Author ORCID iD
0000-0003-4105-9562
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
Fall 2017
Abstract
This Article, which is entitled "Tradition, Innovation, and New Beginnings: Celebrating the History of the Dickinson Law Review" is the Foreword to Volume 122(1) of the Dickinson Law Review. It includes information about the history of Penn State Dickinson Law and its law review that will help current and future students at Penn State Dickinson Law, readers, alumni, and friends of the law school understand why that title was an appropriate one.
The "tradition" part of the title is easy to understand. The Dickinson Law Review is the fifth oldest currently operating law review in the country. It is published by a law school that is one of the oldest in the country, having been founded in 1834. The Dickinson Law Review's home is in Carlisle, which not only is a historic and charming Colonial-era town, but is also where Frederick Watts, who has been called the “Father of Penn State University", was born, died, and practiced law.
The "innovation" part of the title may not be as obvious to readers and so this Foreword explains the many ways in which Penn State Dickinson Law has a tradition of innovation. For example, the Dickinson Law Review reportedly was the first law review in the country to have a woman on its Editorial Board. In 1898, Julia Radle became an editor of The Forum, which was the predecessor name of the Dickinson Law Review. (One of the first African American students at the law school was Clarence Muse, who attended during 1908.)
Another way in which Penn State Dickinson Law and its law review have been innovative is in their early recognition of the importance of global perspectives. The law school's first foreign JD student graduated in 1892 and the law school's first foreign masters students received their degrees in 1970. Dickinson began its first foreign summer program in 1981; it was an extremely popular program with both faculty and students because there were twelve summers in which U.S. Supreme Court Justices taught in this program. Penn State Dickinson Law has not rested on these early developments, but has continued to innovate. Dickinson Law's most recent global innovation is its international trial advocacy training program in The Hague. This program, which was held at the International Criminal Court and was allowed to use the ICC courtrooms, was the first-ever program of this kind. Penn State Dickinson Law's current tenure-line faculty have all lived or worked in another country and approximately 40% of the tenured faculty have received a Fulbright grant. The global perspective of the law school, its faculty and student helps explain why the law review published globally-oriented articles from a very early date and continues to do so.
Another area in which Dickinson Law has had a tradition of innovation is experiential education. This Foreword provides information about Dickinson Law's experiential programs that range from the "moot courts" that provided experiential education in the late 19th Century and early 20th Century to the clinic operating in the 1930s to the law school's current interdisciplinary clinics. This Section also highlights the law school's current commitment to experiential education, as exemplified by its 12 credit experiential education graduation requirement, six credits of which must be in a real, rather than a simulated, legal setting.
The "New Beginnings" portion of this Foreword explains why Volume 122 represents a new stage in the law review's history. The law review was launched in 1897 as The Forum. Between 1908 and 2003, which includes the first six years after the law school’s 1997 affiliation with Penn State University, the law review’s name was the Dickinson Law Review. In 2003, the law review changed its name to the Penn State Law Review. In 2006, the law school opened a second campus in University Park and for the next decade, the Penn State Law Review was jointly published by students located at both the Carlisle and University Park campuses of Penn State’s single law school. The “new beginnings” referred to in the title of Volume 122(1) reflects the fact that in 2014, Penn State received permission from its accreditor to split its two law school campuses into two separate and fully accredited law schools: Dickinson Law in Carlisle and Penn State Law in University Park. Penn State thus joined the ranks of other university systems, such as the University of California and Indiana University, which have more than one law school. Volume 122:1 marks the first publication of the Dickinson Law Review as a publication of the separately-accredited Penn State Dickinson Law.
In order to celebrate the history of the Dickinson Law Review and the new era in its history, Volume 122:1 reprints some previously-published articles. The Foreword briefly introduces articles by leading scholars such as Samuel Williston, Michael Joachim Bonnell, Marc Galanter, Deborah Hensler, Pam Karlan,Tony Kronman, and Nancy Rapoport; jurists such as the Honorable Ruggero Aldisert, Karen Nelson Moore, Lee Rosenthal,and Diane Wood; and practitioners such as Ward Bower, Larry Fox,and Bob MacCrate.
Publication Title
Dickinson L. Rev.
Recommended Citation
Laurel Terry, Why Tradition, Innovation, and New Beginnings: Celebrating the History of the Dickinson Law Review Is an Appropriate Title for Volume 122(1), 122 Dickinson L. Rev. 5 (2017).