OCU Law Student Blog

2003-06-11T12:31:00.000-07:00

Rochester attorney, Donna Suchy, who received her law degree (JD) from
the Oklahoma City University School of Law in 1999, has a unique
perspective on life:

Iowa, Texas, Louisiana, Oklahoma and New Mexico, are just a few of the places
that Rochester attorney Donna Suchy has called "home." Not only has she lived in
those places but she has traveled to almost every state in the country.
Beyond the U.S., Suchy has lived in Belgium and Ghana and has been to such
countries as Scotland, England, France, Italy, Greece, Germany, Slovakia,
Austria, Switzerland and the Netherlands. For Suchy, it's more than just about
vacationing and going to new places. Her journeys and travels have had a profound
impact on her life and have shaped who she is today.

Her Iowa Roots

Her father's farm in Iowa served as Suchy's starting point. From feeding the
cows and pigs to planting the crops, Suchy and her four sisters did almost
everything on the farm.

"Growing up on a farm was a wonderful and tremendously valuable experience,"
said Suchy. "It was a lot of long hours and hard work and it affected my life in
so many ways."

Engineering Field

Undoubtedly, her parents' farm laid the foundation and served as a stepping
stone to her career as an engineer.

"On a farm you do a lot of hands-on-work," described Suchy. "From fixing
tractors and stripping down engines, I learned a lot about mechanics."

Not surprisingly, that background knowledge proved invaluable while Suchy
pursued her bachelors of science degree at the University of Iowa (1972-75) and
her masters' degree in mechanical engineering at New Mexico State University
(1978-80).

"I was drawn to the engineering field because, like farming, I wanted to do
something practical and useful," explained Suchy. "As an engineer you have the
opportunity to solve problems that in turn help so many people."

As an engineer, Suchy worked for Kerr McGee -- a national oil company -- and
lived in such places as Lafayette, La.; Oklahoma City, Okla. and Midland,
Texas.

As one of the smallest towns that Suchy has lived in, Midland was also once
home to President George W. Bush and First Lady Laura Bush. (This of course was
before they became "President" and "First Lady.") Suchy's daughters even played
with the Bushes' daughters, Jenna and Barbara.

While she was at Kerr McGee, Suchy was intimately involved in the company's
offshore drilling operations.

"Kerr McGee was the first company to ever drill offshore," stated Suchy. "It
was an exciting time because I would fly by helicopter to the offshore
platforms. It was like a little city in the sea since they had housing
facilities for all the employees that lived on the platform."

Entering The Legal Field

In 1996, Suchy decided to take her life into a slightly different direction.
With the desire to combine her skills and knowledge as an engineer with the law,
Suchy sought to become a patent attorney.

"Even as I was pursuing my engineering degree, I knew I wanted to someday be
a patent attorney," explained Suchy. "It was a perfect way to combine my love
for science and my love for writing into one career."

While continuing to work full-time, Suchy attended law school at Oklahoma
City University and received her juris doctor degree in 1999.

Coming To Rochester

After working a couple of years in Oklahoma City as an attorney, Suchy was
attracted to Rochester and, in particular, to its "close-knit" legal community.
"Rochester is a well-kept secret," said Suchy. "It's a great city for IP
attorneys since it produces more patents per capita than any other city in the
U.S., is third overall for total patents filed and moreover it's a great place
to live."

As an attorney in the litigation department of Harter, Secrest & Emery LLP,
Suchy concentrates her practice in intellectual property where she prepares and
prosecutes patent, trademark and copyright applications and licensing.

"I feel so lucky to be doing what I am doing with the people I get to work
with," she said. "Each day I have the opportunity to learn so many new things
which makes my work very interesting. My clients are also incredibly talented
and their inventions are truly amazing."

For those interested in looking up patents and inventions, Suchy recommended
that they go to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office's website at www.uspto.gov.

Suchy And Her Travels

In addition to Suchy wearing the "hats" of engineer and attorney, she could
easily add a travel agent's cap to her "wardrobe."

"My first opportunity to 'see the world' came when I went to Belgium as an
AFS high school exchange student," stated Suchy. "This was an eye opening
experience for a girl from a small farm in Iowa."

Her trip to Belgium was all it took for Suchy to become infected with the
"traveling bug." While Suchy wanted to travel, she also wanted to travel with a
"purpose."

"I grew up during Kennedy's presidency," recalled Suchy. "I heard his speech
in which he said 'Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do
for your country.' Those words truly inspired me."

Thus, it wasn't surprising that after graduating from the University of Iowa,
Suchy signed up with the Peace Corps in 1973. The country of Ghana in West
Africa would be her home for the next few years, where Suchy worked as a teacher
in a school with girls aged nine to 17. Naturally, she taught what she knew best
-- physics, math and science.

"My mother was a teacher so she was a big inspiration for me when I went to
Ghana," said Suchy. "I loved teaching. It's amazing the kind of impact that it
can have on the lives of others."

While teaching was a major part of Suchy's experience in Ghana, her time was
also spent learning about the region's language, food, culture and people.
"Ghana is a beautiful place and the culture is very family and
community-oriented," described Suchy. "I remember being surprised about how
friendly the people were. If you did not greet everyone you met on the street,
they would come to you concerned, thinking that something was wrong with you."

When asked what she learned from her time in Ghana, Suchy answered, "There
are so many beautiful places in this world and while there are some differences
among places and people, I found out that we are more alike than different."

With that credo in mind, Suchy makes it a goal to travel whenever she can and
encourages others to do the same.

"I truly believe that this world would be a more peaceful one if we could,
literally get beyond the barriers that divide us," said Suchy.

For example, for those that are interested in serving as host families for
exchange students, Suchy recommended that they call AFS, formerly known as
American Field Service, at (315) 923-1831 or (585) 261-5529.

Above all, Suchy feels that it is important to try to add something positive
to the world. For Suchy, giving back to the community is important. As a city
resident, she volunteers for a variety of city projects and is on the board of
the Landmark Society, an organization that strives to preserve historical
landmarks.

Her Family

Lastly, to find another example of how Suchy's travels have had a profound
impact on her life, one only has to look towards her husband, Tim Dicey.
Remarkably, they met while she was in Ghana. He was from London. A
three-and-a-half year long distance romance followed until they got married in
1978. The two have five girls named Astrid, Sienna, Carolyn, Laura and Jolene.

2003-06-09T13:45:00.000-07:00

Kelly Scott, who graduated May 10 with a Bachelor of Science in accounting, is Miss Oklahoma 2003. Scott competed as Miss State Fair of Oklahoma. Scott took the title on Saturday, June 7, at the Mabee Center at ORU in Tulsa. Scott is from Claremore.

Five other Oklahoma City University students competed: Brooke Haley, a mass communications senior from Pryor, who made the top five; Leah Ledbetter, a mass communications senior from Oklahoma City, who competed as Miss Oklahoma City University. Sarah Reed, a dance freshman from Edmond, Chelsea Cain, a dance management freshman from Duncan, and Jessica Eckert, a mass communications sophomore from Claremore.

The Miss American Organization, with which the Miss Oklahoma Pageant is affiliated, is the world’s largest single source of scholarship funds for young women.

2003-06-06T21:28:00.000-07:00

2003-2004 NWLSA Conference Directors

Oklahoma City University School of Law’s chapter of the National Women’s Law Student Association (NWLSA) will host the 2003-2004 Annual Conference at the law school next spring. Please join us in congratulating the following law students in their national office appointments to the 2003-2004 Board of Directors of the NWLSA to assist in the planning and implementation of this important event:

Tynan Grayson (2L/OCU), Director of Conference
Shanita Tucker (2L/OCU), Assistant Director of Conference - Workshops
Amy Root (2L/OCU), Assistant Director of Conference - Registration
Brooke Hedlund (2L/OCU), Assistant Director of Conference - Dinner
Kristen Kochekian (2L/OCU), Assistant Director of Conference - Luncheon
Amanda Carpenter (2L/OCU), Assistant Director of Conference - Reception
Amy Cornforth (2L/OCU), Assistant Director of Conference - Banquet
Meredith Edmison (2L/OCU), Assistant Director of Conference - Community Activities and Tourism
Lily Debra (2L/OU), Assistant Director of Conference - Souvenir Program
Alissa Preble (2L/OCU), Assistant Director of Conference - Volunteers

Each appointee will report to the NWLSA, Director of the Board; coordinate her efforts in concert with the overall 2003-2004 NWLSA Annual Conference goals and objectives while working in concert with the National Board of Directors and the local OCU Chapter leadership.

2003-06-02T22:29:00.000-07:00

Stoner Named Director of OCU LAW’s Native American Legal Resource Center

Oklahoma City University’s (OCU) School of Law Dean Lawrence K. Hellman announced today that OCU LAW Instructor Kelly Stoner has been named Director of OCU’s Native American Legal Resource Center (NALRC).

“The continuing development of our Native American Legal Resource Center is a key part of the law school’s strategic plan,” Hellman said. “With her impressive energy, enthusiasm, and expertise, I expect Kelly Stoner to lead the NALRC to new levels of activity and service for those who seek to study, practice, and shape the law affecting Native Americans.”

Stoner joined the OCU LAW faculty in 2000 to help establish the Apache Tribal Domestic Violence Project, a collaborative effort between OCU LAW and the Apache Tribe of Oklahoma. The two-part program provides legal assistance for Native American victims of domestic violence and trains law students to work with domestic violence victims, particularly Native American victims.

Stoner’s work has put a spotlight on OCU’s NALRC. In 2002, the Apache Tribal Domestic Violence Project was designated a “Promising New Practice” at the Women are Sacred national conference. That same year, Stoner was selected by the Oklahoma Native American Domestic Violence Coalition to receive its inaugural Sarah Deer Award for her work to improve legal services for victims of domestic violence in Oklahoma.

This year the Tribal Law and Policy Institute, West Hollywood, Calif., is preparing a report on the Apache Tribal Domestic Violence Project, which was selected as one of 15 promising practices in the area of domestic violence by the U.S. Department of Justice. The report will serve as a training resource for tribes seeking to establish legal assistance programs.

In addition to her work with the Apache’s domestic violence project, Stoner serves as an American Bar Association (ABA) consultant on issues involving domestic violence in Indian country. She also serves as a legal consultant for the Spirit Lake Tribe, North Dakota. And she is co-authoring a book (with B.J. Jones, director of the University of North Dakota School of Law’s Northern Plains Tribal Judicial Training Institute, and Mark Tilden, an attorney for the Native American Rights Fund) for the ABA that addresses Indian children in the legal system.

“Today OCU LAW continues to work with the Apache Tribe of Oklahoma developing our partnership,” said Stoner. “The tribe recently received a grant to establish a domestic violence unit to serve Native Americans in Grady and Caddo counties. OCU LAW will play a role in this unit, which will bring together those who specialize in domestic violence cases including advocates, law enforcement and prosecutors. The goal of the program is to improve the lines of communication enabling earlier detection of patterns of abuse.”

Under Stoner’s direction, OCU’s NALRC is currently conducting an evaluation of various Grady and Caddo County agencies that deal with domestic violence cases to determine whether the goals of victim safety and batterer accountability are being met.

Stoner has been a keynote speaker at various national conferences addressing the topic of domestic violence in Indian country. This week, she will present “Domestic Violence: Targeting Dangerous Characteristics” at the Oklahoma Supreme Court’s annual Sovereignty Symposium in Oklahoma City.

Prior to joining OCU LAW, Stoner was an instructor and director of the Native American Law Project at the University of North Dakota School of Law. She has authored several tribal codes and domestic violence codes for federally recognized tribes and functioned as a consultant for the American Bar Association's Domestic Violence Committee in areas involving Native Americans.

A native of Idabel, Okla., Stoner is of Choctaw and Cherokee decent. She earned her bachelor’s degree from Oklahoma Panhandle State University and her Juris Doctor degree from the University of Oklahoma College of Law. In addition to her work with the Apache Tribal Domestic Violence Project, Stoner will teach courses on American Indian law and domestic violence. She will also serve as faculty advisor to OCU LAW’s chapter of the Native American Law Student Association and coach the chapter’s interscholastic moot court teams.

OCU LAW’s Native American Legal Resource Center is dedicated to advancing scholarship in the field of American Indian law and improving the quality of legal representation for Native Americans. It advises tribes and governments on matters of economic development and supports the activities of the OCU chapter of the Native American Law Student Association. The Center also helps make available tribal law by publishing the Oklahoma Tribal Court Reports and the Oklahoma Tribal Constitutions Annotated.

OCU professor Dennis Arrow will continue his role as associate director of the NALRC.

2003-06-02T22:27:00.000-07:00

2003-2004 NWLSA Director of Moot Court

Please join me in Congratulating Paula McGuinness (3L) in her
national office appointment. Paula will serve as the 2003-2004 Director
of Moot Court for the National Women Law Students' Association 11th
Annual Sojourner Truth Moot Court Competition.

Among her many duties, Paula will be responsible for creating
the Competition Problem (centered around a women's issue); appointing
and supervising all Assistant Directors of Moot Court; constructing the
official competition rules; promoting national team
participation/competition registration; working in conjunction with the
Oklahoma Bar Association and OCU Moot Court Society to attract students,
faculty, attorneys and federal/circuit judiciary to judge the
competition.

Paula will report to the NWLSA, Director of the Board;
coordinate her efforts in concert with the overall 2003-2004 NWLSA
Annual Conference goals and objectives while working in concert with the
National Board of Directors and the local OCU Chapter leadership.

Congratulations Paula!

Sylvia L. Thomas
NWLSA, Director of the Board, 2003-2004

2003-06-02T13:08:00.000-07:00

OCU Cosponsors Event, Offers Scholarship to Benefit Red Cross

Oklahoma City University is participating in the American Red Cross of Central Oklahoma’s M*A*S*H Bash, an event based on the popular television series, which will be held at 1800 hours (6 p.m.) on Saturday, June 7, and Gaillardia Golf and Country Club.

The event is open to the public and patrons are encouraged to dress as their favorite character or in a festive Hawaiian shirt. The event includes dinner, dancing with Ro-tel and the Hot Tomatoes, both a live and silent auction, and a great time with good friends.

The event benefits local families in need of food, clothing and shelter. Proceeds will also help train our community in lifesaving skills such as first aid and CPR, as well as assist with emergency communications between members of the military and their families.

In addition to cosponsoring this event, Oklahoma City University has placed a tuition waiver scholarship for eight consecutive semesters, valued at $26,680, in the Red Cross’s online auction through eBay.

The scholarship may be used only by the awardee or dependents. It is a tuition waiver scholarship for admitted first-time freshman students and requires on-campus full time enrollment (a minimum of 12 credit hours per semester). This scholarship is for tuition only and may not be redeemed or exchanged for cash or other considerations, and may not be used in combination with any other university tuition waiver scholarship or discount program with the exception of the university’s United Methodist congregation tuition waiver.

All applicants must meet OCU admission requirements. The scholarship must be used by fall 2006 and any unused tuition credit remaining at that time will be forfeited.

The American Red Cross of Central Oklahoma serves Oklahoma, Lincoln, Grady, Eastern Caddo and Kingfisher counties.

To bid, visit ebay.com and search for item # 2930661546.

2003-06-02T13:07:00.001-07:00

OCU Announces Leadership Scholarship Recipients

Oklahoma City University is proud to announce the selection of its new OCULEADS class.

OCULEADS is a scholarship program that recognizes talented freshman students for leadership they have already demonstrated and for their potential for future leadership. The program provides participants the opportunity to meet and work with some of the state and nation’s outstanding students. Selected candidates receive a $1,500 tuition waiver their freshman year at Oklahoma City University, and participate in a leadership training experience that also gives them opportunities to meet state and community leaders.

Of over 200 applicants, 34 were chosen for the 2003-04 OCULEADS class. They are Timothy Peerbottle, technical theater major, of Fort Smith, Ark.; Jared Schlenker, political science major, of Pleasant Hill, Mo.; Scott Kedy, pre-law major from Ada, Okla.; Audrea Thompson, photography major from Bethany, Okla.; Garrett McGrew, music theater major from Broken Arrow, Okla.; Mallary Dean, photography major, and Christopher Conrady, biology major, both from Edmond, Okla.; Kyle Anderson from Elk City, Okla.; Travis Kliewer, biochemistry major from Fairview, Okla.; Christina Graves from Frederick, Okla.; Jake Johnson, entertainment business major from Holdenville, Okla.; Jennifer Selzer, nursing major from Jenks, Okla.; Loni Conell, biology major from Luther, Okla.; Sylvia Kline, psychology major from McLoud, Okla.; Ashley Sorrell, sociology major from Moore, Okla.; Katara Fitzpatrick from Norman, Okla.; Patricia Bryant, business major, Joe Hartman, political science major, Chad Koury, music composition major, Erin McCrackin, music theater major, Salvador Ontiveros, business administration major, Jennifer Rico, biology major, Jami Thomas, physical therapy major, and Erick Worrell, political science major, all from Oklahoma City; Traci Bair, mass communications major from Pryor, Okla.; Brittany Nagel, marketing major from Sapulpa, Okla.; Gabriel Lane, biology major from Tulsa, Okla.; Daniel Narvais, political science major from Tuttle, Okla.; Bonnie Porter, sociology major from Vinita, Okla.; Jennifer Nguyen, business major, and Deidre Laedet, nursing major, both from Yukon, Okla.; Cassidy Elms, music theater major from Lubbock, Tex.; Rachel Ortega, nursing major from Lakeside City, Tex.; and Hayley Williams, music theater major from Dallas, Tex.

2003-06-02T13:07:00.000-07:00

OCU Launches Master of Science in Nursing Program

Oklahoma City University announced today it has launched a new Master of Science in Nursing (MSN) degree program at the university.

The new graduate program, one of only two in the state, is designed to prepare students to be nurse educators or administrators, according to Dr. Marvel Williamson, dean of the Kramer School of Nursing. “Oklahoma ranks 49th nationally in the proportion of nurses with graduate degrees, resulting in few nurses qualified to teach in Oklahoma’s nursing schools. Without enough faculty, nursing schools must limit enrollment, contributing further to the crisis nursing shortage,” said Williamson. “This new program will help meet that need, and will also prepare nurses for the financial, regulatory, and staffing challenges of administrating health care organizations.”

The program features personalized instruction and mentoring, classes taught by highly trained professionals, convenient scheduling, and full or part-time study options. All courses are taught by professors with doctorates or professional leaders with postgraduate education who are advanced specialists in their fields. Courses also are offered at times convenient for professionals who want to work while obtaining their MSN degrees (every other weekend for the education track, and evenings and every other weekend for the administration track).

Three options are available in the new program: nursing administration, nursing education, and certified nurse educator. The nursing administration track is a collaborative program between the Kramer School of Nursing and the Meinders School of Business. It is designed to prepare students for management roles, including executive level leadership. An MSN/MBA option is also under development. The nursing education track prepares students to teach in nursing schools at all levels or to provide comprehensive patient education within the healthcare system. And, the certified nurse educator program is ideal for those who already hold a master’s degree in nursing but want additional preparation for teaching.

To qualify for the program, students must hold a Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree from a nationally accredited nursing program; have an undergraduate cumulative GPA of 3.0 or better, 3.2 or better for the final 30 credit hours of the BSN, or completion of a master’s degree in another field; and hold a registered nurse license from the state of Oklahoma. International students have language facility requirements, and certain courses have prerequisites in health assessment and statistics. Admission to the university is through the Office of Graduate Admissions. Persons interested in the new program may apply online at www.okcu.edu or call (405) 521-5351.

2003-05-30T12:02:00.000-07:00

This is just a reminder that OCU's LAWlawpalooza event for admitted students will be taking place on June 14, 2003. Meet at 3:00 p.m. in the Sarkeys Law Center. The event will conclude at the ending after the ball game.

LAWlawpalooza (lô-lô-pah-loo'za) n. An outstanding event for OCU School of Law Entering Students and their families.

Known for its casual atmosphere, LAWlawpalooza brings together Deans, Faculty, Students, Entering Students and their families. This is a wonderful opportunity to get to know your law school and the extended School of Law family.

Please RSVP by June 6 to attend this year's LAWlawpalooza!

Start time: 3:00 p.m. at the Sarkeys Law Center on the OCU campus
Buses depart: 5:30 p.m. for the Bricktown ballpark
Buses return: Buses return immediately following the ball game

Sneak-peek into law school life
Meet law school professors
Get to know many of your classmates
Board bus for night at Bricktown Ballpark
Night out at the Bricktown Ballpark to see the Oklahoma Redhawks
Admission, Hot Dogs & Drinks on us!
Board bus for trip back to law school

2003-05-23T13:34:00.000-07:00

OCU Offers Assistance to Oklahoma Teachers

Oklahoma City University has launched an effort to help Oklahoma school teachers and their families and other public school employees affected by the difficult times throughout American education.

In keeping with its mission of service to the community and the state, the United Methodist-affiliated university is offering a 50% discount on the cost of graduate or undergraduate courses for any Oklahoma educator who has lost a job in the current state economic crisis, a 25% tuition discount to teachers who remain employed but are looking for retraining opportunities, and a 25% tuition discount to spouses and children of Oklahoma teachers.

“These are troubling times for the education enterprise in Oklahoma,” said university President Tom J. McDaniel. “A weakened economy and budget shortfalls continue to impact common and higher education, including both public and private institutions. Many of us know personally the impact this economic situation is having on our schools, not to mention the impact it has on the lives of educators and their families. This is just our way of trying to make a difference during a difficult time.”

Raymond Baker, a teacher laid off from Webster Middle School in Oklahoma City, has already taken advantage of the program, enrolling in Summer I courses to work on a master of education.

The university will honor the discounts even if laid off instructors are called back to work in the fall. The discounts are available through the 2008 academic year. The university will also help develop further need and talent based scholarships and financial aid on an individual basis.

“Oklahoma City University wants to play a collaborative and helpful role in finding our collective way through these difficult times in the education community,” said Liz Hedrick, the university’s director of human resources and a retired Oklahoma public school educator. “Many teachers and administrators must face the reality of upgrading their current educational credentials or retraining for new or expanded careers. With the insecurity of less than stable employment, many in the education industry are increasingly concerned for our families and the higher education opportunities of our children.”

Oklahoma educators employed full time during the 2002-03 academic year as a teacher, administrator, or educational support employee are eligible for the program. For more information on these tuition grants for Oklahoma educators and their dependents, contact Denise Flis, acting director of financial aid, at (405) 521-5240, Shery Boyles, director of admissions, at (405) 521-5340, or Liz Hedrick, director of human resources, at (405) 521-5979.

2003-05-19T21:21:00.000-07:00

Due to the interest expressed by site members in message board posts and e-mails, I have dug up some more links discussing the dubious value of rankings. I hope you find these helpful.

http://www.abanet.org/lsd/stulawyer/mar03/rankinggame.html

http://monoborg.law.indiana.edu/LawRank/rankgame_danger.html

http://monoborg.law.indiana.edu/LawRank/rankgame_choose.html

http://www.aals.org/ranknews.html

http://www.aals.org/validity.html

2003-05-19T13:56:00.000-07:00

Oklahoma Supreme Court Presides at Mock Hearing at OCU

The Supreme Court of the State of Oklahoma recently presided over the final round of oral arguments for Oklahoma City University (OCU) School of Law’s Moot Court Competition held in the school’s Homsey Family Moot Courtroom. Appearing before the court were OCU first-year law students Ashley Bowen, Idabel, Okla., Matt Dobson, Oklahoma City, Jonathan Echols, Oklahoma City, and Matt Echols, Oklahoma City. Taking first-place honors was the team of Bowen and Dobson. Jonathan and Matt Echols received second-place honors.

OCU LAW dean Lawrence K. Hellman said, “Knowing that the finalists would be appearing before the Supreme Court lent an air of seriousness and excitement to the competition and brought out the best in our students. We are extremely grateful to all the Justices of the Court for taking the time to prepare for the argument and making this such a valuable learning experience for our students – not just the finalists, but all 200 students who observed the proceedings.”

Bowen described the experience as “surreal” saying, “The Oklahoma Supreme Court hears around 2 percent of all cases annually. Many attorneys never have the opportunity to argue before the Court. It was one of the greatest opportunities for me and will be a lasting memory.”

Jonathan Echols, representing the appellant, was the first competitor to make his presentation to the Court. A few minutes into his presentation he began receiving questions about the case and points of law from members of the Court. Each subsequent student also fielded questions from the Justices. After the competition, Chief Justice Joseph M. Watt congratulated the student advocates on their preparation and poise.

Justice Watt said, “I know I speak for the entire Court when I tell you how enjoyable the experience was for us and we hope that the audience and the outstanding advocates enjoyed the experience.”

OCU LAW’s Legal Research and Writing department conducts the appellate moot court competition annually as the culmination of the law school’s required, year-long course on legal research and writing training, which includes instruction in appellate advocacy. The course is taught by a staff of five full-time instructors whose combined practice experience before entering teaching is more than 45 years. The staff includes instructors Karen Eby, Jean Giles, Laurie Jones, Maribob Lee, and program director Greg Eddington. Early rounds of the competition were judged by these instructors as well as a number of OCU LAW alumni, other local attorneys, and upper class students who excelled in the competition during their first year of law school.

Finalist Dobson said, “All of the teams that we faced in the elimination rounds were excellent, and you could tell that all of the teams had spent a considerable amount of time in preparation. I think that really reflects well on our school.”

A Hatton Sumners Scholar, Bowen served as president of the first-year class and Student Bar Association (SBA) representative for Phi Delta Phi. She is a member of OCU LAW’s chapters of the National Women Law Students’ Association, Merit Scholars, American Bar Association and Student Bar Association. She is also a member of the Oklahoma City University Alumni Board. Bowen earned her bachelor’s degree in finance from Oklahoma City University in 2002. Her parents Dan and Lucy Bowen live in Hattiesburg, Miss., with her younger brother Austin.

Dobson serves as secretary for OCU LAW’s Sports and Entertainment Law Association and is a member of OCU’s student chapter of the American Bar Association as well as the Student Bar Association. He holds a bachelor’s degree in liberal arts and a master’s of education in sports administration from Wichita State University (WSU) in Wichita, Kan. While an undergraduate at WSU, Dobson played for the school’s varsity baseball team. His parents Larry and Carolyn Dobson and his brother Thad live in Oklahoma City.

Jonathan and Matt Echols were the only sibling team to enter the competition. Jonathan Echols is a Hatton Sumners Scholar who serves as president of OCU LAW’s Christian Legal Society and is founder and president of the Family Law Student Association. He is also a member of OCU LAW’s Merit Scholars and Student Bar Association chapters. Echols earned his bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of Oklahoma. He lives in Oklahoma City with his wife Kristen.

Matt Echols is a member of OCU LAW’s Family Law Student Association. He earned his bachelor’s degree in organizational leadership from Southern Nazarene University. He and his wife Victoria are the parents of a daughter, Madison.

Jonathan and Matt’s parents, David and Eileen Echols, are both 1979 graduates of OCU School of Law. Eileen Echols once served as Special District Judge. Jonathan and Matt’s siblings Jason Dodson and Meredith Echols reside in Oklahoma City.

2003-05-14T19:23:00.000-07:00

Oklahoma City University Sends Six to Miss Oklahoma Pageant

Six Oklahoma City University students will participate in the 2003 Miss Oklahoma Pageant at the Mabee Center on the campus of Oral Roberts University in Tulsa, June 4-7.

Leah Ledbetter, a mass communications senior from Oklahoma City, will compete as Miss Oklahoma City University. Brooke Haley, a mass communications senior from Pryor, Okla., will compete as Miss Lake Hudson. Kelley Scott, of Claremore, Okla., graduated May 10 with a Bachelor of Science in accounting; she will compete as Miss State Fair of Oklahoma. Sarah Reed, a dance freshman from Edmond, Okla., will compete as Miss Queen of the West. Chelsea Cain, a dance management freshman from Duncan, Okla., will compete as Miss Stephens County. Jessica Eckert, a mass communications sophomore from Claremore, Okla., will compete as Miss Claremore.

Oklahoma City University students have a long tradition of participation in the Miss America Organization. The university’s alumnae and former students include three Miss Americas and 28 state pageant winners. “OCU offers a premiere performing arts education and excellent networking and mentoring opportunities, so it’s no surprise many of our students successfully compete,” said Darwina Marshall, president and executive director of the Miss OCU Pageant. “We just excel at preparing students who decide they want to participate in this program.”

Jane Jayroe Gamble, Miss America 1967 and former executive director of Oklahoma’s Tourism and Recreation Department, holds a Bachelor of Music from OCU. Two former OCU students who became Miss America are Susan Powell (Miss America 1981), who hosted the television show, “Home Matters,” and performs in theater productions nationwide, and Shawntel Smith (Miss America 1996), who is a public speaker in venues across the country.

The Miss American Organization, with which the Miss Oklahoma Pageant is affiliated, is the largest single source of scholarship funds for young women in the world. At all levels it is entirely a nonprofit organization. This year more than $30 million in scholarships will be offered to the contestants of the Miss America Pageant system. Oklahoma City University will provide to the 2003 Miss Oklahoma Pageant over $53,000.00 in tuition college scholarships. Over $8million dollars have been made available and nearly 10,000 women have participated in the Miss Oklahoma program in state and local competitions since the Kiwanis Club of Tulsa started sponsoring the pageant in 1972. The Miss Oklahoma pageant offers over $5 million in cash and college scholarships annually.

2003-05-14T19:22:00.000-07:00

Michael D. Brown, who earned his law degree from Oklahoma City University's School of Law, was sworn in last month as the new Federal Emergency Management Agency director. He replaced another Oklahoman, Joe Allbaugh. Brown is scheduled today to tour the Oklahoma City area's tornado- ravaged areas. Here is some information on him:
* Originally from Guymon.
* Has a bachelor of arts in public administration/political science from Central State University (now known as the University of Central Oklahoma) and law degree from Oklahoma City University's School of Law.
* Served as a bar examiner on ethics and professional responsibility for the Oklahoma Supreme Court and as a hearing examiner for the Colorado Supreme Court.
* While attending law school, oversaw state fiscal issues as the Finance Committee staff director of the Oklahoma State Senate Finance Committee.
* Was once an adjunct law professor for Oklahoma City University.
* In 1988, made unsuccessful bid against then-U.S. Rep. Glenn English, D-Cordell, for a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives.
* Chairman of the Oklahoma Municipal Power Authority, 1982-88.
* Sworn in April 15 as undersecretary of emergency preparedness and response for the Homeland Security Department/FEMA.
* Previously served as FEMA's deputy director and general counsel.
* After the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, served on the President's Consequence Management Principal's Committee, which formulated federal domestic response.
* Chairman of the National Citizen Corps Council, part of the president's USA Freedom Corps volunteer initiative.

2003-05-14T19:17:00.000-07:00

Stars to Honor Stanley Draper Jr. at “Spectacular” Event

The Oklahoma City University Athletics Department is pleased to announce plans for its 2003 Sports Spectacular, a dinner and auction on June 5 at the Central Oklahoma Homebuilders Association, 625 N.W. Grand Blvd.

At the event, Stanley Draper Jr. will receive the Abe Lemons/Paul Hansen Award for Sports Excellence as part of the department’s tradition of celebrating individuals who have had an impact on athletics statewide and nationally. Draper had a profound impact on the Oklahoma Sports landscape during his 47 years working for the Oklahoma City Chamber of Commerce and as executive director of the Oklahoma City All Sports Association.

Draper successfully brought 22 NCAA championship events to Oklahoma, helped bring AAA professional baseball back to Oklahoma City in 1962 and attracted horse events, including the World Quarter Horse Show, National Reining Horse Futurity and World Barrel Racing Futurity. He also served as local manager for the National Finals Rodeo during its 20 year stay in Oklahoma City and helped bring the International Finals Rodeo to town.

Draper has received numerous honors, including induction into the Oklahoma Sports Hall of Fame, the All-College Basketball Hall of Fame and awards for involvement in community beautification projects.

“It is fitting that we honor Stanley Draper with an award that is named for two of our great coaches, Abe Lemons and Paul Hansen,” said Oklahoma City University Athletics Director Jim Abbott. “Stanley has had a hand in so many events that we enjoy today – the Big XII Baseball Tournament, Softball World Series, Aerospace America, World Class Horse Shows – it is just remarkable the impact he has had on sporting events in our state.”

Oklahoma City University Stars teams have won 22 NAIA national championships since 1988. Last year, 22 OCU student-athletes were named NAIA academic All-Americans, more than any other university.

Proceeds from the event benefit the Lemons and Hansen endowed scholarships and the OCU Athletics Department. Tables for eight persons are $400 or $750. Individual tickets are $50. Tickets must be purchased by May 30. For more information, contact Abbott at (405) 521-5301.

2003-05-14T13:22:00.000-07:00

Noted law school admissions consultant, Rebecca DeLoggio agrees with me (as do the Deans of every accredited U.S. Law School) that students should NOT base their decision about which law school to attend on rankings. Here is just one of the reasons identified by Ms. DeLoggio:

One of my students was very interested in NYU because of their top ranking in intellectual property. When he looked at actual courses, however, he found that their specialty is in entertainment and the arts, while his interest is in bioscience. He did some fast rethinking before seat deposits were due. This is yet another example of how a USNWR ranking without further info can be misleading.

Halo Effect
Specialty rankings are often influenced by the halo effect. What's that? It's the influence an external or indirect factor has on the quality being measured. Here's a great example:

"A few years ago someone conducted a poll to determine the public’s perception of the quality of law schools in the United States. Survey respondents were asked to name the 10 best law schools in the country. When the answers were compiled, the survey found that the law school at Princeton University always placed near the top. The problem is, Princeton doesn’t have a law school. But Princeton does have one of the best undergraduate programs anywhere, and that fact creates a halo which ultimately enhances the public’s perception of the quality of the university as a whole."

http://uscnews.usc.edu/presidential/2003_state_of_university.html

Halo effect is part of why universities invest money in sports teams and give honorary degrees. Anything that gets a school's name into the public eye creates a halo effect.

What's the bottom line? No one knows whether reputation correlates to quality in any meaningful way. Look for the program that's right for you, not the one with the best reputation.

2003-05-13T21:26:00.000-07:00

As it gets closer to the start of law school, I think it is prudent to start checking out all the information available to us about the law school experience. In that spirit, I am going to share some links I have found. I hope you find them as helpful as I did.

The story of a nontraditional law student's 1st year experience: http://members.aol.com/alicebeard/thoughts/

Excellent resource for those interested in teaching law: http://home.wlu.edu/~wendelb/teaching.htm

Outstanding bibliography of recommended reading materials: http://www.law.gwu.edu/apply/read.asp

A site devoted to helping students prepare for success in law school: http://www.lawnerds.com/

And don't forget that I have listed several helpful legal links on the okadvocates.com website.

2003-05-13T21:19:00.000-07:00

Federal Judge and former Oklahoma Attorney General Robert H. Henry will be the keynote speaker for the Oklahoma Foundation for Excellence 17th annual Academic Awards Banquet, scheduled for 7 p.m. Saturday at the Cox Convention Center in Oklahoma City. In addition to giving the keynote address, Henry will meet earlier in the day with foundation Chairman David L. Boren and the 2003 academic all-staters for an informal discussion and question-and-answer period. "We are thrilled to have Judge Henry as this year's keynote speaker," said Emily Stratton, executive director of the Oklahoma Foundation for Excellence. "As a foundation trustee, a school mentor and a tireless supporter of education, Robert Henry personifies our banquet's theme, 'Celebrating the Power of One.' " Henry volunteers weekly as a tutor at Emerson Aternative Education Center in downtown Oklahoma City. "We just love him," Emerson Principal Debra L. Thomas said. "Despite his busy schedule, Judge Henry volunteers his time every week to mentor our students and support our programs. He has had such a positive influence on the young male students here." In addition to tutoring, Henry has inspired eight courthouse staff members to volunteer at the alternative school. He supports special projects at Emerson, such as clothing and food drives, and is acquiring framed prints of classic artworks to display at the school to help boost appreciation for the arts. "We just don't know what we'd do without him," Thomas said. A native of Shawnee, Henry has served on the U.S. 10th Circuit Court of Appeals since 1994. He was a distinguished judge in residence at the University of Tulsa College of Law in 1996. Henry taught and served as dean of the Oklahoma City University School of Law from 1991 to 1994. Between 1987 and 1991, he was Oklahoma's attorney general. In addition, he served in the Oklahoma House of Representatives from 1976 to 1986. The Oklahoma Trial Lawyers Association honored Henry as Federal Judge of the Year in 1999. He received the Humanitarian of the Year Award in 1996 for the National Conference of Christians and Jews, Oklahoma City Region, and was named the 1986 Conservationist of the Year by the Oklahoma Wildlife Federation. Active in the Oklahoma Bar Association and American Bar Association, Henry is a Life Member of the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws. He is a trustee of the Oklahoma Foundation for Excellence and serves on the boards of the Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation, the VERA Institute of Justice and the Jasmine Moran Foundation Children's Museum. Henry resides in Oklahoma City with his wife, Jan Ralls Henry, an Oklahoma City dentist. They have two children, Rachel and Joshua.

2003-05-12T22:06:00.000-07:00

Michael D. Brown, a graduate of the OCU School of Law is the new director of FEMA. Brown is a 1981 JD from OCU School of Law. His role as FEMA director comes as part of being nominated by President Bush as the new Under Secretary for Emergency Preparedness and Response in the Department of Homeland Security. He was previously deputy director and general counsel for FEMA. In addition to attending OCU LAW, Brown also served as an adjunct professor at the School of Law.

More on Brown can be found here:

http://www.fema.gov/nwz03/nwz03_010.shtm

http://www.fema.gov/about/bios/brown.shtm

2003-05-12T22:04:00.000-07:00

The Journal Record issued the following reports, including information about an OCU graduate and commencement:

Crowe & Dunlevy adds three OKC shareholders

William L. Teague Jr., Jeremy Tubb and J. Robert Kalsu have become shareholders with Crowe & Dunlevy's Oklahoma City office. Teague and Kalsu both practice in the firm's Aircraft and Aviation Law division. Tubb focuses his practice in labor and employment law and litigation. Teague joined the firm in 1997 after serving for five years as a contracting officer and law clerk in the office of the Aeronautical Center Counsel of the Federal Aviation Administration in Oklahoma City. He is a graduate of Southern
Nazarene University and received his law degree from Oklahoma City University. Tubb joined Crowe & Dunlevy as an associate in 1995. He is a graduate of Connecticut College and received his law degree from OU. Kalsu joined the firm as an associate in 1996. He is a graduate of OU and received his law degree from the Southern Methodist University School of Law. Founded in 1902, Crowe & Dunlevy has offices in Oklahoma City, Tulsa and Norman.

OCU commencement

Lee R. West, senior U.S. district judge for the Western District of Oklahoma, will give the commencement address at Oklahoma City University School of Law's graduation ceremonies at 3 p.m. Sunday in the Freede Wellness Center on the OCU campus. The class has 106 graduates. Born in Clayton, Okla., West graduated from high school in Antlers. He earned his bachelor's degree in government from the University of Oklahoma. After service in the U.S. Marine Corps from 1952 to 1954, he his earned law degree from the University of Oklahoma College of Law. West was in private practice in Ada until he joined the University of Oklahoma College of Law faculty in 1961. West returned to private practice in 1963. Two years later, West was appointed by Gov. Henry Bellmon to serve as district judge for the 22nd Judicial District of Oklahoma, serving also as special justice of the Oklahoma Supreme Court and Court of Criminal Appeals until 1973. President Richard Nixon appointed West to the Civil Aeronautics Board in Washington, D.C., in 1973. He was designated the board's acting chairman by President Jimmy Carter in 1977. West was appointed U.S. district judge for the Western District of Oklahoma in 1979 by President Jimmy Carter. He served as chief judge of the Western District from 1993 until he took senior status in November 1994. Since that time he has remained active, hearing cases at both the district and circuit level and serving as a settlement judge. West's life story was the subject of a recent biography, Law and Laughter, The Life of Lee West, by Bob Burke, a 1979 graduate of OCU School of Law, and David L. Russell. OCU School of Law's graduation ceremonies will also include remarks by Daniel Gerry, president of the graduating class from St. Louis, Kyna Roberts, vice-president of the graduating class from Odessa, Texas, and Jonathan Grammer, member of the graduating class from Austin. A reception in the Naifeh Family Foyer and Reception Hall is scheduled after the ceremonies.
Appointed by the governor Donnie Gene Pope, Norman, has been named by Gov. Brad Henry to the Oklahoma Indigent Defense System Board for a term expiring July 1, 2007. He replaces Ben Curtis. Senate confirmation required.

2003-05-06T13:32:00.000-07:00

Senior U.S. District Judge West to Speak at OCU School of Law Graduation

The Honorable Lee R. West, Senior U.S. District Judge for the Western District of Oklahoma, will give the commencement address at Oklahoma City University (OCU) School of Law’s graduation ceremonies. Judge West will speak at proceedings honoring 106 graduates scheduled for 3 p.m., Sunday, May 11, in the Henry J. Freede Wellness Center on the OCU campus.

OCU Dean Lawrence K. Hellman said, “With his broad range of experience in law and public service, Judge West is a most fitting choice to address our graduates. I am confident that he will bring a message that is both meaningful and entertaining.”

Born in Clayton, Okla., Judge West graduated from high school in Antlers, Okla. He earned his bachelor’s degree in government from the University of Oklahoma, where he was elected to the honorary scholastic fraternity Phi Eta Sigma.

Following service in the United States Marine Corps (1952-1954), Judge West earned his Juris Doctor degree from the University of Oklahoma College of Law. He was selected by the faculty as the Outstanding Graduate of his law school class, served as editor of the Oklahoma Law Review and was named to the Order of the Coif.

Judge West engaged in private practice in Ada, Okla., until he joined the University of Oklahoma College of Law faculty in 1961. During 1962-1963 he was a Ford Foundation Fellow in Law teaching at Harvard Law School were he earned an L.L.M. degree. Judge West returned to private practice in 1963.

In 1965, Judge West was appointed by Governor Henry Bellmon to serve as District Judge for the 22nd Judicial District of Oklahoma, serving also as Special Justice of the Oklahoma Supreme Court and Court of Criminal Appeals until 1973. During this time, Judge West graduated from the National College of State Trial Judges.

President Richard Nixon appointed Judge West to the Civil Aeronautics Board, Washington, D.C., in 1973. He was designated the board’s Acting Chairman by President Jimmy Carter in 1977.

Judge West was appointed U.S. District Judge for the Western District of Oklahoma in 1979 by President Jimmy Carter. He served as Chief Judge of the Western District from 1993 until he took senior status in November, 1994. Since that time he has remained active, hearing cases at both the district and circuit level and serving as a settlement judge in complex and protracted cases throughout the 10th Circuit. He received the Award for Judicial Excellence from the Oklahoma Bar Association in 2000.

Judge West’s life story was the subject of a recent biography, Law and Laughter, The Life of Lee West, by Bob Burke, a 1979 graduate of OCU School of Law, and the Honorable David L. Russell.

OCU School of Law’s graduation ceremonies will also include remarks by Daniel Gerry, president of the graduating class from St. Louis, Mo., Kyna Roberts, vice-president of the graduating class from Odessa, Texas, and Jonathan Grammer, member of the graduating class from Austin, Texas. A reception in the Naifeh Family Foyer and Reception Hall will immediately follow the ceremonies. Family, friends, alumni and interested members of the public are invited to attend the ceremonies.

2003-05-05T22:25:00.000-07:00

The Oklahoma City University Journal Record hands out Law Day awards:

Two of the year's most prestigious awards in the metro legal sector were presented Thursday at the Law Day Luncheon sponsored by the Oklahoma County Bar
Association and the Oklahoma City University School of Law. The event was held at the Cox Business Services Convention Center in downtown Oklahoma City.
The Journal Record Award for lifetime achievement in the legal profession was presented to Judge David M. Cook. The Journal Record and the Oklahoma County Bar
Association have presented the award annually since 1981. Mahmood Shandiz, senior associate dean at the OCU Meinders School of Business, was awarded the Liberty Bell Award for his contributions to the legal profession as a non-lawyer. "It was a complete surprise," said Cook, adding that he was very pleased and honored to receive The Journal Record Award. "I was listening to the description, the bio of the winner, and after a while I figured out Mary Melon (publisher of The Journal Record) was talking about me." Laughing, Cook said he first started to suspect something when his family didn't let him pay for lunch. A graduate of Central High School, Cook received his undergraduate degree from the University of Oklahoma in 1940 and his LLB from the OU School of Law. In 1942, the same year he was admitted to practice law, Cook set off for the Southwest Pacific to serve as an artillery officer during World War II. Cook served 42 months in the war, participating in five major campaigns and
five beach-head landings. He was awarded the Silver Star and the Bronze Star with Oak Leaf Cluster. "I'm not a hero," Cook said Thursday. "I just happened to be at war and in the wrong place at the wrong time." His experiences in the war helped to mold his outlook on the law and on life, he said. "We grew up," Cook said of he and his fellow soldiers. So did Cook's first-born son, who was 3 years old when Cook returned from the war. Cook practiced law for 25 years before he was appointed to the district bench in Seminole County to fill the unexpired term of retiring Judge Clarence Mills. After three years as County Judge, Cook went on to serve nearly 30 years as
district judge in Oklahoma City and 20 years as adjunct professor of law at Oklahoma City University School of Law. Today, Cook describes himself as an "active retired judge," still doing some settlement and arbitration work and filling in for absent judges. Cook is a charter member and Master of the Bench of the Luther Bohanon Inn of
Court. He was also the first recipient of the OBA Earl Sneed Award for outstanding continuing legal education contributions, and the first recipient of the Leo H. Whinery Distinguished Award for outstanding contributions to the Oklahoma Law of Evidence. His wife, Gayle Freeman Cook, son David T. Cook and grandson William C. Cook
all practice law in Oklahoma City. In addition to being senior associate dean at the law school, Shandiz is a professor of management science and director of the MBA program at OCU. Shandiz has earned degrees from Pars College, University of Tehran, Oklahoma State University, and University of California at Los Angeles, as well as a diploma from the Management and Leadership in Education Institute at Harvard University. The educator specializes in statistics, production operations, quantitative
analysis, research methods, and measuring performance in manufacturing and organizational behavior. His skills made him of particular help to the Oklahoma
County Bar Association when they began conducting a judicial evaluation survey in 1994, and for additional projects through the years. The most recent survey the bar association conducted questioned lawyers regarding the issues that most affected their work and life. Shandiz donated hours of his time to personally compile the statistics and assemble the information in a readable format.

2003-05-01T20:52:00.000-07:00

For those of us going to law school, student loans are an obvious concern. As such, I highly recommend that you read the following article by Garance Franke-Ruta that appeared in "The American Prospect" on April 16, 2003:

"The Indentured Generation: How debt stunts young people's dreams"

When Stefanie Davis, 27, was a student at Georgetown Law School in 2001, the subject of student-loan debt and future legal salaries was an ever-present topic of conversation. Davis, who is married to a software developer, had the privilege of attending law school relatively debt-free. Most of her contemporaries were not so lucky, however; 94 percent of law-school students nationwide borrowed to cover their legal education.

While her debt-laden classmates worked as summer associates at large corporate law firms, paying as much as $30,000 for three months' work, Davis could afford to take a lower-paying fellowship in the field of public-interest law. "I was getting $3,250 for 10 weeks," recalls Davis. "I had a friend who that same summer went to work at a firm in Boston and came back and wrote a check for one semester's tuition." The law school cost $26,860 that year.

Now a staff attorney at the Washington Legal Clinic for the Homeless, Davis earns a salary that she describes as being "in the low 30s." "It's livable, but certainly not glamorous," she says. Meanwhile, her fellow recent grads earn anywhere from $80,000 to $125,000 as associates at Washington-based law firms.

The plight of poorly paid attorneys is unlikely to generate much public sympathy. Yet the staggering run-up in law-school tuition costs, which have jumped 140 percent at public law schools and 76 percent at private ones since 1991, is beginning to have some worrisome social consequences. Thanks to "mortgage-size law-school debt payments, public-interest organizations are facing pressing challenges to recruit and retain talent, and low-income communities are dealing with a lack of representation," says Sheila Ketcham, a program associate at Equal Justice Works, the national association of public-interest lawyers. "This is one of the largest crises in the legal profession."

Debt levels for newly minted lawyers rose 59 percent between 1993 and 2000, to an average of $84,400. According to a recent study by Equal Justice, that high level of law-school debt prevents two-thirds of law students from even considering jobs in the government or the public-interest sector.

It's a similar story for doctors. Medical-school costs have soared, and new doctors now graduate with an average of $103,850 to repay, according to the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC). From an average annual salary of $145,000 for family practitioners to $270,000 for plastic surgeons, debt payments of more than $1,500 a month prevent many from serving the poor in public hospitals and clinics that can pay as little as $45,000 per year. "Choosing a specific career now also entails a choice about how to repay one's debt," AAMC President Dr. Jordan Cohen has noted.

Undergraduate college debt is rising rapidly, too. A decade after loan-based student aid edged out grant-based aid as the major source of college funding, graduates of four-year colleges enter the labor force owing an average of $18,900, according to the Nellie Mae Corporation, a leading provider of student loans. That's a 66 percent increase since just 1997. And, unlike graduates of the professional schools, these college graduates don't necessarily have high-paying career options, even if they wanted them.

For many ambitious Americans from modest backgrounds, the new norm of youthful indebtedness has helped transform their 20s and early 30s from an age in which to explore the world, establish themselves or start saving for the future into an age of oddly limited career options and scaled-down dreams. "It colors every little decision you make," says 26-year-old Gabriel Schnitzler, who graduated from Yale Law School in 2001 with $106,000 in loans and now works for a small corporate firm. "Even though wages are higher now, when you combine that with the greater individual burden that employees now have to save for retirement and the higher costs of housing in the places that actually pay the wages that you need to make to pay off the debt, it translates into not being able to settle down and get a start in life until much later."

Whereas they once started their adult financial lives with an eye to the future, today's graduates emerge from college weighed down by the burden of just getting to square one. A 1998 Nellie Mae study found that a quarter of private-college grads and about 40 percent of newly graduated doctors and lawyers had student-loan obligations that exceeded their current salaries. Low-income borrowers and African American borrowers surveyed in 2002 felt particularly burdened by their debts.

Indeed, the only college grads who said they did not feel burdened by educational debt were the lucky few who earned enough so that average payments of $182 per month ate less than 7 percent of their gross incomes. In real terms, that means college grads who got jobs paying at least $31,000 right out of school. Starting salaries in 2001 averaged $26,600 for new college graduates. For graduates of professional schools, an affordable debt-to-salary ratio can be somewhat higher because higher starting salaries generate more disposable income. But with a monthly debt payment of $1,000 for example, an annual salary of at least $100,000 would be needed to keep debt repayment manageable. For the young, such salaries are rare. According to Nellie Mae, 41 percent of young doctors and lawyers in 2002 paid more than 13 percent of their salaries in educational debt, and three-quarters of them felt "very burdened" by these payments.

For young people who did not go on to graduate school, the options were often even more challenging. Students who majored in the arts, music and the humanities tended to have especially burdensome ratios of debt to earnings. Indeed, popular careers in publishing and the arts have been marked by a steady drift toward extremely low-paying, short-term positions in lieu of true entry-level jobs. Internships, one-year fellowships and trainee slots have exploded as a means for organizations to capture hard-working novices without having to pay them a formal wage or contribute to retirement programs. Though these programs provide young adults with valuable experience, they often delay for years their entry into positions that pay truly adult wages.

"We're just making it harder and harder to be a young person and to start getting ahead," says Hans Reimer, former director of the youth and economics think tank The 2030 Center and now political and issues director of Rock the Vote. Real wages for young people ages 25 to 34 declined 15 percent from 1979 through 1996, according to a 1998 Department of Labor study.

Add to this mix the increase in credit-card debt and you have the recipe for a real problem. Today, credit cards are nearly universal among college students and young adults. "In 2001," says Marie O'Malley, a vice president of marketing for Nellie Mae, "83 percent of undergraduates at four-year colleges between 18 and 25 had at least one credit card, a 24 percent increase since 1998." O'Malley reports that almost half of freshman and 92 percent of sophomores have credit cards.

Are these credit cards financing frivolous consumption or covering living expenses? According to O'Malley, 27 percent of those surveyed used credit cards for part of their college expenses. "That's just an indication that we may have a population that's comfortable with credit," she says, "but may not be making the smartest decisions about how to finance if they don't have cash on hand for college education."

Or it could be an indication that even record-high student loans are not enough to cover soaring college costs. Federal loans are capped at $5,500 per year for undergraduates, while some universities now charge as much as $36,000 per year. Indeed, students who graduate with the highest levels of credit-card debt also have the highest levels of loan debt and are more likely to have attended expensive four-year colleges and be from low-income families. This suggests that they're either using their credit cards to supplement their loans for educational expenses or for the higher level of personal expenditures that are the norm at institutions geared toward the wealthy.

According to Kevin Williams of the Consumer Credit Counseling Service in Forth Worth, Texas, borrowers often find that, rather than becoming more manageable over time, their debt increasingly becomes a problem as they age. "Generally we get people who have gotten into debt in college, but they don't come into our offices until they've graduated and started families," he says. Most of the group's clients are 28 to 35 years old, and keeping them out of bankruptcy has become a big challenge. Nationally, bankruptcy rates are on the rise among those between 25 and 34—an 11 percent increase over the past decade—often thanks to credit-card debt acquired in college and the low-salary years of early adulthood.

Student loans come into the picture "once they've graduated and reality hits, and the student doesn't get the job paying the amount they had hoped, and then the problems arise when you add credit-card debt and rent and car payments," says Williams. "It can be overwhelming, especially for people who are living right on the bubble. Any reduction in income, even a slight reduction, is enough to make them miss payments."

While society urges the young to save and invest in the future, the new structural realities—rising tuition, declining federal aid, high college debt, overly easy credit-card access, low salaries and high housing costs—combine to make young people net debtors, not net savers. Though seldom appreciated as such, debt is another of the many social and cultural factors that make young people today defer growing up. Nellie Mae reports that a substantial portion of college graduates say their debts have delayed purchasing a home—even with today's low interest rates—and a small percent have even put off having kids. The exceptions, of course, are young people with big corporate salaries, or those, like public-interest lawyer Stefanie Davis, who can avoid substantial debt thanks to affluent spouses or parents. For the children of the middle and lower classes, going to college and graduate school should be the single greatest opportunity to get ahead. Yet the very student-loan system designed to help them realize their dreams is, ironically, now leaving many of them falling behind.

2003-05-01T20:47:00.000-07:00

Louis Henkin spoke at the OCU School of Law today as part of Law Day 2003. Henkin is a celebrated human rights authority and legal scholar.

2003-04-29T21:21:00.000-07:00

OCU Sports Update: Houston Named NAIA National Player of the Week

Matt Houston has been named the NAIA National Baseball Player of the Week for the week ending April 27, 2003.

Houston, a junior catcher, led his hometown Stars to a 3-1 record last week. He carried a .714 average in double-headers against Southern Nazarene University (Okla.), where Oklahoma City split one and swept another. Houston batted in seven runs with three homeruns and three doubles, scoring three runs himself. The top-ranked Stars are now 49-6 for the season.

2003-04-29T11:06:00.000-07:00

The Student Health and Disability Services at OCU issued the following statement about SARS:

As concern regarding SARS on college campuses continues to develop Student Health and Disability Services offers the following information, education and support. If you have any questions please do not hesitate to call extension Brenda Johnston at extension 5991.

The Centers for Disease Control published Frequently Asked Questions yesterday. This is a very thorough document, and it is advisable that all staff read this: http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/sars/faq.htm.

To date there have been 239 cases of suspect and probable cases of SARS identified in the United States. There have been no deaths from SARS in the United States. There have been no cases of SARS identified in Oklahoma.

Student Health staff have been in contact with the State Health Department on a regular basis since the SARS outbreak first surfaced in early April and have kept the Leadership Team informed. Student Health staff have monitored the Centers for Disease Control and World Health Organization websites, as well as other publications, on a daily basis.

On the advice of the State Health Department and other medical professionals, O.C.U. Student Health and Disability Services Registered Nurses will screen students who have recently arrived from the affected areas identified by the CDC. At this time, those areas are mainland China and Hong Kong Special Administrative Region; Hanoi, Vietnam; Singapore; and Toronto, Canada. As you may be aware, non-essential travel to those regions is not recommended at this time. Student Health staff have developed a plan for medical care should a suspected case of SARS be identified on campus.

Most college campuses around the U.S. are dealing with the same or similar situations. The safety of the students, staff and faculty is a priority with Student Health and Disability Services and the Leadership Team at O.C.U. We will continue to keep staff informed as indicated.

2003-04-29T11:04:00.000-07:00

There are several Law Day events scheduled for May 1, 2003:

This year, as many Americans are developing a renewed appreciation for their
freedoms, Law Day takes on a new significance.

"It is fitting that the American people should remember with pride and
vigilantly guard the great heritage of liberty, justice and quality under law,"
said President Dwight D. Eisenhower 45 years ago, as he declared May 1, 1958, as
the first Law Day. "It is our moral and civil obligation as free men and as
Americans to preserve and strengthen that great heritage."

This year, the Oklahoma Bar Association decided to come up with its own
theme. Though the American Bar Association is focusing on "Celebrate Your
Freedom -- Independent Courts Protect Our Liberties," in Oklahoma the theme is
"American Heroes, Champions of Liberty."

The state and county bar associations have scheduled a variety of events for
May 1 to acknowledge the importance of law.

For the first time in recent memory, the Oklahoma County Bar Association has
partnered with the Oklahoma City University School of Law to host a Law Day
Luncheon. At the luncheon, the annual Journal Record Award will be presented to
an outstanding attorney, and the Liberty Bell Award will be presented to a
non-lawyer who has made a significant contribution to the rule of law and/or the
legal community.

The keynote speaker will be Louis Henkin, a legal scholar credited with
inventing the concept of international human rights. The Columbia Law School
professor will speak on "The Rule of Law and Human Rights and Terrorism."

Henkin has served as a consultant to the United Nations, as an adviser to the
U.S. State Department during part of every decade since the 1940s, and as a
frequent member of the U.S. delegation to international conferences and
organizations. The author of several books dealing with international law,
Henkin is a former Guggenheim Fellow and has received numerous awards from both
domestic and the American Society of International Law.

"We are fortunate indeed to have someone of Louis Henkin's stature and
experience in the world in international law and human rights as our keynote
speaker for Law Day," said Federal Magistrate Judge Valerie Couch, president of
the Oklahoma County Bar Association. "His participation in our jointly sponsored
Law Day activities is yet another example of how our county bar association
benefits from the active presence of OCU Law School in our legal community."

Lawrence Hellman, Dean of the OCU School of Law, was able to get Henkin to
appear at the luncheon after making his acquaintance at a conference, he said.

The university's participation in Law Day serves a dual purpose, Hellman
said.

"It provides exposure to the profession and its culture for our students and
helps them to get involved," he said. "It also stimulates those in the
profession to reflect on the role of law and the responsibility it brings.

"The relationship between Oklahoma City University School of Law and the
Oklahoma County Bar Association is close and mutually beneficial," Hellman
continued. "We at the law school are always looking for opportunities for our
students to interact with lawyers and judges and to experience their deep
commitment to core professional values. At the same time, through our
programming, we seek to bring to the legal community interesting speakers to
stimulate discourse about important issues facing the legal profession and
society.

"Professor Henkin's address will invite us to consider whether the concept of
the rule of law might be as important in international affairs as it is within
our own country."

Gov. Brad Henry is also expected to attend the Law Day luncheon, which will
be at the Cox Convention Center in downtown Oklahoma City.

Each year, the Law Day celebration expands, Couch said. Civic organizations,
such as Rotary or Kiwanis clubs, schedule a speaker to highlight legal issues,
and bar associations around the state plan activities to highlight the role of
law. High school and college students are allowed to "shadow" a lawyer or judge
for the day.

Justice James Winchester of the Oklahoma Supreme Court will speak at Rose
State College.

"(Law Day) provides us, lawyers and members of the bar, the opportunity to
clear up some of the confusion that surrounds the legal profession," said Leland
Shilling, OBA Law Day Committee chairperson. "Law Day demonstrates to the people
of Oklahoma some of the good work that we, as attorneys, do every day. It is our
chance to put our best foot forward."

OBA will host "Ask A Lawyer" from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Oklahoma residents can
call in for free legal advice from one of 350 attorneys who volunteer to
participate. A special show focusing on DNA, drug testing and DUI, affirmative
action and Title IX, the state lottery and casinos will be aired on OETA from 7
to 8 p.m.

The state bar association is also sponsoring a number of essay and coloring
contests for children.

The law library at the Oklahoma County Courthouse is hosting an information
fair from April 28 to May 2. Legal Aid Services of Oklahoma, which offers free
legal services to low-income and elderly persons with civil problems, will be
there on Friday to answer questions from the public.

Law Day is special to the legal community in Oklahoma, since an Oklahoman is
credited with coming up with the idea.

In 1953, Hicks Epton, an attorney from Wewoka and OBA president for that
year, envisioned a day set aside to celebrate the law and what it means to
Oklahomans and all Americans.

The American Bar Association, however, credits Charles S. Rhyne, a New York
attorney and president of the bar in 1957, with creating Law Day. After
President Eisenhower established the observance nationally by proclamation in
1958, Rhyne gave a radio address over the Voice of America celebrating the very
first Law Day. Congress established the annual observance in 1961.

Rhyne said the date was chosen during the Cold War, when the Soviet Union
used to hold their May Day parade showcasing the nation's military weapons. Law
Day was designed to contrast America's reliance on the rule of law against the
Soviet Union's rule by force.

2003-04-24T20:38:00.000-07:00

Human Rights Pioneer and Legal Scholar Louis Henkin to Speak at Law Day Luncheon Hosted by OCU School of Law and the Oklahoma County Bar Association

Former Clerk to Learned Hand and Felix Frankfurter to Explore Role of International Law and Human Rights Law in the War on Terrorism

Celebrated human rights authority and legal scholar Louis Henkin will speak on “The Rule of Law, Human Rights, and War” at a May 1, 2003, Law Day luncheon hosted jointly by Oklahoma City University (OCU) School of Law and the Oklahoma County Bar Association (OCBA) at the Cox Business Services Convention Center. Henkin is University Professor Emeritus, Special Service Professor, and Chair of the University Center for the Study of Human Rights and of the Human Rights Institute at Columbia Law School in New York City.

Professor Henkin has been credited with virtually inventing the concept of international human rights. He has been a leading figure in advancing the status of human rights in international law and the internal law of many nations, from South Africa to China. For over 50 years he has relentlessly pursued the cause of human rights through scholarship, advocacy, and diplomacy – as a consultant to the United Nations, as an adviser to the U.S. State Department during part of every decade since the 1940’s, and as a frequent member of the United States’ delegations to high level international conferences and organizations, including the United Nations and NATO.

“Law Day celebrates the Rule of Law and the responsibility of the legal profession and the judiciary to preserve it,” said OCU School of Law’s Dean Lawrence K. Hellman. “In light of current world events and America’s role in shaping them, it is appropriate that our legal community pause on this occasion to consider how the concept of the Rule of Law, which embodies respect for fundamental human rights, might guide United States domestic and foreign policy as our government seeks to combat terrorism and preserve homeland security. There is no more thoughtful, more respected, or more influential authority in America than Lou Henkin to frame the issues for us and provoke us to confront them. Our law school is delighted to be teaming with the Oklahoma County Bar Association in bringing Professor Henkin to our city.”

Federal Magistrate Judge Valerie Couch, OCBA president, added, “We are fortunate indeed to have someone of Louis Henkin’s stature and experience in the world of international law and human rights as our keynote speaker for Law Day. His participation in our jointly sponsored Law Day activities is yet another example of how our county bar association benefits from the active presence of OUC Law School in our legal community. Professor Henkin as well as Governor Brad Henry will join our celebration of the Rule of Law at the Law Day luncheon, and we look forward to welcoming them both.”

After graduating from Yeshiva College in 1937 and Harvard Law School in 1940, where he was book review editor on the law review, Henkin began his legal career as law clerk to Judge Learned Hand on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit and then to Justice Felix Frankfurter on the U.S. Supreme Court. In the 1940’s and 1950’s, he alternated between positions at the U.S. State Department and the United Nations, where he was a consultant to the UN’s Legal Department in that organization’s formative years.

He began his teaching career at the University of Pennsylvania in 1957 and moved to Columbia University in 1962. He has held a series of endowed chairs at Columbia since 1963. He continues to teach a full load as an emeritus professor at Columbia, offering courses in such areas as constitutional law, international law, human rights and constitutional rights, law and diplomacy in international relations, the law of American foreign affairs, and problems in war and peace.

A prolific scholar, he has authored or co-authored numerous books, including “How Nations Behave: Law and Foreign Policy;” “Constitutionalism, Democracy, and Foreign Affairs;” “The Influence of the U.S. Constitution Abroad;” “International Law: Politics and Values;” and “Human Rights.” His first book, published in 1957, bears a title that is uncannily timely: “Arms Control and Inspections in American Law.” His most recent casebook was published in 2001.

Professor Henkin served as chief reporter for the American Law Institute’s Restatement of the Foreign Relations Law of the United States (Third), president of the American Society of International Law, coeditor-in-chief of the American Journal of International Law, adviser to the State Department on the Law of the Sea, member of the Human Rights Committee pursuant to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, member of the Board of Directors for the Lawyers Committee for Human Rights, and U.S. member on the Permanent Court of Arbitration.

A former Guggenheim Fellow, Professor Henkin’s many awards include the Human Rights Award from the Lawyers Committee for Human Rights, the Hudson Medal from the American Society of International Law, the Outstanding Research Award from the American Bar Foundation, the Distinguished Service Award from the American Foreign Law Association, and the Goler T. Butcher Medal of Excellence in International Human Rights Law from the American Society of International Law.

When he took emeritus status in 1999, he was honored with the establishment of the Louis Henkin Professorship in International Human Rights. In 1995, the Columbia Human Rights Law Review celebrated its 25th anniversary by presenting the journal’s inaugural Award for Leadership in Human Rights to Professor Henkin in recognition of this “monumental” role in the development and definition of the field of human rights.

Registration for the Law Day Luncheon is $25. To register, contact Debbie Gorden, Oklahoma County Bar Association, by phone at (405) 236-8421.

2003-04-24T20:35:00.000-07:00

The following message regarding financial aid at OCU is of interest to students admitted for fall 2003:

From: Jennifer Clayborn, Senior Loan Counselor of Financial Aid

RE: Financial Aid

Congratulations on being admitted to Oklahoma City University School of Law. Even though OCU is one of the least expensive private law schools in America, we know that going to law school can be an expensive proposition. We believe you have made a wise decision in determining that pursuing a legal education is worth the investment. We want to do everything we can to assist you with financing this investment. The following information is provided to that end.

The first step to receive financial aid (including federal student loans) is to complete the 2003-2004 Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) as soon as possible by going online to www.fafsa.ed.gov or by completing the paper FAFSA and mailing it. Please use your 2002 tax returns to help you complete the application. The OCU school code in Part Six is 003166. One in three FAFSA files requires that additional information be sent to OCU, including signed tax returns for 2002.
Once the FAFSA has been completed, please estimate 2-6 weeks before you receive a Student Aid Report (SAR). The SAR is your copy of the FAFSA to keep unless corrections need to be made.

After you receive the SAR, please estimate 2-6 weeks before you receive an award letter. The OCU award letter will indicate all the aid you are eligible to receive. Please indicate the aid you wish to receive from the awards listed, and return the award letter to our office immediately.
If you plan to receive Federal Stafford Student Loans, a Master Promissory Note (MPN) and a debt management/entrance interview will need to be done as soon as possible. You may complete the entrance interview process online at www.okcu.edu. Click on Financial Aid, Forms Online, and then Entrance Questionnaire, complete the process and submit the response to OCU.

Students are eligible to receive a maximum of $18,500 in Federal Stafford Student Loans per academic year (Summer, Fall & Spring). Students may then be offered an additional private law student loan to help with a portion of the cost of attendance and living expense allowance. The private loan is NOT guaranteed, as it is a credit-based loan. We have information available on credit scoring. Unfortunately, options are very limited to students who are denied the private law loans due to credit problems. Some credit issues can be eliminated before the application process begins. Please contact our student loan counselor for suggestions.

This is a lot of information to assimilate. You may have questions. Please feel free to contact the Sr. Loan Counselor, Jennifer Clayborn, at 405-521-5419, or at jclayborn@okcu.edu, with any questions that you may have. The Financial Aid office is located on the third floor of the Clara Jones Administration building on campus. Our mailing address and phone number is OCU Financial Aid, 2501 N. Blackwelder, Oklahoma City, OK 73106-1493, (405) 521-5211. Office hours are M-F 8-5; except on Wednesdays, when we remain open until 6 pm. The Sr. Loan Counselor, Jennifer Clayborn, also has an office in the law school. Please call for specific hours of availability. Again, we extend our congratulations and assistance in helping you secure funding to achieve your academic goals.

WELCOME TO OKLAHOMA CITY UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF LAW!

2003-04-22T12:41:00.000-07:00

The School of Music at the Oklahoma City University invites you to attend the upcoming events:

Apr. 22nd 1:00pm Music Assembly Petree
8:00pm Symphony Orchestra Concert Petree

Apr. 23rd 3:45pm Retirement and Service Recognition Program Petree
6:00pm Bentley Monk Sr. Music Theatre Recital Petree
8:00pm Jacob Wood Sr. Voice Recital Burg

Apr. 24th Morning Wind Philharmonic Children’s Concert Petree
8:00pm Wind Philharmonic Concert Petree

Apr. 25th 8:00pm Composition Concert Kirkpatrick
7:00pm Idan Einav Sr. Viola Recital Wimberly

Apr. 26th 3:00pm Heidi Tims Jr. Harp Recital Petree
3:00pm Erin Williamson Sr. Music Theater Rec. Burg
5:00pm Justin Seal Jr. Violin Recital Petree
7:00pm Amber Ballard Jr. Voice Recital Petree
8:00pm T.J. Moss Sr. Music Theater Recital Burg

Apr. 27th 6:00pm Crystyl Swanson Sr. Music Theater Recital Petree
8:00pm Joel New Composition “You and My Heart” Petree

Apr. 28th 8:00pm Guitar Studio Recital Petree

Apr. 29th 8:00pm “Les Noces” Choir And Percussion Concert Petree

April 30th 4:00pm Dance Sr. Performance Kirkpatrick
7:00pm Tony Ramos Jr. Voice Recital Petree

2003-04-16T20:17:00.000-07:00

Oklahoma City University Web Survey - We'd love your opinion!

Stamats, Inc., has been asked by Oklahoma City University to evaluate and strengthen the University's image-development and brand strategies. This survey is undertaken as part of a larger study. Your involvement in this project is important, so please take a few minutes to answer the following questions. Of course, you may choose not to participate, or to answer only the questions you wish. To ensure candor, your complete confidentiality is assured. Please do not identify yourself in any way. Only Stamats researchers will review and compile all results; your completed survey will be returned directly to Stamats and will not be viewed by anyone other than Stamats staff. In addition, for completing the survey, your email address will be included in a drawing for one of three $100 cash prize drawings. So, be sure to keep an eye on your inbox to see if you've won. To fill out the survey please click on the following link: http://webemailer.com/C.dll/JT709z4A5CR850ldtD9U3685J.htm . If your e-mail system does not support links or you have problems starting the survey, please copy the URL into your browser to start the survey.

2003-04-15T20:05:00.000-07:00

There Is No Way to Peace: Peace is the way
The Eleventh Spiritual Walk for Peace
Sunday, April 20 - 2:00 p.m. - 3:00 p.m.
The Episcopal Center
NW 9th and Robinson
Oklahoma City

On the day following the anniversary of the Murrah building bombing, people of all faiths will continue to gather for a silent walk around the Alfred P. Murrah Building site in downtown Oklahoma City. Peace makers will continue to seek nonviolent solutions to the conflicts that face us today. The walk will begin at 2:00 p.m. with music and interfaith prayer and proceed to the Murrah Building site.

By walking silently around the Murrah Building site, participants bring to mind the destruction that one bomb can bring to a city and pray that the world will be spared even worse devastation. In Oklahoma City, we know that one bomb is too many. Please join us.

The Spiritual Walk for Peace is sponsored by a coalition of individuals from local faith and conscience groups, houses of worship, and faith traditions. For more information call 405/524-5577, 405/771-4743, or 405/843-9495. For an update on peace activities in Oklahoma City, go to www.okpeacemakers.org

2003-04-15T20:03:00.000-07:00

The following report, called "Heart Trouble," appeared recently in Texas Lawyer on April 14, 2003. Laura Beckman, an Oklahoma City University School of Law grad, is mentioned in the article.

You're Good Enough, You're Smart Enough - And Doggone It, You Still Can't Get a Date

In law school it was easy. You'd give him the eye in your criminal law class, then manage to finagle your way into his study group. Could I see your notes, please? Hmmm. Nice handwriting, and I really like that electric chair doodle. The rest was history. Nowadays, you're working 70-hour weeks, and the roster of available men you come into contact with includes the janitor who empties your office trash can every night and the parking attendant who winks his one good eye at you every time you pull into the garage. Then there's the lone single male attorney who works on your floor - the one who bears an unfortunate resemblance to Janet Reno. It's slim pickings, to say the least. Between pulling long hours at the office and spending free time at Bar meetings and other career-building activities, meeting that special someone can become an obstacle that requires some creativity to overcome. Even if that lone unattached male lawyer happens to look more like Brad Pitt than Janet Reno, he may still be off-limits. Many attorneys say they forego dating other lawyers at the firm simply to avoid sticky situations that can develop when love and work relationships mix - especially when those relationships begin to head south. "I don't want to date co-workers; that's complicated," says Inga Munsinger, a briefing attorney for the 4th Court of Appeals in San Antonio. "Also, my co-workers are mostly female, and I'm straight, so that wouldn't work for me."

Although there's no policy at her job against dating colleagues, Munsinger says she wouldn't do it. "I think I would be so afraid if it didn't go well, it would be uncomfortable, and I really like my job." For Munsinger, law school provided a much more fertile ground for dating than life after graduation. "In law school, most people are pretty much the same age," says the 26-year-old University of Texas School of Law grad. "Co-workers I meet in the profession are of different ages." But she wasn't necessarily looking to date when she was in law school. "I was pretty busy and maybe not that focused on dating," she says. "I grew up with the message of 'get educated and then think about relationships, think about starting a family.' Because then you know who you are, and you always have that independence." Only problem is, finding that special someone isn't as easy as it may have seemed way back as a 1L. "When I was 26, 27, you still think you're pretty young," says Patsy Yung, an associate with Quan, Burdette & Perez in Houston. "When I turned 30, I thought, 'I really want to meet someone.' " But Yung says meeting new people is difficult. "I generally run in the same circles and see the same people again and again."

A Guy Thing?

Steve Foster, 36, says he has little trouble finding women to date. The general counsel for the Senate Natural Resources Committee in Austin says he meets people by just hanging out with his friends. "Enjoying what you're doing and being the best person you are lends itself to people being somewhat inquisitive," the University of Nebraska College of Law graduate says. "I don't have to go out and say, 'Oh, let's go out and find some good-looking women.' " Foster says he's also met women at parties, church and the gym. Most of his dates have been with nonlawyers, he adds, "for diversification's sake." Women lawyers say it's easier for men to meet people because they don't set the intellectual bar as high. It may be a stereotype, but women tend to look for someone who is at least their intellectual equal, if not smarter, several female lawyers say. Foster admits he doesn't necessarily require smarts at the start. "If I saw a tall, striking woman, that's going to draw me first, [more] than if she graduated from an Ivy League [school]," he says. "Men are very visual, so I think in that regard, we don't say, 'Gosh, I hope her LSAT score was . . . .'

Mark Unger, 38, concurs that men tend to be focused on what's visually appealing when seeking someone to date. But that doesn't necessarily mean he agrees with that approach. "Women deserve more credit for taking that perspective," Unger says about women often searching to date men who are their intellectual equals. "Guys, I think, in a dating sense are less sophisticated in making their dating decisions." Unger, an associate with the Law Office of Jack A. Efron in San Antonio, also says he doesn't like to advertise the fact that he's an attorney when he meets women. "I truly like to separate my work from the rest of my life," he says. "I'd rather meet somebody who's interested in things other than what I do for living." Unger, who earned his J.D. from St. Mary's University School of Law in San Antonio, says he does value intellect in potential mates, but dating other lawyers isn't something he wants to do. "I think anytime you've got people in a profession that is based on argument . . . it becomes our natural instinct [to argue] - more so when we get out of law school - to make a point, to make an argument. And relationships aren't about that."

Some women attorneys say they believe that their smarts actually can be a drawback when it comes to dating. "The dating pool has kind of shrunk," says Laura Beckman, an associate with Harrison, Bettis & Staff in Houston. "The other men that maybe you would want to date are intimidated if you're smart and attractive."
To an extent, Munsinger agrees. "Female attorneys are looked at as more serious, more assertive," she says. "It's a personality trait that could be good or bad."
For 34-year-old Beckman, who serves as vice president of the Houston Young Lawyers Association and chairwoman-elect of the Texas Young Lawyers Association, the dating challenge hasn't gotten easier since she graduated from law school eight years ago. Finding time really isn't the issue, she says - that's simply a matter of prioritizing and managing your schedule effectively. The real challenge is meeting intelligent, professional men. "I've got a lot of single girlfriends that are young lawyers," says the Oklahoma City University School of Law grad. "I think they'd all be very much interested in having the personal life go along with the professional." Yung also notes that for women who want to have children, finding a "significant other" becomes increasingly important. "You hear your biological clock ticking," the South Texas College of Law grad says. Yung - who calls herself professional, but traditional - says she believes men still have the upper hand when it comes to dating because they're the ones who should do the asking. "It's still nice for the guy to be a gentleman," she says.

Digital Dating

So to what lengths will an attorney go to find a mate? If the media hype rings true, single professionals increasingly turn to an array of 21st-century matchmaking services. There's online matching, such as Yahoo! personals, straight-up personal ads in the newspaper and speed-dating clubs such as 8-Minute Dating, where, for about $30 a pop, participants gather for an evening of appetizers and have eight one-on-one dates that last eight minutes each. There's a dining club called "Eight Friends Out" that makes a point that it's not a dating service - yet it touts on its Web site that "we do get wedding invites all the time!" Billed as "Houston's most exciting dining club," single professionals come together for meals, cooking classes, wine tastings and even sailing trips. For a $125 membership fee, plus a fee for each event, singles are assured "stimulating conversations" in a "safe and fun environment." According to the Web site, the dinners consist of two to three tables full of single professionals between the ages of 25 and 55, with at least eight people per table, split equally as to gender.

Then, of course, there's reality television. Trish McDermott, who holds the title "vice president of romance" at Dallas-based Internet dating service Match.com, says that 8 million people nationwide use the service. Of the 45,000 heterosexual singles looking for love in Texas, 1,673 are men working in the legal profession, and 1,612 are women in the legal profession. The average age of both groups, she says, is 36. Munsinger recently became one of the many who've signed on to Match.com. "This is the first time for me to use any kind of dating service," she says, noting that media coverage enticed her to log onto the match.com site to do some investigative surfing. Match.com charges based on a sliding scale, but on average it costs $25 a month; if you sign up for multiple-month packages, the cost per month decreases. "It's kind of like Lexis," Munsinger says, referring to the online research tool often used by lawyers. Match.com is a database. "You can search by jurisdiction or whatever criteria you're looking for."

Yung, who recently signed up for Eight Friends Out, says she's not ready to do the online thing. "I don't want to put my information up [on a Web site]," she says. "I practice immigration law, so I get green cards for couples who meet on the Internet all the time, and they're delightful - they're great couples. But I'm just not comfortable with that." Daniel Dolan, chairman and CEO of San Francisco-based It's Just Lunch [IJL], a professional match-making service that provides love-seekers an opportunity to meet potential mates over lunch - IJL does the pairing, based on interviews with the members - knows a thing or two about a lawyer's love life. The 1987 Harvard Law School graduate, who is married to the founder of IJL, says 25 percent of the company's clients are attorneys. "It's the No. 1 occupation of our clients," he says. He says his lawyer-clients consider it just another form of outsourcing. "Our clients don't do their own laundry; they don't clean their own condos or house; a lot of them don't cook; they outsource everything in their life," he says.

Having practiced law for 10 years before joining IJL, Dolan says attorneys often put their social lives on the backburner as they climb the ranks at the firm. Eventually, however, there comes a time when they can relax a bit and spend more time on their personal lives. Dolan says IJL's attorney-clients split down the middle when it comes to whom they date: About half say they want to date other attorneys; the other half say they don't. Dolan says the attorney-seekers think, "They understand my life. I'm headed to trial - don't expect to talk to me." Those who want to date non-attorneys say, "I'm around attorneys all day long. I don't want to talk about that at night time, on the weekends."

Since Munsinger started her quest on Match.com, she's corresponded with a couple of different people. Using the tag line, "a happy lawyer in San Antonio," Munsinger says she elicited this question from a potential suitor: "Does that mean most lawyers are not happy?" Munsinger laughs, pauses, then says, "I decided not to write back to him."

In Search of the Hollywood Ending

So you've eaten one too many "just lunches," surfed yourself silly and tried speed-dating and still no luck. There's always reality TV. Two Dallas attorneys voyaged all the way to Hollywood in their quests for that special someone. Lisa Gold, formerly an associate with Arter & Hadden in Dallas, was selected for ABC's ground-breaking show "The Bachelor" in 2002. [See "Inadmissible," Texas Lawyer, April 29, 2002, page 3.] Brian Ching, a Dallas attorney, appeared on "The Bachelorette," which aired beginning in February. But, alas, neither of them met their soul mates. Gold, who left Arter & Hadden last May to work for an Oklahoma City firm, was one of the 25 women vying for Alex Michel's heart on the "The Bachelor" during its inaugural season. In an April 2002 interview with Texas Lawyer, she said she decided to apply to be on the show after hearing someone on a local radio station tout how great Michel was. Frustrated with not having met too many men who satisfied her dating criteria, she said she decided to give it a go. Although she was eliminated in the first round during the show's infamous "rose ceremony" - if the bachelor gives you a rose, you get to stay for the next round - Gold, 31, said that was OK. "Our conversation was really uncomfortable," the University of Tulsa Law School grad said of her moments with Michel. Love connection, it was not. Ching, 28, who no longer practices law but owns a mortgage company with his twin brother, Marc, says his stint on "The Bachelorette" amounted to nothing more than luck. "It was one of those things that kind of fell in my lap," the South Texas College of Law grad says. He and his brother were having lunch at Chuy's in Dallas where ABC scouts happened to be trolling for contestants. They approached the brothers and asked Brian to fill out an application for the show. [Brian says they chose him over his identical twin brother after noting that Marc had a wedding ring and Brian did not.] Brian, who made it to the second round before getting cut, admits that he wasn't really looking for love when he agreed to do the show. "I did the show more for the experience itself - just to be able to travel and meet new people," he says. "My attitude was, 'If I hit it off with Trista [Rehn], that would be great.' " It was the first time Brian had tried the "nontraditional" dating route.
Normally, he says he just meets women while he's out with friends. Even when he practiced law - he did stints at DeHay & Elliston right after law school then moved to Godwin Gruber, then Crouch & Inabnett - he says he never got too worked up about finding a mate, and finding time to date never was really a factor. "I did work a lot and billed a lot of hours at all the firms I worked at. I'm a pretty active person and managed my time well," he says, noting he was able to maintain a social life. "It's going to happen when it happens," he says. "I know the person is out there somewhere. . . . I keep busy and I know that one day, my soul mate will come."

Kiss and Tell

We posed questions about lawyers' dating lives to singles in Texas. Of the 40 attorneys who answered our online survey, 29 were women and 11 were men. This is what we found:

Females -- Males

Average age: 33 -- 32
Have no time to date: 41 percent -- 45 percent
Used a dating service: 48 percent -- 27 percent
Prefer dating lawyers: 7 percent -- 0 percent
Prefer dating nonlawyers: 34 percent -- 45 percent
No preference as to lawyers/nonlawyers: 59 percent -- 55 percent
Wouldn't date within firm: 90 percent -- 64 percent
Would never date a colleague again: 78 percent -- 67 percent

Cristina Smith can't get Jackson Browne's 1983 hit, "Lawyers in Love," out of her head after writing this article. After finding the lyrics online, Smith, Texas Lawyer associate editor, is still trying to figure out what it all means. Smith has a B.A. in English from the University of Texas at Austin and a master's in journalism from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

2003-04-15T19:49:00.000-07:00

On April 10, 2003, a representative from the Oklahoma State Senate trainined OCU Law students on the Oklahoma Legislative Information System, accessible at: http://www2.lsb.state.ok.us/docs/ The system allows you to track the status of Bills, conduct searches, and perform other functions.

2003-04-15T19:46:00.000-07:00

OCU PROF NAMED OUTSTANDING OU COMMUNICATION ALUMNI

Dr. Robin Meyers, professor of communication studies at Oklahoma City University, has been named the 2003 Outstanding Alumni of the University of Oklahoma’s Department of Communication. He will receive the award at a banquet on the OU campus April 23. “The award is based on scholastic achievement, continuous dedication and leadership abilities,” said Dr. Michael Pfau, OU Communication Chair. He noted that the award process involves nomination and selection by the department’s faculty.
Meyers has served OCU for 12 years in various capacities. He is past director of the Master of Liberal Arts program and was founder of the Distinguished Speaker Series. He holds degrees from Wichita State University and Phillips University, earned his Doctor of Ministry degree form Drew University, Madison, N.J., and received his Ph.D. in Communication at OU in 1991. Meyers has served as senior minister of Mayflower Congregational Church of Oklahoma City since 1985. He is the author of two books and numerous articles and is a frequent preacher and speaker at conferences and communication workshops. He was named 2001’s Angie Debo Civil Libertarian of the Year by the Oklahoma chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union.

2003-04-08T19:38:00.000-07:00

OCU Philosophy Club hosted a lecture tonight (April 8, 2003) featuring DR. TERRY PHELPS, Professor of English in the Petree College of Arts and Sciences. He presented "All You Can Be." The Last Lecture Series features distinguished OCU professors addressing students and other members of the University community as though this were the final lecture of their careers.

2003-04-07T21:42:00.000-07:00

OCU DANCERS TO TOUR STATE PUBLIC SCHOOLS

Five Oklahoma high schools and one middle school will be visited by Oklahoma City University’s The American Spirit Dance Company during their 2003 spring tour. The 45-member troupe, including 21 women and 12 men student dancers, will open the tour with a performance at Deer Creek High School on Tuesday, April 8, followed by a performance at Putnam City West High School the next day. Moving to the Tulsa area the following week, the dancers will appear at Byrd Middle School on Monday, April 14, Tulsa Union High School on the 15th, Bixby High School on the 16th and Jenks High School on the 17th. Other members of the troupe include four arts management students, three dance management majors and two entertainment business major, all of whom will serve on the backstage management team. Tour performances run from 30 minutes to one hour, depending on the schools’ needs. OCU’s School of American Dance and Arts Management faculty members accompanying the group are: Chairman Jo Rowan, director; Dean John Bedford, producer; and Company Manager Susan Gilstrap.

2003-04-07T21:40:00.000-07:00

The April 3, 2003 edition of the Daily Oklahoman reports that the OCU Law Review will recognize lawyer, Mack K. Martin, at an upcoming alumni banquet. The story states:

An Oklahoma City lawyer will be recognized by The Oklahoma City University Law Review on Friday at the Law Review Alumni Banquet. Mack K. Martin will receive the 2003 Outstanding Law Review Alumni Award. For 20 years, Martin Law Office has handled state and federal cases and specialized in criminal defense with an emphasis on grand jury, trial and appellate practice. A native of Lawton, Martin graduated from the Oklahoma City University School of Law in 1978. Martin is a member of the board of directors and past president of the Oklahoma Criminal Defense Lawyers Association. He is also a life member of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers.

In 2000, Martin received the Oklahoma Criminal Defense Lawyers Association's Lord Erskine Award for lifetime achievement in criminal defense. Martin has served as chairman of the Criminal Law Section of the Oklahoma Bar Association. He is also on the advisory board for the Oklahoma Trial Lawyers Association. Nancy Coats, Oklahoma County District Court judge, will be the guest speaker. Coats presides over the mental health court docket in Oklahoma County. The 2003 Law Review Alumni Banquet will also honor the current student board of editors.

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OCU upcoming events:

Date Event Location Time
04/08/03 Moot Court Finals (judged by OK Supreme Court) Homsey Family Courtroom in the Sarkeys Law Center 10:30-11:30 a.m.

04/10/03 10th Annual Affirmative Action Debate Homsey Family Courtroom in the Sarkeys Law Center 4:00-5:00 p.m.

04/11/03- "West Side Story" musical School of Music 8:00 p.m. on Fri, Sat.
04/13/03 3:00 p.m. on Sun.

04/08/03- National Library Week OCU Law Library all day
04/14/03

05/17/03 OCU Global Health Conference OCU Nursing School 9:30 a.m.-3:00 p.m.

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Thanks for checking out my blog. I am going to be starting law school at the Oklahoma City University School of Law in Fall 2003. I have created this blog to augment my website: http://www.okadvocates.com. I will be posting notices about the "goings-on" at OCU, as well as other topics of interest to law-trained individuals. Please don't hesitate to contact me at teamfullblown@starband.net if you have any comments regarding anything posted here, or if you have a suggestion for something that I should post here. Thanks!

2003-04-01T18:00:00.000-08:00

Welcome to my new blog. I started a new one to go with my new site. I hope you enjoy it!