The Catholic University of America


 Dean's Activities

 

2011.2010.2009.2008
2010



Nov. 11 to 13 - Dean Miles travels took her to Portland, Oregon for the Accreditation Committee of the ABA Section of Legal Education and Admission to the Bar. On Nov. 14 she returned to Washington in time to address a group of women college students (above) participating in the Public Leadership Education Network’s “Women, Law & Public Policy Conference: A Public Leadership Career Conference.”  PLEN provides a range of opportunities to women college students from across the country to participate in internships and programs in the nation’s capital where they can learn about the field of law and public policy from women lawyers who make and influence public policy. Dean Miles participated in a panel discussion on how to prepare for law school and beyond.

 

Nov. 15 - Dean Miles was hosted by more than a half dozen CUA Law alumni for a luncheon at Arnold and Porter LLP in downtown Washington. She discussed the current state of the law school with graduates, offering a comprehensive breakdown in categories such as enrollment, financial aid, LSAT scores, bar exam passage and national rankings of law schools. The dean also took questions.


Nov. 3 - More than two dozen Catholic University law school graduates (above) were sworn in as the newest members of the Virginia State Bar. The ceremony was conducted at the Greater Richmond Convention Center, and Dean Miles personally moved the candidates before the state Supreme Court justices. The event was preceded by a breakfast hosted by the dean and the Office of Development and Alumni Relations.

 



Oct 28-31 – Dean Miles undertook a three-day swing through Tennessee, speaking with pre-law advisers and communications department faculty members in the Nashville area to help ensure that the attributes of Catholic University’s law school are better known in that part of the country. While staying at the home of CUA law alumnus Greg Tucker and his wife Minh-Triet, the dean visited Tennessee State University, Vanderbilt, The University of the South and Middle Tennessee State University. At the latter school, she came across some expressive dance students (above) and briefly participated in their class exercise in modern dance!

 

Sept. 28 – October 1  Dean Miles began her second two-year term as a member of the ABA Accreditation Committee by attending its fall retreat and committee meeting in Chicago, IL.  The Accreditation Committee is the arm of the ABA Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar that “is charged with the administration of the ABA accreditation process, including review of site evaluation reports, progress reports, and fact finding reports. It reviews J.D. programs, post-J.D. programs, foreign summer programs, semester abroad programs, cooperative programs for foreign study and individual student programs for foreign study.” (http://www.abanet.org/legaled/committees/committees.html).



Sept. 9 -12 -Dean Miles attended the Third National People of Color Legal Scholarship Conference, at Seton Hall Law School. The nationwide conference of minority law professors is held once every five years. The dean served as a panelist for a discussion: “Junior Faculty Development & Workshop: Deanships & Administrative Opportunities.” 

The theme of the Conference was: "Our Country, Our World in a Post–Racial Era." The conference featured panels on the “war on terror,” urban revitalization, criminal law, health care, education, immigration, human trafficking, voting rights, international and comparative law, judicial nominations, environmental justice and corporate responsibility, among others. The Rev. Jesse Jackson Sr. delivered the keyonote address to the more than 400 attendees.

August



Dean Miles was the author of “The Uniform Bar Examination: A Benefit to Law School Graduates,” published in the August, 2010 issue of The Bar Examiner magazine. The seven page article argues the case for a national bar exam to replace the state-by-state approach currently in place.  

July



Dean Miles welcomed alumna Peggy Magee, 1997, as well as several college interns from the Circuit Court for the Prince George's County on July 13. Magee is the clerk of the Circuit Court for Prince George's County and she suggested the breakfast and tour of the law school as a way to familiarize the interns with CUA Law, in the hope that  some of them may choose to apply in the future

June

        
Dean Miles with Chelsea Ferrette (left); Ferrette with "Ginger" Hayes Patterson. 

CUA Law was well represented at the Association of American Law Schools’ Workshop for Pretenured Minority Law School Teachers held June 16 and 17 in Washington, D.C. Dean Veryl V. Miles shared her professional experience and advice as part of a discussion titled “Service: Strategies to Success.” She discussed a law school’s responsibility to support the success of a pre-tenured minority law professor. CUA Law alumnae Elizabeth “Ginger” Hayes Patterson, Class of 1973, and Chelsea Ferrette, Class of 2000, were also present at the workshop. Patterson attended as deputy director of AALS and will be returning to the Georgetown Law Center in August, while Ferrette attended the workshop as a new law professor and will be a clinical fellow in the Community Development Clinic at the University of Baltimore Law School.


Dean Miles presented "The Future of Legal Education" at the 2010 D.C. Circuit Judicial Conference in Farmington, PA on June 10th.  Her panel was moderated by Judge Douglas H. Ginsburg of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. The dean discussed basic student competencies, necessary professional skills and the integrative linking of law studies to law practice.

April



Dean Miles was the featured speaker at the 2010 Beat the Odds awards presentation, held on April 21 at the Alexandria, Va., courthouse.

The Alexandria Beat the Odds program, modeled after a Children’s Defense Fund Program, is a collaborative effort that supports youth who have overcome difficult situations to achieve educational or vocational goals. Now in its seventh year, the awards program again honored Alexandria youth, ages 13 to 21, who have achieved academic and other goals in spite of a history of involvement with the local court, mental health or social services systems.

March



Dean Veryl Miles was among a dozen invited panelists to participate in the Widener University School of Law Dean’s Leadership Forum on Diversity, held at the school’s Harrisburg, PA campus on March 22, 2010. Speaking during the second session, Dean Miles addressed “Diversity and the Legal Profession: The Numbers Unfortunately Do Not Lie.” As the title implies, her remarks made it clear that diversity within both the student body and faculty ranks at law schools is not a fully achieved goal.



February 



Sunny and cool, but at least snowless. Thomas C. Cardaro, president of the Maryland State Bar Association and member of the class of 1985; Dean Miles and Thomas J. Doherty, class of 1974, gathered at CUA Law’s Alumni, Faculty and Friends Reception at the Disney Boardwalk Inn in Lake Buena Vista, FL. The event was held in conjunction with the ABA midyear meeting in Orlando.

January



About 30 alumni and guests attended a Jan. 28 reception for the CUA Law community at The Hilton New York. The event was held in conjunction with the New York State Bar Association Annual Meeting.

Dean Miles (2nd from right) hosted the Columbus School of Law's Alumni, Faculty and Friends Reception in conjunction with the Association of American Law Schools Annual Meeting in New Orleans on Jan. 7, 2010. Left to right: CUA law professor Lisa Lerman; Dean Nell Newton, of the University of Notre Dame School of Law; Dean Joyce McConnell, University of West Virginia School of Law; CUA law professor Professor Sarah Duggin.