EUGENE, Ore. -- (Aug. 22, 2011) -- While most University of Oregon students still have more than a month to savor the remaining vestiges of summer, UO School of Law students are busy preparing their first assignments.
The UO School of Law operates on a semester system, which makes its academic calendar different from the rest of the UO campus. Students arrive in the late summer for the beginning of the academic year and round out the year in May with finals and commencement.
The law school welcomes its newest and returning law ducks today for the first official day of law school classes. The academic year for the rest of the university begins Monday, Sept. 26.
"We are excited to welcome our new law students," said Michael Moffitt, dean of the UO School of Law. "They bring a wealth of experience and energy, and they will be joining a community of talented students and world-class faculty, all of whom are committed to learning about how to engage the law to make a difference."
This year's law school enrollment includes 183 new students, who will form the Law Class of 2014. In contrast to the increased numbers of undergraduates at UO in recent years, the law school has consistently targeted enrollment for entering classes at 180.
In addition, the school is welcoming 10 visiting faculty members for the 2011-12 academic year. Visiting faculty members include:
Grant Christensen comes to the UO from the University of Toledo College of Law. Previously, he worked with the University of Arizona Indian Law clinic and assisted with tribal court jurisdiction rules for the U.S. Supreme Court brief Elliott v. White Mountain Apache. He will teach Indian Law and Conflicts of Law during the fall semester.
Ellen Deason is the faculty director for the Moritz LL.M. (master of laws) program at the Ohio State University Moritz College of Law. She has co-authored casebooks for Civil Procedure and Alternative Dispute Resolution. She will teach International Business Arbitration and Comparative Dispute Resolution.
Joseph Grant from Capital University Law School will teach Trusts and Estates I and II. Previously, he served as an assistant professor of law at the Appalachian School of Law, and as a lecturer in law at West Virginia University College of Law.
Deborah McGregor is a professor at Indiana University School of Law in its Top 10-ranked Legal Research and Writing program.
Adele Morrison teaches Criminal Law, Family Law and Child, Family and State at the Northern Illinois University College of Law. She will teach Criminal Law and Law and Sexuality in the spring semester at UO.
Anne Mullins will teach Legal Research and Writing and Judicial Writing. She spent five years at Susman Godfrey LLP in Houston, where she specialized in high stakes, complex commercial litigation. She previously clerked for Chief Judge Sarah Vance in the Eastern District of Louisiana and Judge Jacques Wiener of the Fifth Circuit, both in New Orleans.
Rhonda Reaves from Florida A&M University College of Law will teach Employment Discrimination and Property during the spring semester.
Michelle Slack has served as a visiting faculty member at several law schools - most recently at the University of Pittsburgh and Seattle University. She will teach Civil Procedure and Complex Litigation during the fall semester, and Evidence and Federal Jurisdiction Seminar during the spring semester.
An alumna of the UO School of Law, Megan Thompson most recently served as a law clerk at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. While at Oregon, she earned the Orlando John and Marian H. Hollis Scholarship, Paul Patterson Fellowship, and Wayne Morse Scholarship. She will teach Civil Procedure during the fall semester, and Advanced Appellate Advocacy and Children and the Law during the spring semester.
Kevin Tu is a former lecturer on Contracts at the University of Washington School of Law and member of Davis Wright Tremaine's business and commercial transactions practice groups. His focus is on the negotiation and documentation of mergers and acquisitions, technology-related commercial agreements, and various secured and unsecured credit facilities.
About Oregon Law
For more than 125 years, the University of Oregon School of Law has served the state, the nation, and the world through a constantly renewed commitment to excellence in scholarship, classroom teaching, and public service. Oregon Law is an American Bar Association accredited law school, and the only public law school in the state.
About the University of Oregon
The University of Oregon is among the 108 institutions chosen from 4,633 U.S. universities for top-tier designation of "Very High Research Activity" in the 2010 Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education. The UO also is one of two Pacific Northwest members of the Association of American Universities.
MEDIA CONTACTS: Erick Hoffman, director of communications at Oregon Law, 541-346-1665, erickh@uoregon.edu; Ali Wayner, communications manager at Oregon Law, 541-346-7355, agreen@uoregon.edu
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