Emory Law's Top Five - An Overview
Emory Law has established priorities focused on the theme “True North”—the law school’s direction in our drive toward our mission. That mission, as we have said consistently, is to educate and train principled, sophisticated legal professionals, people who can flourish in the practice of law and who can lead their legal and broader communities anywhere.
1) Student Flourishing
We are proud of our students and are committed to “student flourishing.” What does that mean? The goal is to unleash student potential and provide access to the education, skills (including soft skills), mentoring, networking, and experience to allow students to enter the profession with confidence and to thrive. The faculty has implemented an integrated plan of related initiatives, and we are considering additional curricular changes. We are also taking steps to:
- Raise our bar exam passage and job placement rates to exceptional levels
- Cultivate a professional student culture by emphasizing professional expectations while providing the skills training to support those expectations
- Support student wellness as a basis for professional success
- Build on our strong legal writing program to expand writing opportunities for upper-level students, including the responsible use of AI in legal writing
- Integrate all student-facing departments at a new level to provide an unparalleled, seamless program of professional development
2) Academic Eminence
We are proud of our faculty and its teaching, scholarship, and service. Metrics reflect the reality that Emory Law is a top-20 institution in scholarly productivity and impact. At the Feast of Words Celebration— a university event recognizing all books written by the faculty of Emory University in 2024—the School of Law produced nearly 10 percent of those works—prodigious for our size. We are building a collaborative team in various ways, including:'
- Expanding fora for sharing a wide range of scholarly projects
- Engaging our students, new technologies, and new fora to increase our scholarly productivity and impact
- Increasing recognition internally and externally for faculty accomplishments
- Increasing faculty membership in prestigious organizations (e.g., ALI)
- Studying strategic opportunities in Health Law
- Hiring two lateral tenure-track colleagues this year
3) Centers, Clinics, and Programs
Emory Law is home to remarkable clinics, centers, and programs. They help make our students practice-ready and bolster academic eminence. Moreover, they reflect the institution’s sense of commitment to service of clients and communities. We:
- Will consider new ideas that serve our core mission and align with fiscal accountability
- Named a director for the William and Jane Carney Center for Business and Transactional Law, who is pursuing programming to support scholarship and teaching while further leveraging our presence in a world business hub
- Continue to explore partnerships and opportunities for our acclaimed Center for Civil Rights and Social Justice and Center for the Study of Law and Religion
- Further integrate the practice-ready skills gained in the Emory Law clinics with the overall curriculum
4) Fiscal Accountability
We must end deficit spending and pursue a sound business plan. We will do so as a team, bringing to bear:
- Prudent management of budget considering the current fiscal challenges within higher education
- Budgetary savings consistent with our mission
- Expanded revenue-generating initiatives
- Continued philanthropic investment, which has been so remarkable, and which builds confidence in our ongoing journey toward True North
5) Organizational Culture
We are proud of our community—their dedication and critical support of our mission. Emory Law is a wonderful place to learn, to work, to grow, to excel—to invest in a career. To that end, we will strive to build on Team Emory Law, including:
- Increasing efforts to enhance community and mutual support across the entire Emory Law body—students, staff, and faculty
- Committing to a thorough, continuous examination of all factors contributing to and detracting from belonging, leaving no stone unturned in cultivating an environment where every member of Team Emory Law is connected, valued, and fully included.
- Improving organizational systems and structures to support our mission, staff, faculty, and students