Category: Law School News

After celebrating its fifth year anniversary, the Joan and Lyle Middleton Center for Children's Rights isn't ready to step out of its spotlight of achievement.

Iowa has a history of setting precedent. From refusing to recognize slavery within its borders to outlawing segregation in public education 86 years before the U. S Supreme Court did so to being the first place in the Nation to train African Americans and women to be commissioned as officers during war, the state has much to be proud of when it comes to civil rights and public service.

Anna K. Ryon, a third-year law student and Opperman Scholar from Des Moines, recently gave an hour-long presentation at a national conference on adjustable-rate and exotic mortgages and how they have contributed to the subprime lending crisis.

In its fourth annual collaborative issue with the American Judicature Society, the Drake Law School published the proceedings of their joint symposium on judicial selection and judicial independence. The issue titled "Symposium on Judicial Independence: The Continuing Effect of White on State Judicial Selection," was nationally distributed and well received by both federal and state judges.

From publishing articles to winning cases to preparing students, the Drake University Legal Clinic faculty members deserve a round of applause.

The Student Bar Association at Drake University Law School recently received the SBA of the Year award from the American Bar Association/Law Student Division.

Nationally known legal scholars, attorneys and government leaders gathered Sept. 7, at Drake University Law School for a conference on risk and responsibility convened by former Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack, a visiting distinguished professor of law at Drake.

Mark Kende, the James Madison chair in constitutional law and director of the Drake Constitutional Law Center, and Peter Yu, the Kern family chair in intellectual property law and director of the Drake Intellectual Property Law Center, participated in the 2007 Annual Meetings of the Law and Society Association and the Research Committee on Sociology of Law at Humboldt University, Berlin, Germany, from July 25-28.

The award-winning Drake Jazz Band provided a colorful backdrop for the Law School Reunion this summer. Law grads reconnected with old friends on June 8-9 in Des Moines. On Saturday, alumni met for breakfast and toured the Law School and Legal Clinic with David Walker, dean of the Law School.

David S. Walker, dean of Drake University Law School and the Dwight D. Opperman distinguished professor of law, has notified the University and the Law School that he will resign as dean at the end of the 2007-08 academic year and return to the faculty.