Sep. 13, 2012
Erwin Chemerinsky
See more on Erwin ChemerinskyErwin Chemerinsky UC Irvine School of Law Founding Dean Irvine
Erwin Chemerinsky's memory is so well trained, he can lecture to a class about U.S. constitutional law without any notes.
Chemerinsky, founding dean of University of California, Irvine School of Law, started as a law professor when he was just 27, his exceptional memorization skills quickly becoming useful as his preferred style for teaching, speaking and arguing in court.
"I wanted to make it look like I knew what I was talking about, even when I didn't," said Chemerinsky, now in his 33rd year of teaching. "And one way to do that was to teach without notes."
This past May, Chemerinsky celebrated the commencement of UCI School of Law's first graduating class, a total of 58 students. Of the recent graduates, 80 percent are leaving the law school with full-time employment.
In college, Chemerinsky dreamed of becoming a high school teacher, but his plans changed quickly, and before he was 30 he was teaching at DePaul College of Law in Chicago. From there he went to USC Gould School of Law, then to Duke University School of Law. In 2007, he was approved by the Regents of the University of California as the founding dean for UCI's first public law program. The law school welcomed its inaugural class in the fall of 2009.
"I didn't expect it to happen so fast," he said. "I love teaching. I do hope I'm a much better teacher now than when I started."
Though UCI Law is just 3 years old, a Minnesota-based study by the University of St. Thomas School of Law ranked it No. 7 in scholarly impact. The study, which was calculated by the work of the law faculty's tenured members, as well as the mean and median of total law journal citations over the past five years, ranked UCI just behind Columbia University and New York University's law programs. Yale Law School made No. 1 on the list.
Chemerinsky, who oversees the law school's admissions policy and criteria, said he wants the school to be ranked in the Top 20 law schools in the nation - the sooner the better.
"Our entering class is comparable to that of a top 20 law school," he said. "The school is to be a top-20 school by every measure from the beginning."
Every student from the school's first graduating class was awarded a full scholarship, donated primarily by lawyers in Orange County. Students in what will be the second graduating class - expected to be 83 students - received 50 percent of their tuition in scholarships, and the third graduating class will have one-third of their tuition covered. After that, scholarships will be awarded based on merit.
"We are off to a great start," Chemerinsky said. "There are already wonderful law schools in Orange County, but having a public university law school and hopefully a top-20 law school will really make a difference."
- ALEXANDRA SCHWAPPACH
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