that feeling of freshness and optimism,” says Stephen B. Schott, a shareholder with Volpe and Koenig P.C. who spoke on the intellectual property panel.

Julie Bonasso, a legal recruiter who serves as managing director with Major, Lindsey & Africa, also praised the students and Drexel Law for creating a well-organized event. “I met with a few students one-on-one and was impressed with their intelligence, professionalism, wisdom, and insightful questions,” says Bonasso, who spoke on the alternative careers panel. “I hope they were able to see that there is a wide variety of traditional and non-traditional opportunities in the legal field.”

For student Cory Thomas, that variety enriched the symposium. “It was helpful for me to hear different perspectives in my area of interest and the pros and cons of small, mid-size and large firm environments,” he says. “And even though I’m leaning toward environmental law, it was still interesting to learn about the kind of work that entertainment lawyers perform. The panelists conveyed an enthusiasm for their work and excited me about working as a lawyer.”

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Faculty Focus: Karl Okamoto

There is just one thing Karl Okamoto wants emblazoned on his tombstone:

“Earnings + Returns > Expenses”

It’s a formula that Okamoto, a Drexel Law associate professor who serves as Director of the Business and Entrepreneurship Law concentration, teaches to every class – budding entrepreneurs, investors, and business law adherents alike – as the hard-earned voice of experience.

“The average lawyer will say that, to make this formula work, you have to increase your earnings,” says Okamoto, a seasoned veteran of law firms, fund management companies and corporate directorships. “But at some point you can’t keep working, so every one of us has the responsibility to make the formula true by reducing expenses, which builds the return portion faster and liberates you from earnings – even if you love what you do.”

It’s the chance to instill that type of practical life lesson that motivated the native Philadelphian to return to teaching and drew him to Drexel. Formerly an assistant professor with the University of Alabama School of Law and an associate professor at Rutgers University (Camden) School of Law, he left academia after realizing that the prevailing law-school attitude toward practice was self-defeating and too hostile for his taste.

“Years ago, many law professors thought very little of practitioners, and there was a strong push toward serious academic scholarship more focused on constitutional law and legal philosophy than on actual law practice,” says Okamoto, who wrote an article at the time about the need to simulate corporate-law practice in law school. “I thought that was a shame because law practice is very interesting, and I couldn’t understand why those of us who were privileged to be empirical observers of the world would not want to spend time on the things we were supposed to be experts on.”

Today, he thankfully sees more emphasis on empirical work and social science methodology concerning the profession and praises Drexel for pursuing what he believes is the true mission of law schools:  preparing students to be lawyers. He has attained most of his experience through an amalgam of positions, including his current membership on the board of directors for the 100+-unit café chain, Cosi. A former director of the restaurant chain Champps Entertainment Inc., he has served as executive officer of Harvest Book Company LLC, senior managing director of Atticus Capital LP and a consultant with Soros Fund Management, led by renowned investor George Soros. That diversified, hands-on experience, he says, enables him to lend a distinct perspective as an educator.

“I try to add value in a unique way, and having been a lawyer and a business person, I actually understand transactions in a way that most lawyers don’t,” says Okamoto, who is teaching Business Organizations and Law and Finance of Transactional Lawyering, which explains both the legal and business aspects of transactions. “Applying logic, economics and business objectives to legal issues provides a much more powerful, lifelong skill. Things change every day, and you have to keep learning, but the logic of a deal doesn’t change.”

Having spent a large part of his career abroad, Okamoto notes that the globalization of markets offers local lawyers opportunities with international companies that have adopted well-developed U.S. laws.  He also expects the trend of private transactions to explode, requiring lawyers who can be good “architects” of a deal.

“The economy is increasingly being dictated by private pools of capital and privately negotiated regimes, where government has a limited role in regulation,” he points out. “Private ‘big-boy’ stock exchanges that limit participation to high net-worth ‘qualified investors’ or ‘credited investors,’ and are exempt from regulation, are proliferating. The kinds of skills most highly valued in this arena will be the ability to put structures together, rather than a deep knowledge of a regulatory regime. This has interesting implications, not only for the law but for the democratic aspects of the markets.”

As Director of the Business and Entrepreneurship concentration, the Columbia University School of Law graduate says he is trying to design the curriculum to be sequential, not only in subject matter but in depth of mastery – a challenge he feels many law schools avoid.

“We want students to step up higher and higher in their mastery,” says Okamoto, who has lectured about hedge-fund regulation, legal services for start-up businesses and negotiation tactics for entrepreneurs at Drexel’s LeBow College of Business, where he serves on the advisory board for its Center for Corporate Governance. “Creating increasingly advanced courses in corporate law in the second year will enable students to take on more intense, high-level co-ops in their third year.”

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Homeless Advocacy Project - Aiding Through Pro Bono

Drexel Law students are helping families who have nowhere else to turn through the “Adopt-A-Shelter” project, one of more than a dozen opportunities coordinated by the College’s Pro Bono Service Program. Run by the Homeless Advocacy Project (HAP), Adopt-A-Shelter trains students in substantive areas of poverty law – including such issues as eviction, Supplemental Security Income, credit issues and public assistance – and engages them in a hands-on, meaningful experience outside of the law school environment.

“Homeless people have unique and complex legal problems that often are not adequately addressed by traditional providers of legal services to indigent and low-income individuals,” says Shelly Levy, HAP’s supervising attorney. “Homeless people frequently lead transient, unstable lives and are often debilitated by mental illness, substance abuse and inadequate education. They frequently lack an understanding of their legal rights and the ability to make effective use of the network of advocacy and service organizations that is available to assist them.  Living in crisis, often without income or resources, homeless people are less likely and less able than other indigent clients to make use of Center City-based legal services programs.”

To help mitigate those challenges, Drexel Law students have adopted West Philadelphia’s St. Barnabas Mission, which provides emergency shelter, meals and social services to homeless women and their children. At the start of the school year, a core group of 10 students completed training and began staffing the on-site legal clinic at St. Barnabas once a month. At the clinic, they perform intake interviews, connect clients with important public assistance and help resolve a range of legal issues that affect the homeless and those families who are transitioning out of the shelter.

“As a cornerstone of our pro bono program, Adopt-A-Shelter embodies the true spirit of pro bono by bringing legal services directly to the homeless in the places where they live and eat,” says Drexel Law Public Interest Law Coordinator Karen Pearlman. “These students are truly making an immediate impact by helping those most in need.”

One of those students is Jamie Rahn, a 2L who worked as a full-time legal intern for HAP last summer and continues to work for the organization part-time during the school year in addition to participating in Adopt-a-Shelter. Because of the nature of poverty and homelessness, she says, helping out with the HAP clinic is actually a mixture of legal aid and social work.

Rahn says she believes her work with the homeless has taken her beyond what she’s learned in the classroom about legal issues. “My experience with this work has taught me that you have to think beyond the definition of ‘client,’ and really look at people’s individual stories to be able to truly help them,” she says. “It’s not just a typical disability case; it’s that this woman is homeless because she is unable to work because of her disability, and if we help her get these benefits we are really improving her quality of life – even if it’s just a matter of getting her that few hundred dollars per month extra, so she can buy some more food or new clothes.”

For Rahn, these pro bono and intern experiences have already helped her decide what she’d like to do after graduation. “I do want to work in a client-intensive area of the law where I feel like I’m really making a difference for my clients and connecting with them while we solve their legal issues together,” she says. “It’s really solidified for me that I want to either work at a small family law practice or practice family law within the public interest sector.”

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Student Spotlight: Elizabeth Nicolas

The impact of handling advocacy work and dealing with a criminal landlord had Elizabeth Nicolas thinking about attending law school years ago, but when her workplace burned to the ground, she knew it was time.

“I had been working while in college and after graduation at a job readiness and rehabilitation facility for men struggling with addiction,” says the New York native and University of Pennsylvania graduate. “As I taught them language skills and helped them get ready for their GEDs and jobs, I started to realize that a lot of issues leading to crime weren’t entirely local in nature. And as I worked with students who had been arrested and needed advocates, I became more interested in being a lawyer and policymaker. My students actually encouraged me to apply to law school.”

Nicolas, the recipient of a Drexel Law Diversity Fellowship sponsored by Pepper Hamilton LLP, had also experienced the fallout of people who didn’t obey the law. While living in North Philadelphia, she had had to cope with her non-compliant landlord and an abandoned house next door.

“Abandoned houses often become hotbeds for criminal activity, but if you knock them down, it affects the structure and integrity next door,” she points out. After the landlord refused to meet his responsibilities and turned off the heat and gas, Nicolas left the rented house, and the property was ultimately condemned by the Philadelphia Department of Licenses & Inspections. Fast forward to 2006, when a troubled student at the mission where she was working set the facility on fire, causing her to lose her job and solidify her plans to attend law school. Her choice of Drexel was easy, she says.

“I knew I wanted to stay in Philadelphia, because I love the city, but the huge thing with Drexel was the experiential learning,” says Nicolas, who volunteers with the Homeless Advocacy Project and Green Microfinance. “Taking a year after college to work made me more focused and helped me realize there’s so much you can learn in the workplace that you can’t learn in grad school, sitting in a classroom. I knew what I wanted was to learn by doing, almost like an apprenticeship, but I didn’t know that was planned for Drexel until someone told me about it.”

Despite that interest, the self-professed “law school geek” says she also enjoys her classes. “When I was working at the mission I was excited to go to work every day and I didn’t know if I’d feel that way about law school. But I love the law and really enjoy studying, working through cases and figuring things out. My fellow students are extremely generous and kind, and the professors are genuinely supportive. Everyone wants you to succeed.”

While Nicolas says she is not sure exactly what area of law she may be interested in, she will continue exploring options while working as a summer associate at Schnader Harrison Segal & Lewis LLP and on co-op with Pepper Hamilton. “It’s wonderful to see how larger business affects what happens in neighborhoods and how working at large firms and getting training from good lawyers can help me serve poor, marginalized or disenfranchised communities,” says Nicolas, who learned about policymaking this past summer, while working for a mayor’s office in Florida. “I’m going to keep looking for more mentoring opportunities and hopefully figure out how to use my degree in a practical way.”

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Bringing Constitutional Literacy to High School

What’s one way to engage citizens in civic life by teaching them about their rights and responsibilities under the U.S. Constitution?  Reach them while they’re young!

That’s the idea behind the Marshall-Brennan Constitutional Literacy Project, which was founded eight years ago in Washington, D.C., in an effort to mobilize talented law students to teach high-school students about voting benefits, citizen rights, how laws are created and how the Constitution affects them.

The project has now come to Drexel Law, where expectations and spirits are high. Under the direction of newly hired Drexel Law auxiliary professor Gwen Roseman Stern, who has run the project with Philadelphia high school students and University of Pennsylvania School of Law students since 2005, 10 Drexel “fellows” have been teaching weekly, one-hour classes at several urban high schools.

“The Marshall-Brennan project brings the assets and focus of Drexel Law and its dedicated community into local Philadelphia high school classrooms,” says Drexel Law Public Interest Law Coordinator Karen Pearlman, who helps recruit students for the project. “It unlocks doors to frequently inaccessible legal information and offers the high school students a framework for the daily interpretation of rules and regulations likely to impact their lives.”
 
The curriculum covers a wide range of topics most likely to be of interest, including political free speech, student newspaper censorship, drug testing of students participating in athletics and other extracurricular activities, locker and automobile searches, desegregation, affirmative action and due process.

“This is a wonderful opportunity for Drexel Law students to go to inner-city high schools and work with these students on landmark Supreme Court cases that define their rights,” says Stern. “They gain a tremendous bond as the high-school students look at them not only as teachers but as mentors. Many high-school students who didn’t even have an interest in higher education before have sought their advice about going to college.”

The highlight of the project is a moot court competition. Selected participants will start preparing in January for the local competition, with the top finishers traveling to Washington, D.C., to showcase their advocacy skills in front of law students, practitioners and judges at the “We the Students” National High School Moot Court Competition in late March. Philadelphia has already proven itself a major contender at the national competition, with a University City High School student winning “Best Petitioner” in 2006 and two students making it to the “Final Four” this past year.

Co-op Spotlight: Law Offices of Rhonda Hill Wilson, P.C.

The Law Offices of Rhonda Hill Wilson, P.C., based in Center City Philadelphia, handle civil litigation of personal injury claims such as nursing-home abuse and negligence, brain injuries, medical malpractice, wrongful death, work injuries and motor-vehicle and pedestrian accidents. One of the firm’s most recent successes includes a multi-million-dollar settlement for a woman who was left in a vegetative state following a Caesarean section.

A graduate of The American University’s Washington College of Law and past president of the National Bar Association’s Women’s Law Division-Philadelphia, Hill Wilson has distinguished herself over three decades in her career, the profession and the community. She has volunteered in many capacities with the American Association for Justice, including serving on its Board of Governors, Executive Committee and National College of Advocacy Board of Trustees. She is co-chair of the Women’s Committee for the Pennsylvania Association for Justice’s Board of Governors and is membership coordinator and Board of Governors member for the Philadelphia Trial Lawyers Association. She has also acted as radio talk show host to educate the public, taught young inner-city women life skills and goal-setting strategies and served as chair for the Philadelphia-area “A Mind Is” Annual Giving Society, a national contributors’ program of the United Negro College Fund.

Hill Wilson prides herself on practicing with integrity and says that operating her own firm gives her the satisfaction of being able to control some of the factors she feels present problems in larger firms. “I am liberated to practice in a compassionate, ethical standard that’s based on excellence and not challenged by anyone else’s desires or expectations,” she says. “I can define those standards without having to worry about other people doing it for me.”

As the first woman in her family to earn an advanced degree, Hill Wilson found a mentor at the tender age of 14, when she was inspired by a friend’s attorney father and decided she wanted to become a lawyer. She now has the chance through the co-op program to “pay it forward” to Drexel Law 2L Kimberly Gray, a political science and journalism graduate of The College of New Jersey, who is interested in health care law.

“One of the main reasons I decided to go to law school was that I feel plenty of people are taken advantage of or don’t have the resources to understand the legal system,” says Gray, who interviewed with three healthcare-related co-ops and chose Hill Wilson’s office as her top pick. “I wasn’t sure if I was interested in litigation, but so far I just love it.”

Most of Gray’s days consist of helping prepare for trial and handling discovery. Right now, she is focusing much of her efforts on a nursing-home case that will soon be going to trial. Some of her many responsibilities include sitting in on depositions, helping with subpoenas and motions and working with state agencies.

Hill Wilson says the co-op experience has been beneficial for her as well. “It’s been a very satisfying opportunity to mentor someone, especially because there aren’t too many women trial lawyers,” she points out. “Kimberly is getting a practical understanding of both the practice of law and the inside workings of the judicial system.”

Gray, who co-founded the Health Law Society and is on the Law Review at Drexel, agrees. “It’s very rare in this profession to see a woman who is at the top of her game and has done it by herself,” she says. “I have a lot to learn from her, and I feel like the experience I’m getting here is something I wouldn’t have gotten at a large firm.”

When asked how Gray and future students will benefit through the co-op experience, she says that she hopes they learn something more than just what’s involved in preparing a case and what it takes to maintain a practice.

The seasoned attorney encourages law students to look into opportunities that go beyond traditional firms, government agencies or nonprofits. “Whatever you choose, knowing yourself well can help you find that area of law that satisfies you,” she says. “But you never know – some people who are shy perform well on a stage and make great trial lawyers.”

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Around Campus

Law School Rallies for a “Kidney Klause”
The Women’s Law Society hosted the Second Annual Kidney Klause event in which the society’s members worked with the Drexel Law community to provide a needy family with a computer and other wonderful gifts during the December holiday season.

Drexel VIP Tour of Supreme Court
It’s not every day that a law student meets with Chief Justice Roberts of the Supreme Court and the Speaker of the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi, but that’s exactly what happened to twelve Drexel students in January during an exciting weekend trip to Washington, D.C. The trip was part of Professor Lisa McElroy’s Supreme Court Seminar class, who organized the trip with fellow Professor Brian Foley. Discussing the weekend, Professor McElroy enthused that “it was a privilege to take this motivated, smart second-year students to Washington to meet key Supreme Court figures and explore the themes we’d been studying in our Supreme Court seminar. To a person, our guest speakers were impressed with the students’ intellect, curiosity, and interest. We look forward to many future trips!”


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Upcoming Events

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If you have comments, questions, or suggestions about The Drexel Docket, please contact us.

Drexel University’s College of Law has been provisionally accredited by the Council of
the Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar of the American Bar
Association, 321 North Clark Street, Chicago, IL 60610.

Students at a provisionally accredited law school and individuals who graduate while
the school is provisionally approved are entitled to the same recognition given to
students and graduates of fully approved law schools. Graduates of Drexel’s law
school will be eligible to sit for the bar exam in any jurisdiction.

More information about accreditation can be found on the ABA’s website or by calling
the association at (312) 988-5000.