Abstract

Dear Alumni and Friends,

This is a very exciting time in the University of Georgia School of Law's history. Next year, we will be celebrating the 150th anniversary of the establishment of the law school.

As you may recall, the school's founders -- Joseph Henry Lumpkin, Georgia's first chief justice; Thomas R.R. Cobb, a preparer of the code of the state of Georgia; and William Hope Hull, solicitor for the U.S. Treasury -- opened the institution in the fall of 1859 and graduated the first class in the summer of 1860. Much has happened over the past 15 decades, and I believe each of the founders would be especially proud of how the school's curriculum has evolved, of the quality of the modern faculty and student body, and of the school's rich tradition of producing leaders for our state, region and nation.

In fact, when fighting for the Franklin College (as UGA was then often called) to be more than a "classical, liberal arts college," which "forced [its students] to leave the state in order to earn qualifications in specialized fields," Thomas Cobb was quoted as saying, "As a result, your professors, our authors, engineers and your manufacturers are, in the main, imported like other goods of foreign growth."

Nearly one century later, Gov. Carl E. Sanders (J.D. 1948) elaborated on this sentiment at the groundbreaking ceremony for Hirsch Hall's expansion in 1964 by stating: "The people of Georgia want and deserve nothing short of the best. The University of Georgia School of Law is, therefore, to be one of such excellence that no citizen of Georgia need ever leave [the] state because a superior legal education is available elsewhere."

This is a standard the School of Law strives to exceed and to expand upon at every turn as we compete at a higher level with other leading law schools.

With support from you, our alumni and friends, we continue to meet the challenges and opportunities that face the School of Law, one of our nation's finest law schools. This report details some of our activities from the past year.

Rebecca Hanner White

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