Thomas Jefferson School of Law Becomes Member of Association of American Law Schools
Thomas Jefferson School of Law has become a member of the Association of American Law Schools (AALS). The AALS House of Representatives, which is comprised of delegates from each member law school voted to confirm TJSL at the AALS annual meeting in New York in January 2008.
“We have reason to celebrate,” said Thomas Jefferson’s Dean Rudy Hasl. “AALS membership reflects an external judgment about the academic credibility of our institution and the progress that has been made by all segments of the law school community: faculty, students, alumni and administrators. The AALS Executive Committee has recognized that we have created a vibrant academic program that prepares students for successful careers in the legal profession and engages in the production of quality scholarship that advances the entire profession and our society as a whole.”
The AALS is a non-profit association of 168 law schools, which was founded in 1900. According to its official description, “The purpose of the association is ‘the improvement of the legal profession through legal education.’ It serves as the learned society for law teachers and is legal education's principal representative to the federal government and to other national higher education organizations and learned societies.”
Dean Hasl, who has served more than 27 years as a dean at four ABA-accredited law schools, including Thomas Jefferson, says the AALS expects its members to maintain rigorous academic programs and standards that foster a high level of intellectual engagement, cutting-edge scholarship and a diverse law school community.
Membership in AALS by a law school is recommended following an exacting process, including a visit to the applicant school by an AALS team to determine its compliance with the Association's Bylaws and Executive Committee Regulations. A five-member team of legal educators and professionals led by Stephanie J. Willbanks, Vice-Dean for Academic Affairs and Professor of Law at the Vermont Law School, visited Thomas Jefferson School of Law last March to perform the required site inspection. The site team read volumes of information about the law school and its programs, sat in on classes, toured the facilities and met with students, faculty, staff, alumni and members of the San Diego legal community before preparing its own report and recommendation for the AALS Executive Committee.
“This is truly great news and a wonderful achievement for our law school,” said Professor Susan Tiefenbrun, one of Thomas Jefferson’s 41 full-time faculty members and the director of its Center for Global Legal Studies. “We owe special thanks to Dean Hasl for his guidance and support through this process.”
Thomas Jefferson School of Law recently announced the acquisition of property in the East Village area of Downtown San Diego upon which an 180,000 square-foot, eight-story new facility is expected to open for students in the fall of 2010. The law school currently has nearly 800 students and a full-time faculty and staff of more than 100 at its Old Town campus at 2121 San Diego Avenue. The school’s more than 5,000 alumni include San Diego District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis, U.S. Representative Duncan Hunter, several Superior Court judges and associates at prominent law firms.