Competition Teams, Externships in England & alumni

This is the time of year when the pace at the law school quickens. The 1L's are beginning their LLR writing assignments and the upperclassmen have settled into their routines. Of course, when you walk through the halls, you see students not only studying but also preparing to represent Cumberland in national competitions throughout the fall semester. All of our student competition teams have been enjoying unprecedented success. Because of our success and the generosity of our alumni, we will send more teams into national competition than we ever have. This semester we will field 8 competition teams in mock trial, moot court, negotiation and arbitration. The most wonderful part of all this is the selfless contribution of the students and their coaches. I remember congratulating one of the members of our national championship team when they returned to campus. She did not talk to me about her accomplishments. She simply said "Thank you for the honor of representing Cumberland.

As you know from some of my previous blogs and emails, international programs are a very important part of the law school. I had the pleasure of having lunch with the three students who are with us from Norwich Law School at the University of East Anglia. They are bright, engaging and enjoying their life at Cumberland. When I asked them what they were doing for fun, they mentioned that they are learning about "American" football. Two of them travelled to Knoxville last weekend to see the Florida-Tennessee game. These students are really benefiting from their year here. Those students who have left us to return to England have reported that their Cumberland experience placed their resumes at the top of the list for job interviews. One firm was not willing to consider them until they saw that they were at Cumberland for a year. Two of our graduates, Ashby Pate '07 and John Nelson '08 are at Norwich pursuing LL'M's. Each were awarded a full tuition scholarship as part of our agreement with the English law school.

We are also working to add an important ingredient to our Cambridge study abroad program. Adrian Jenkala, the British Barrister who has meant so much to our study abroad programs has arranged for externship placements from some of our students in the London legal market. This will be a once in a lifetime opportunity for our students

Our alumni continue to do amazing things. Edward Zwilling '92 was the subject of a great article in the Birmingham News about his work on behalf of the disabled. Shannon Speir '97 was featured in the Women in Business Section of the Montgomery Advertiser. Shannon is the CEO of a company that manages pharmacy programs for more than 800 hospice programs around the country.

Over the past few weeks, i have had the pleasure of meeting with several of our alumni for some non-business socializing. A week ago, I had dinner with Clay Williams and Tom Sinclair, both of the class of 1999. Clay and Tom are partners in a Birmingham law firm with a national class action practice. The last time I saw Clay and Tom before our dinner was on an airplane in July when they were both headed to San Francisco for a hearing before a multi-district litigation panel. On Friday night, Susan and I had dinner with Jeff and Doris Sewell, both from the class of 1984. Jeff is with the Jefferson County Attorney's office and is receiving rave reviews for his representation of the county during its current financial crisis. Doris is the Vice-president for legal and corporate affairs for Alabama Aircraft Industries. We were also joined by Phil '69 and Nancy Laird. Phil has been practicing law for almost 40 years in Jasper, Alabama and is respected and loved by everyone in that community. As I have said before, one of the best parts of my job is meeting with our alumni and talking about the interesting and important things they are doing.

More next week.