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Dean Allan Vestal was recently awarded the President’s Award from the Iowa State Bar Association (ISBA).
The award is a tribute to an individual who has gone above and beyond in assisting the ISBA.
“The award recognizes the remarkable forward thinking steps taken by Dean Vestal for the next generation of law students and lawyers,” says Guy Cook, LW’81, and most recent president of ISBA. “His leadership was essential to innovative proposals of the ISBA Blue Ribbon Committee on legal education and licensure.”
The Blue Ribbon Committee has been working on a recommendation that moves away from the multi-state bar exam (in use for the past five years) and would allow students who successfully complete three years of specified law school course work at Drake University Law School or the University of Iowa College of Law to be admitted to the Iowa Bar without being required to take a bar exam. The proposal also adopts the Uniform Bar Exam (UBE) that is portable in 14 states.
Dean Vestal will be stepping down as dean on June 30, 2014 due to health issues, but will remain on the faculty following a sabbatical for the 2014-2015 year. He has had an extraordinary career while at Drake, including the renovation of Cartwright Hall, the introduction of several new clinical programs, increased faculty publication, the enhancement of the 3+3 program and the appointment of a cohort of junior faculty members.