A FAMILY TRADITION; A CALL TO SERVICE

Loyola degrees run in the family for Landrieu, who graduated from the College of Law in 1987. Her parents and one of her sisters all earned undergraduate degrees from Loyola, and she and her late father, Moon; her sister-in-law; three brothers; and her husband also have law degrees from Loyola. In 2005, the university conferred honorary degrees on the entire Landrieu family, and multiple grandchildren have attended or are currently attending.

But her commitment to public service is also a strong driving force. A former Orleans Parish Civil District Court judge of 10 years, a former state court appellate judge for six years — who served as president of both the Louisiana District Judges Association and the Louisiana Judicial College and was honored twice by the Louisiana State Bar with its President’s Award – Landrieu is one of the most influential people in the city and state and has connections across the nation.

She stands among the 15% of the nation’s “nontraditional deans” who are bringing diverse perspectives and leadership, as law schools look outside their walls to adjust to the changing nature of academia.

Loyola University New Orleans College of Law has been educating and shaping legal minds for a century, and it has made exciting new progress under the leadership of Dean Madeleine Landrieu, J.D. ’87, H ’05.

Five years into her leadership at the College of Law, Landrieu has made investments into key diversity, equity, and inclusion, or DEI, initiatives, including the appointment of an associate dean of DEI. Creating a culture of diversity and belonging has been part of a longstanding Loyola tradition, Landrieu says.

After all, the law school was founded with diversity principles in mind – opening as a night school to offer opportunities to those who had to hold down jobs during the day. But creating the position of associate dean of DEI ensures that it is “someone’s job to wake up every day thinking about how and what we could do better.”

While the initial diversity push more than a century ago may have been one of social class, the search for diverse legal minds grew to include women and people of color. When asked how Loyola encourages diversity in their student body today, Landrieu says the first step is to create a welcoming environment.

“When you welcome people, they will come,” she says. “You have to believe that diversity matters, that it’s important to the legal profession, and that it increases access to justice for all communities.”

The law school also has used technology to enhance their students’ experience during Landrieu’s tenure. The law school’s night program used to involve four classes a semester and four nights a week on campus for students. But with Zoom and other technology, students can enroll in a hybrid program where they are only required to be on campus two nights a week and take classes online the other two nights.

“It provides a lot more flexibility to our students with jobs, children, or other responsibilities,” Landrieu says. “It actually makes a law degree possible for them.”

This flexibility has not come at the cost of academic rigor. In 2018, in her first year as dean, the College of Law increased the median LSAT score of its entering students by 4 points, the only law school in the country that year to see such an increase. In ensuing years, this average has held relatively steady, and we see the return on this investment in Loyola’s high bar passage rates, Landrieu says.

The 2021 College of Law graduates (the 2018 entering class) achieved the highest bar passage rate on the July Louisiana State Bar Examination, both among first-time testtakers and test-takers overall. Loyola’s 2021 92% pass rate is an all-time high record for the law school. This past summer, results from the July 2022 examination showed Loyola grads neck-and-neck with Louisiana State University on both measures and surpassing both Tulane University Law School and Southern University Law Center.

“The results speak to the quality and excellence of Loyola’s curriculum, faculty, and one-of-a-kind academic success and Bar preparation programs,” Landrieu says, “and, of course, to the quality and commitment of our students.”

“The law school’s high-touch atmosphere, seven law clinics, extraordinary faculty and staff, and our commitment to experiential learning and to educating the whole person really matter,” Landrieu says. “Our small class sizes and tight-knit faculty-student relationships allow our students robust exploration of legal issues throughout their academic careers, and so they head into bar preparation well-prepared for success.” The pandemic brought unprecedented challenges for law students across the nation – from online classes, clinics, interviews, and bar exams to real-life struggles, as families coped with unemployment, childcare challenges, home-schooling, illnesses, and even death. Even as every individual in some way saw their own life altered, Loyola students persevered in the pursuit of excellence and justice.

After successfully passing the bar, Loyola law alumni continue to excel. New data released by the American Bar Association, or ABA, shows that 94% of the most recent law graduates at Loyola found jobs within 10 months of graduation.

“We have exemplary numbers, and the world should know,” says Blaine LeCesne, associate dean of DEI and John Fraiche Distinguished Professor of Law.

The ABA data shows that 89% of the law school’s 2021 graduates are working in industries where they must be licensed to practice law or where the J.D. is an advantage to their work, and two-thirds of graduates from the Class of 2021 remained in Louisiana after graduation. Most of the class is employed at law firms. Other industries where recent grads are starting their careers include business, industry, government, public interest, judicial clerkships, and education.

Especially exciting is Loyola’s high placement of diversity hires. In its August 2022 report, the National Association of Law Placement reported that 89% of Loyola’s African American graduates and more than 87% of its Latinx graduates were employed 10 months after graduation. Diversity at Loyola remains remarkable, a microcosm of the world around us.

“The law school student body reflects the diversity of New Orleans and our nation,” LeCesne says. “Our longstanding leadership in social justice and our Jesuit values – academic excellence, service, inclusion, respect for the world around us – help us to excel in this arena. We hope the holistic approach we have taken is modeled at more law firms when selecting their clerks and future associates. It’s good for business to foster a culture of diversity, inclusion, and equitable access. The more business-savvy firms are beginning to recognize the reputational value of having a diverse law office culture. Today, many prospective clients and the majority of recent law grads increasingly scrutinize the diversity of the law offices with whom they choose to do business.”

In addition to a heightened focus on DEI, Landrieu and other College of Law faculty also are making sure that Ignatian values of social justice are baked into the curriculum. Law students recently have been working to help Ukrainians affected by Russia’s 2022 invasion. The College of Law partnered with Yeshiva University’s Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law to teach law students critical skills needed in wartime. Such skills include conducting trauma-informed interviews with clients as well as structuring case briefings. The program features six sessions of 90-minute lectures every two weeks via Zoom. The lecture topics are chosen based on surveys sent to Ukrainian students and faculty.

And the College of Law isn’t just teaching international students; it’s also bringing in distinguished lawyers from around the globe. Negina Khalili of Afghanistan will serve as a guest lecturer for the law school and teach an undergraduate course in human rights for the Honors Program. Khalili was the first female prosecutor in Ghor Province and prosecuted cases of violence against women. She was forced to flee Afghanistan when the

Taliban took over and freed the prisoners she prosecuted.

As the College of Law sets its goals and plans for the coming years, Landrieu says she tries to keep Loyola’s Jesuit philosophy in her mind and let those values guide and inform her choices: Do these goals encompass magis, the “more,” the motivation to strive for excellence and self-improvement? Do they reflect cura personalis care for the whole person, in allowing for balance and flexibility?

Are we forming and educating agents of change, students who will work to challenge established power structures and systemic racism and sexism and make the world a better place? Are we finding God in all things and being men and women with and for others?

She says she encourages law students to ask the same questions, citing the Jesuit principle of seeing God in others as an example.

“Can we see God in our most vulnerable clients? Can we see God in our most challenging clients? Can we see God in our adversaries?” Landrieu asks.