Dear Pepperdine Caruso Law community,
2022 has been a consequential year for Caruso Law and for legal education. As you may have seen in the news, the ABA is poised at its February meeting to repeal the accreditation standard requiring prospective students to take the LSAT or GRE beginning with the Fall 2026 incoming 1L class. In addition, as of this morning 19 schools are boycotting the U.S. News & World Report law school rankings.
2022 has also been a year of transition at Pepperdine Caruso Law. We
welcomed four new faculty members and
made significant leadership transitions. Our beloved
Greg Ogden taught his final class last month after 44 years on our faculty.
We mourned the loss of two members of our
Board of Advisors, former
Dean Ken Starr and
Robert Ming (JD ‘95), as well as our 2019 Distinguished Alumnus
Mike Leach (JD ‘86), 1L student
Brendan Linzmeier, and other precious members of our community.
We celebrated
new Caruso Law-trained lawyers and welcomed the
Class of 2025. We forged an
historic partnership with Tuskegee University, one of our country’s 104 Historically Black Colleges and Universities, to offer an accelerated 3+3 degree program. We completed another successful fundraising year, with a successful
50 for 50 campaign and a new
Brenden Mann Chair in Law and Religion. I have also enjoyed resuming my personal visits with so many of you across the country this year.
The beauty of our law school is that no matter what happens in legal education, we keep doing what we have been doing for 53 years: training students in our unique setting of
academic excellence and deep Christian faith and sending them out into the world equipped to be the lawyers, counselors, and peacemakers that our nation and our world so desperately need.
I pray you and your loved ones experience joy in this season. I am grateful for each one of you and the important contribution you make to our very special community. I hope to see you in 2023. In the meantime, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
Paul
Joy to the world, the Lord has come, let earth receive her King. Let every heart prepare Him room and Heaven and nature sing!
