UW Law: Leaders for the Global Common Good

Law is human service of the highest order. Our role as lawyers is to make it possible for people to survive—and thrive—in an extraordinarily complex world.  
                                                William H. Gates Sr., '50

As I reflect on my first year as Dean, I am excited by our future. Our talented and collegial faculty unanimously adopted an ambitious vision and mission statement this fall. In it, we dedicated ourselves to serving our increasingly complex and connected world by preparing our graduates to be its most capable and honorable interdisciplinary problem-solvers in all areas of law, business, and public service. We develop our students’ intellectual sophistication, professional and leadership skills, and moral courage so that they not only do things right, they also do the right thing. As leaders for the global common good, we shape and defend just and sustainable laws and policies through:

• Inspired Teaching

• Scholarly Discovery

• Ethical Advocacy

• Our Generous Public Service

We have made extraordinary progress in the past year. Some of our highlights include:

• Hiring three outstanding faculty members: 

  • Rafael Pardo (Professor, Bankruptcy/Commercial Law)

  • Mary Fan (Assistant Professor, Criminal Law)

  • Anita Krug (Assistant Professor, Corporate/Securities Law)

• Increasing the quality (including the diversity) of our student body and our graduates’ employment opportunities (over 98% employed in legal positions within 6-months of graduation)

• Updating our core curriculum to provide our students a rigorous integration of theory, doctrine, policy, and application to prepare them to serve society as ethical and effective leaders

• Identifying five interdisciplinary areas for expansion that are critical for law in the 21^st Century: 

  • Environment/Energy/Natural Resources

  • Health/Global Health

  • Business/Taxation

  • Technology/Intellectual Property

  • International Law (with our historically strong emphasis on Asia)

• Launching the Barer Institute for Law and Global Human Services, under the leadership of new Executive Director, Ms. Manisha Singh

• Beginning a Visiting Assistant Professors (VAP) program to mentor exceptionally promising teacher-scholars into academic careers and welcoming Elizabeth Porter, a former Justice Stevens law clerk, as our first VAP

• Creating a Center for Leadership & Professional Development to fully serve our students’ diverse needs in career advising and to offer innovative programs for our students in leadership development

• Expanding our work in Public Service Law, promoting Michele Storms to Assistant Dean for Public Service to lead that effort

• Initiating a post-graduate fellowship program, which welcomed Jen Marlow and Jeni Barcelos, who have launched the successful Three Degrees Institute, devoted to the intersection of Climate Change and Human Rights

As we embrace our exciting future, we are grateful for the support of our many constituents. In these challenging economic times, our alumni and friends are stepping up at record-breaking levels to support all aspects of our programs, from student scholarships, to faculty professorships, to library and discretionary support.

Your support also meant so much to us during this year as we grappled with several difficult losses from our warm community, including that of Paul Steven Miller, the Henry M. Jackson Professor of Law. We have dedicated the year to him; this year and beyond, we will celebrate his life by infusing his dedication to public service and to equal justice in all we do.   

During this season of thanksgiving, I thank you for all of your support of UW Law. You can be sure that in Washington and around the world we will be recognized as a Leader for the Global Common Good -- a vibrant community respected for our ideas and our actions, our aspirations and our operational discipline, our traditions and our innovations.

Best regards,

Dean Kellye Y. Testy