"None of us is as smart as all of us." - Ken Blanchard
“If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.” – African Proverb
This week is my one-year anniversary as Dean, and I want to take this opportunity to say thank you. I’ve been overwhelmed by the support I’ve received from the C|M|LAW community over these past two years, first as Interim Dean, and over the past year as Dean. I remain excited and grateful for this unique opportunity.
This week is my one-year anniversary as Dean, and I want to take this opportunity to say thank you. I’ve been overwhelmed by the support I’ve received from the C|M|LAW community over these past two years, first as Interim Dean, and over the past year as Dean. I remain excited and grateful for this unique opportunity.
We are a law school on the rise – all thanks to the teamwork of our talented student body, our highly accomplished faculty, our dedicated staff, our generous and successful alumni, and a very supportive community.
Last week, we learned that Cleveland-Marshall had the highest passage rate for first-time takers of the February 2018 Ohio Bar Exam among Ohio’s nine law schools. We also had the highest number of students who passed the bar exam and the highest number of first-time passers of any law school in Ohio. Cleveland-Marshall First on Ohio Bar Exam Passage
We recently had a 14-point increase in our U.S. News national ranking, the 4th largest increase of any law school in the nation, and the largest increase in national ranking of any Ohio law school. Our part-time program was named 1st in Ohio. See Cleveland State University C|M|LAW Rises; Case, Akron Drop in U.S. News Law School Rankings (note: that’s the media headline, not our description…)
Our Center for Cybersecurity and Privacy Protection, Global Space Law Center, Pop-up Practicum Program on cutting-edge legal issues, state-of-the-art collaborative Rawson Learning Commons, and our Leader-in-Residence Program, have attracted national attention.
We celebrated our 120th anniversary by launching our 120 Scholarship Campaign and by establishing our new Hall of Fame. We celebrated the remarkable accomplishments of 120 pioneering alumni, faculty and staff, and we will honor another 25 remarkable leaders on October 26, 2018. (Stay tuned for that announcement in the near future.) See our C|M|Law Hall of Fame Video.
But it’s no secret that this continues to be a very challenging time for law schools throughout the country. A national decline in LSAT takers and applicants to law schools has made the competition for talented students more intense than ever. That’s why we have launched the most comprehensive strategic planning process in our history. The true measure of our success will be our ability to take stock of our challenges and opportunities, focus on continuous improvement, and approach our future with a sense of strategic urgency and optimism.
Most importantly, we must never forget that, more than anything, it’s all about our students. They are at the center of everything we do.
Final exams begin today. We provide coffee and food in the Dean’s office every day during exams, but I also want to offer a little advice…
I’ve written Dean Fisher's Serenity Prayer for First Year Law Students and Dean Fisher's Serenity Prayer for Bar Exam Takers.
Below is my Serenity Prayers for Final Exam Takers.
God grant me the serenity to accept that knowing the material is only a starting point.
The courage to use what I’ve learned and apply it to problems I’ve never seen.
And the wisdom to know that there may not be a right answer and that sometimes ‘maybe’ is the best answer.
Taking each question one at a time.
Focusing on the moment, parking my worries and fears at the door, and visualizing success.
Accepting that the exam doesn’t just test my knowledge, it tests my state of mind and body.
Taking the exam as it is, not how I or others would have written it.
Trusting that I have prepared the best I can.
Supremely happy that I am a student at a law school where I not only learn law; I learn how to live justice.
Amen.
For copies of past messages, please go to this link: Monday Morning Messages.
My best,
Lee
My views in all my Monday Morning Messages are my personal views alone and do not reflect the views of our Law School or our University.