preLaw - Back to School 2007 - (Page 22) SCHOOL PROFILE UDC’s arrival After several rough years, The University of the District of Columbia’s law school has solidified its place in legal education thanks to strong financial support, an improved student body and a strong vision BY JACK CRITTENDEN n late August 1995, just days away from the start of the semester, Katherine Broderick packed the entire District of Columbia School of Law school she had just taken over into moving vans, and moved everything the few miles north from downtown Washington, D.C., to the University of the District of Columbia campus. It was a desperate time for a law school that had become a victim of the District of Columbia’s financial troubles. The school would drop from 63 down to 39 employees during the fiscal crises. “Never start a public law school in the middle of a city’s bankruptcy,” Broderick said recently. “But now that the city has had a balanced budget for 10 years, so has the law school, and we have improved all of our programs.” The University of the District of Columbia’s David A. Clarke School of Law has come a long way since then. And Broderick, as dean, has guided it from provisional ABA accreditation in 1998 to full accreditation in 2005. Broderick, who started with the school in 1979 as a law professor when it was known as Antioch School of Law, says the recent improvements are thanks to a comprehensive and coordinated campaign. “There is no one central feature,” she said. “It is a virtual cycle — when you are surrounded by stronger students, when the physical plant gets better and better, then everything gets better and better. You don’t do that overnight. But you do it in a methodical way, pursuant to a strategic plan.” The school has recently improved in the last area that had been a thorn in its side — the bar exam. It recently improved its first-time bar-passage rate to over 60 percent in all jurisdictions, and 80 percent in 22 preLaw I the District of Columbia. Its rates were as low as 31 percent percent just a few years ago. The school has taken active steps to limit the number of departing transfers who are likely to pass the bar exam, by giving all students in the top half of the class a $2,000 scholarship. It also changed its residency policy so that students can get in-state tuition after living in D.C. for one year. “We have a very magical place here,” Broderick said. “It’s absolutely unique and we’re doing great things. We are deeply committed to attracting an incredibly diverse group of people who want to change the world, including at home.” The school’s vision is to recruit and enroll students from diverse racial, ethnic and other backgrounds to serve UDC'S Dean Katherine Broderick has in public interbeen a beacon of light for the school and est, public service and public policy its students. From financial struggles to careers. full ABA accreditation, UDC is achieving its Judging by mission with Broderick behind the wheel. recent statistics, age of 3 percent UDC is achieving its mission. in public interest More than 50 percent of students are mem- and 11 percent in public service. “We’ve always had a wonderful vision bers of minority groups — the sixth-highest percentage of ABA-approved schools. and now we have the financial support to Also, 35 percent of graduates go on to pub- support that vision,” Broderick said. Funding from the District has increased lic policy jobs, compared to a national averwww.preLawInsider.com http://www.preLawInsider.com
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