Dean’s Letter

Dear ML Readers,

AS I WRITE THIS, WE HAVE JUST RETURNED TO MORE COMMUNAL INTERACTIONS

POST-PANDEMIC. I don’t like the phrase “new normal” because it implies a desire to return to the past, which is not only impossible, but also assumes traditions and norms of the past are better than innovations of the future. After more than a year of reflection, I am instead excited by the post-pandemic possibilities of redefining old cultural narratives and embracing educational creativity.

I recently had the exciting opportunity to travel across the State of Tennessee and visit with some of our alumni in person for the first time in over a year. This trip showed me several things: Memphis Law alums continue to find success across a wide array of fields and industries, from brewery owners to general counsel at some of the South’s biggest firms and everywhere in between. No matter what city I found myself in, I was heartened by the positive encouragement and enthusiasm by the ranks of the Memphis Law community for all that the law school is working towards. And finally, it was clear to me that the desire to learn more, do more and be more a part of what we’re doing at Memphis Law (now in person!) is something shared by our alums, no matter the location.

This same trip reminded me of the importance of building community, a theme that I intend to build upon in the coming year, while integrating the three driving pillars of my deanship: promotion of student success, fostering a culture of diversity and inclusion and embracing teaching excellence and innovation.

Memphis Law would not be the amazing law school it is today without the various communities we are a part of and as we return to more in-person activities, I am excited to work with our students, alumni, legal communities and others to ensure we continue to build meaningful relationships and communities in order to achieve the goals I’ve set for our law school.

One of the things I’ve looked forward to most about this semester has been the ability to spend more time together in person moving forward. The University of Memphis, including the Law School, returned to holding inperson classes this fall semester with all faculty, staff, and students returning to the building and resuming (to the best of our abilities) our routines from more than a year ago.

I’m not sure any of us fully appreciate what that means quite yet or just how much we were affected by a year of social distancing, isolation, remote learning and working, and an overall sense of worry in many regards. Our classrooms have been mostly empty, but our lives never stopped. How we continue to deal with coming back and gathering together again in our law school community will be hard, but it’s a problem I am happy to have to (finally) deal with.

In a certain sense, the coronavirus made the unrealistic possible. Classes once thought impossible to teach remotely have now proven to be effective via that model. Courts and government agencies that adhered to traditional ways of doing things now recognize that innovative and creative methods are possible. Faculty and staff members adapted their workload and styles highlighting flexibility and creativity across a variety of projects. Students and attorneys involved with our clinic and externship programs found amazing ways to still educate, advocate, and persevere, with many discovering that remote working opened new doors for them that they never considered before.

In short, it wasn’t all bad. At the very least, we learned many valuable lessons from how we navigated the entire ordeal. And many things once thought unrealistic turned out to be advantageous. As we move forward, we will endeavor to adopt the successful practices we discovered to enhance our ability to educate the next generation of attorneys.

As we embark upon our initial stage of postpandemic life, I am happy to note that one large item on our wish list did finally come to fruition, and was a strong signal of our return to normalcy. In May, we held our first in-person commencement ceremony in almost two years at Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium

here in Memphis. One of our student’s biggest wishes was to reach a stage where we could safely celebrate commencement in person once again, and I’m happy that we could accomplish this on their behalf.

Continuing the trend of positive momentum and partial return to in-person activities, our experiential learning program saw 161 Memphis Law students complete field placements in a number of courts, government agencies, healthcare entities, non-profits, and in-house counsel offices over the course of the last year and continuing through this summer. One of our most advantageous attributes is our strong network of legal partnerships and relationships throughout the community, and seeing so many of our students back at work outside of the traditional classroom is incredibly exciting.

I am also proud to note that our most recent incoming class that we welcomed this semester is one of our most diverse classes ever! This is a testament to our recognized value, commitment to diversity and inclusion, and the momentum that Memphis as a city has seen overall. Additionally, it is one of our strongest LSAT performing classes since 2014! I am looking forward to seeing the ways in which this class grows alongside our current 2Ls and 3Ls who showed such resilience and adaptability in the past year of unforeseen circumstances. The pandemic offered the Memphis Law community the possibility to reset strategies and goals in light of a changed society. Reflecting on so much success realized under uncertain and ever-changing conditions, it is clear that progress was made and that we should adopt those practices that proved most successful. We must also continue the difficult conversations begun over the course of the last year-plus about diversity and inclusion, social justice, and the rule of law to ensure that we are always moving forward towards a more perfect union. Attorneys are uniquely positioned to champion this work, and it is only fitting that conversations on these topics continue within the law school community.

Here’s to seeing more of our friends, families, students and teachers in-person again very soon!

Best regards,

Dean Katharine T. Schaffzin