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Robert Watts (J.D. ’14)
Georgia State Law is driven by a commitment to students and the community. The college offers a first-class, practice-based curriculum to its students while bestowing an immense benefit on Atlanta and Georgia in the form of pro bono services to those most in need. Just two years ago, it opened the doors to a state-of-the-art educational complex built to engage students, alumni and the legal community at large. Graduates are leaders at the highest levels of legal practice, government, business and philanthropic endeavors.
Robert Watts (J.D. ’14)
The next dean must continue to develop the school’s dedication to its core constituencies. Faced with an evolving legal market tied to an economy still suffering from the Great Recession, Georgia State Law must further enhance its practice-based curriculum to educate students in the art of adding value for their clients. The College of Law also has a unique opportunity to supplement legal services for those who cannot afford them, growing educational opportunities for its students while doing good in the community.
The next dean must also strengthen the national brand. After a mere 25 years in existence, Georgia State Law is firmly established in the fabric of Atlanta and Georgia. Some of our programs, such as the Center for Law, Health & Society, are nationally recognized. Georgia State Law is consistently ranked as one of the best-value law schools in the nation. The next dean should build on these accolades and develop a strategic plan to launch the college into a new tier of legal education that continues to attract the highest legal talent, in professors and students, and propels the institution into the national spotlight.
Robert Watts (J.D. '14) is an associate at Jones Day in Atlanta, focusing his practice on complex commercial litigation. He is also a class representative on Georgia State’s Law Alumni Council. [/column][column]
Trish Treadwell (J.D. ’02)
Georgia State Law needs its next visionary. The strides that the law school has made with our esteemed Dean Steven J. Kaminshine leading the way have been phenomenal. We very much still considered ourselves an “upstart” 15 years ago. But that is not what the law school is now, and we need to ensure that our next leader continues moving us forward so that we do not waste a single year being stagnant or thinking of ourselves as that “little engine that could.”
We want to be able to maintain the unyielding determination that has fueled us from time to time as an underdog, but we also need to develop our identity as a leading institution for law, policy and preparedness for the workplace.
Trish Treadwell (J.D. ’02)
We need someone who is looking at trends for the future and able to translate those into expanded clinics and centers of study and new development dollars. The dean must inspire and command the respect and loyalty of the faculty and senior staff. The dean will need to continue to build effective relationships with those leading the larger university and its other professional and distinguished colleges.
But more importantly, the new dean will have to be outside of our campus campaigning in Atlanta, across Georgia, throughout the South and nationally and internationally. We will not get to the next level by being a great Atlanta law school, the students of which are employed by great Atlanta companies. We must have our sights set higher and broader, and we need a dean that understands how to set that strategy in motion, a dean who possesses the firepower to make it happen.
Trishanda L. Treadwell (J.D.’02) is a partner with the Parker Hudson Rainer & Dobbs litigation and employment practice group. She is on Georgia State Law’s Board of Visitors. [/column][/row]