The Lent Retreat in Daily Living has become an important annual event at the School of Law under the direction of Professor Susan Stabile.  Again this year, faculty, staff and students are invited to participate in this retreat which provides an opportunity to experience the richness of the Lenten season, Holy Week and Easter Week according to Professor Stabile.  It will focus on personal prayer and the experience of God in prayer and daily life.  Through personal prayer participants will enter experientially into the mind and heart of Jesus in his passion, death and resurrection.
      In a Retreat in Daily Living, participants commit themselves to a half-hour of prayer each day and go about their daily lives as usual.  Prayer material relating to the theme of the retreat is provided for each day.  In addition to a daily period of personal prayer, the participants in the retreat will meet for an hour each week.  Weekly meetings will include a period where participants can share their experience of prayer in small groups, a talk on the theme for that week, and instruction on some of the dynamics of this type of retreat experience.  Prayer material for each day of the retreat will be provided.  Each session runs from 12:30-1:30 p.m. in room 458 at the School of Law.  A light lunch will be served.  The retreat will run for six Tuesdays: 2/21, 2/28, 3/6, 3/13, 3/27, 4/3 (note: no session on 3/20 – spring break). 
     Each session will be 12:30- Since lunch will be served, please RSVP to Bethany Fletcher at moel1755@stthomas.edu.

     Minnesota Lawyer has named University of St. Thomas School of Law faculty Thomas M. Mengler and Neil Hamilton recipients of the “Outstanding Service to the Profession” award.  Dean and Ryan Chair in Law Mengler and Professor and Director of the Holloran Center for Ethical Leadership in the Professions Hamilton will be presented at a ceremony on February 3, 2012.
      Dean Mengler has served as dean at the School of Law for ten years.  During that time Mengler guided the School of Law through several important milestones including ABA Accreditation, the $100 million mark in fundraising and hiring a nationally recognized faculty.  He has announced that he will step down as dean on July 1, 2012 and return to the faculty.
      Professor Hamilton is a national leader on the topic of professional formation. He is the author of three books, over fifty longer articles, and over one hundred shorter articles. As the Director of the Holloran Center for Ethical Research in the professions he oversees an ambitious research and writing agenda along with events promoting professional formation.
      Other members of the School of Law community recognized by Minnesota Lawyer include Chief Justice (Ret.) Kathleen Blatz, former chair of the School of Law Board of Governors who will also be recognized for her “Outstanding Service to the Profession.”   Alumnae Molly Hamilton 05’ will be honored as an “Attorney of the Year.”

     Associate Dean of Academic Affairs Robert Vischer has announced that Father Dan Griffith will join the School of Law community in January, 2012.  Fr. Griffith will serve as Distinguished Service faculty, an appointment he received from the University of St. Thomas.  In his first semester at the School of Law, Fr. Griffith will offer a course on Catholic social teaching and the law.  The course will equip students to analyze and critique current issues of law and public policy through the lens offered by Catholic social teaching.     

     Many in the school are familiar with Fr. Griffith from his ministry at the School of Law which has included presiding over mass at the School of Law for the past several years.  As a law school graduate and diocesan priest, Fr. Griffith has a strong interest in helping students explore the relationship between their faith commitments and their work as lawyers.   Aside from his teaching duties, he will work with the Murphy Institute for Catholic Thought, Law, and Public Policy, and be available to provide spiritual counseling for students.
      In addition to his law school service, Fr. Griffith will be assisting at Our Lady of Lourdes parish in Minneapolis where he will become pastor this summer.

     At the first Session of the 2012 Annual Meeting in Washington, D.C. on Thursday, January 5 the House of Representatives of the American Association of Law Schools (AALS) voted to recommend that the University of St Thomas School of Law be admitted to AALS membership. Dean and Ryan Chair in Law Thomas M. Mengler, Associate Dean Rob Vischer and a small group of faculty were on hand to be welcomed into membership.
      “We are delighted to become members of the Association of American Law Schools, which has been dedicated throughout its history to the improvement of legal education and promotion of outstanding teaching, scholarship, and service at American law schools,” Dean Mengler commented.  He added that this recognition is further proof that the School of Law continues to make progress towards the goal of being a nationally recognized law school with a distinctive mission.
      To attain AALS membership standing, a school is subjected to rigorous review of all aspects of its program.  The process includes a visit to the school by AALS representatives who ensure the law school meets the requirements of the AALS. 
      In being accepted into AALS membership Dean Mengler highlighted particularly the accomplishments of the faculty.  The School of Law Ranked 38th in a study extending Prof. Brian Leiter’s “Scholarly Impact Score” methodology to all 201 ABA-accredited American law schools in 2010.  Additionally, faculty have published 22 articles in Top 25 law reviews in the past five years and 35 books, including titles from Cambridge Press and casebooks from Aspen, West, Foundation, and Carolina Academic Press.
      AALS membership wraps up the tenth anniversary year of 2011 on a very high note.  During the past year, the school also celebrated passing the $100 million fundraising total, had faculty named to the “Best Professors” list by the Princeton Review, and was named number one for externship placements per student by National Jurist.