I am always proud of the accomplishments of members of the RWU Law community, but last week I learned of three remarkable ways that students honed their practical legal skills while helping the less fortunate.

Inspiration is a funny thing.  It can come a quick as lightning, be fostered by friends, or take years to strike.  Its no surprise that I am unaware of what my future holds.  I was never one of those law students who entered law school immediately knowing that the goal was to be a trial attorney, a professor, or even an in-house counsel.  So for my three years in school, I have strived to try all manner and facets of the law.  Some areas I have thrived in, like contract drafting, while others I have floundered at, like torts.

On Tuesday, October 23 from 10am to 4pm, over 60 students, law faculty, University librarians, and 2 University deans stopped by the library’s ResearchFest to learn about resources licensed by the law library.  Six vendor representatives from Bloomberg/BNA, Ebrary, EBSCO, Oxford University Press, ProQuest and Thomson Reuters Checkpoint, showed how their resources can be used by law students for class preparation, review, exam preparation, and even to research potential employers.  Products covered a range of materials including research databases, electr

With the sting of two years of student victories, and frenzied cheering from the student section this year, a faculty team featuring vets Jared Goldstein and Richard Rose, plus newbies Zoe Argento, Colleen Brown, Andy Horwitz, and Bruce Kogan, fought valiantly, but unsuccessfully, to avoid a 3-year losing streak to student teams in Jeopardy.   The class of 2015 and the defending champions, class of 2014, were neck and neck with the old timers throughout, and all teams nailed what turned out to be a prophetic Final Jeopardy answer, with the clue “The two types of tropical cyclones

Roger Williams topped regional law schools on the July 2012 Connecticut Bar Exam.  This comes as no surprise, given that RWU Law grads have been passing the bar at a high level for years.  This July’s result is particularly noteworthy as 90% of RWU Law’s first-time test takers passed the CT Bar – tying Quinnipiac, slightly ahead of regional powerhouse UConn, and dramatically ahead of newcomer UMass-Dartmouth.

An article in the October 2012 issue of the ABA Journal, Making Mediators: As the Field Grows, So Does the Need for Negotiation Skills, notes that “cutbacks in Court budgets, the high cost of discovery, crowded dockets and emphasis on result-oriented ‘value billing’ have created the elements of a perfect storm for a mediation wave.”  Kimberly Taylor, chief operating officer of JAMS Arbitration Mediation and ADR

As the only law school in Rhode Island, RWU Law has a close relationship with a number of important professional groups, including the Thurgood Marshall Law Society, the Latino Policy Institute, Common Cause and the Rhode Island Association for Justice, which represents lawyers who represent injured individuals.

While many Rhode Islanders choose to stay home for law school, RWU Law draws 1Ls from all over the country (typically from 30 or so states), and we always enjoy taking the newbies out on the water that surrounds our campus.  Here is a recap of this year's excursion from our terrific Marine Affairs Director, Susan Farady, followed by some pics of a stunningly beautiful day to be on the water.

RWU Law recently hosted the inaugural Santoro Business Law Lecture http://law.rwu.edu/story/presidential-debates-politics-gambling and the RWU law community, as well as leading lawyers in RI, were treated to a day with a true American original, Frank Fahrenkopf.  Mr.

The Law Library’s collection of study aids includes the Carolina Academic Press Mastering Series.  These study aids are easy-to-read with key terms emphasized and explained.  Like the nutshells and concise hornbooks study aids, references to secondary sources are minimal to enable the reader to concentrate on the major concepts being discussed.

Key features of the Mastering Series are: