Welcome to Wayne Law’s new website. We hope you will find it a helpful source of information, whether you are a current or prospective student, an alum or other practicing lawyer, an academician, a member of the media, or a member of the public with an interest in law and legal education. I began my tenure as Wayne Law’s 10th dean in May 2008. I would like to take an opportunity to tell you why I came to Wayne Law and what it means to me to be a part of the vibrant Southeast Michigan legal community.
A major reason I decided to come to Wayne Law was the opportunity to work with – and learn from – Wayne Law’s superb faculty. Other schools tout their faculty, but the Wayne Law faculty truly delivers. This is evident in their numerous books, publications, prominent cases, expert blogs, and regular quotes in local, national and international news sources, as well as the practical experience they bring to the classroom each and every day. The Wayne Law faculty is fully engaged: in teaching, in scholarship, and in the community. And our median class size is an enviable 15 students, allowing for an intimate learning environment and close contact between students and professors.
Wayne Law is an exciting place to be. Located in Detroit’s Midtown Cultural Center, we are in the heart of the action. We are located where lawyers work and confront the real problems of an urban environment. Several of our programs, such as the Small Business and Non-Profit Enterprise Clinic and the Disability Law Clinic, provide our students with opportunities to address such problems. Our location places us close to the renowned Detroit Institute of Arts (home of the famous Diego Rivera Detroit Industry murals and many other treasures), Orchestra Hall (home of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, now conducted by Leonard Slatkin), and several other cultural institutions. Major league baseball, hockey, basketball and football are close at hand.
The most pleasant experience for me, since my arrival, has been the opportunity to meet and work with our students. Wayne Law’s students are especially bright, mature, conscientious and engaged. They are active participants in a variety of worthwhile, public-spirited activities that enhance our community. Advancing Wayne Law’s role in the university’s urban mission, while continuing to provide excellent legal education in all areas of the law, is a high priority for us.
Wayne Law alumni are prominent leaders in the legal community in Michigan and beyond. Many of them are actively involved in the Wayne Law Alumni Association and take great pride in their alma mater. They demonstrate their commitment by mentoring students, helping them along their career paths, engaging in Moot Court activities, community relations and adjunct teaching.
With the economy in recession, student debt, along with the prospect of landing a job to retire that debt, is a legitimate concern in the legal profession as elsewhere. We cannot guarantee a high-paying job for every graduate. But our tuition structure is designed to make Wayne Law accessible to students from both inside and outside the State of Michigan, and to carry less debt than graduates of most other law schools. Our graduates routinely pass the Michigan Bar Examination (and those of other states) at rates well above the state average. And in a recent ranking by The National Jurist of average starting salaries for graduates from 156 law schools nationwide, Wayne Law graduates earned starting salaries higher than graduates from 60 percent of the other law schools.
I hope you enjoy our website. It’s been designed to be more accessible and to provide more information than its predecessor. We hope you find it interesting enough to follow up your virtual visit with a personal visit to our campus. Because at the heart of our law school are its people: our students, faculty, staff and alumni are what make Wayne Law the intellectually vibrant and exciting place that it is. So stop by our admissions office. Visit a class. Come to a symposium, a special lecture, or a social event. Talk to our students. We think you’ll like what you see and hear.
Sincerely,
Robert M. Ackerman
Dean and Professor of Law
Click here to read Dean Ackerman's blog
