“I have always been delighted at the prospect of a new day, a fresh try, one more start….” ―J.B. Priestley
This morning is my final Monday Morning Message as Dean of Cleveland State University College of Law.
It’s a bittersweet moment because I’ll be stepping down as Dean in a few weeks on June 30 to become the 10th President of Baldwin Wallace University. While I’m very excited about this rare opportunity to lead such an iconic university, I will always cherish my time serving this iconic law school. Serving CSU Law the past 9 years has been one of the greatest honors of my life.
Ironic Twist of History
I recently reflected on my tenure as Dean in Community Leader magazine (Reflections on Serving as Dean of CSU Law), and I noted that there is an ironic twist of history with respect to my next chapter. CSU Law was founded in 1897, when Ohio Court of Appeals Judge Willis Vickery and other notable Cleveland attorneys and judges organized the Baldwin University Law School. In 1899, the law school merged with Cleveland Law School and was incorporated under the name of the Cleveland Law School of Baldwin University (Baldwin-Wallace College after 1913), an association that lasted through 1926. I guess you could say I’m going back to our roots.
Nothing is Given; Everything is Earned
I started these weekly messages in 2016 as a way of highlighting the great work of our students, faculty, staff, alumni, and friends, and reflecting not only on what we do, but also on why it’s so important. Since then, I’ve written over 400 Monday Morning Messages, many of them late Sunday night! If I had called it the “Dean’s Message,” I could have sent it any time I wanted, but once I called it the “Monday Morning Message,” I had to keep my word!
My first Monday Morning Message in August 2016 reflected on the Cleveland Cavaliers ending Cleveland’s 52-year, 146 season professional sports championship drought by becoming the first professional basketball team to ever rally from a 3-1 deficit in the NBA Finals. I noted that CSU Law is an institution where, in the words of LeBron James, “nothing is given; everything is earned.” I said that my goal was to help take our law school to the next level of excellence, impact, and distinctiveness as a great public law school in a great city where we believe in ourselves and everything is earned.
Our North Star
Since then, our law school’s efforts have spanned a variety of initiatives, but the thread that has bound them together has been our students. They are our North Star – we are committed to their personal and professional lifelong success. There is nothing more meaningful to me than to have been part of their journey. It’s been a privilege to watch nine classes of our students reflect and debate, learn and grow, and graduate and earn the right and responsibility of serving as lawyers and upholding the rule of law.
I quickly fell in love with our law school when I arrived in 2016 and will always be grateful for the special opportunity to work with such talented students, staff, faculty, and university colleagues. I’ve been inspired by our faculty’s commitment to teaching our students and producing scholarship that grapples with some of our society’s biggest challenges. I’ve been inspired by our staff whose tireless work around the clock to serve our students is too often underappreciated. And it has been one of the great joys of my life to work with the most loyal, engaged, and supportive alumni of any law school in the nation. They open doors for our students and graduates every day.
A Law School on the Rise
We are a law school on the rise. We recently enrolled the largest first year class in 15 years, a 96% increase in enrollment since 2016, and we have turned a significant annual operating deficit into a healthy annual operating surplus. We broke new ground by being one of the first law schools in the nation to launch a part-time online JD program, providing access to a legal education and new careers for many throughout the country who never before thought it would be possible because of family and work commitments. We now have students in our part-time online program from over 27 states.
We’ve strategically expanded our curriculum, programs, clinics, and centers of excellence to meet the fast-changing needs of the legal market. At a time when the value of hands-on learning is becoming increasingly clear, we have expanded the number of experiential learning opportunities in our preeminent clinical and externship programs. We have recognized the extraordinary success of hundreds of our distinguished graduates by the establishment of our annual Hall of Fame Celebration, which last year attracted over 650 supporters.
Better, Brighter Days Ahead
I have no doubt that even better and brighter days lie ahead for CSU Law and for the University under the extraordinary leadership of my colleagues Interim Co-Deans Carolyn Broering-Jacobs and Brian Ray as well as CSU President Laura Bloomberg and Provost Nigamanth Sridhar. New challenges lie ahead such as the study and integration of AI into legal education, and preparation for the NextGen Bar Exam. With the next era of leadership, will come opportunities for new ideas, fresh perspectives, and exciting innovations.
Learn Law. Live Justice.
Most fundamentally, we have been guided by our mission: Learn Law. Live Justice. In closing, I want to share my final words to the Class of 2025 a few weeks ago at Commencement:
“You are entering the legal profession at a moment when some of our most cherished values as Americans are at a crossroads: civility, decency, democracy, and justice. When our nation has achieved anything of consequence, it has done so most often through civil debate and mutual respect. We are at our best when we are showing humility, listening to other views, respectfully debating differences, and building consensus.
So my final words are to issue this graduation challenge to each of you. Please use your law degree to help someone you don’t know or may never meet. Think of your degree not only as a law degree but as a leader degree. You have learned law. Now lead and live justice.
Think of yourselves as more than lawyers. Think of yourselves as custodians of civility, defenders of democracy, and guardians of justice.
It is not hyperbole to say that our hope for the future of civility, decency, democracy, and justice lies with you. The world needs you now more than ever.”
My deep thanks to the CSU Law community for trusting me with the responsibility of leading this extraordinary law school. It has been an honor and a joy. I will always remain committed to our law school’s mission and success for the rest of my life.
Thanks again!
The views and opinions expressed in my Monday Morning Message are solely my own and do not reflect the views and opinions of the law school or the university. For copies of past messages, please go to this link: Monday Morning Messages
My best,
Lee
Lee Fisher