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T he start of the new academic year always creates excitement as we once again begin the process of bringing bright individuals closer to realizing their dream of becoming a lawyer and we prepare a new group of professionals to serve our communities in myriad ways. This year we have a fantastic new 1L class larger than the 2014-2015 class and our LSAT scores saw a slight increase. Members of the incoming class come from 86 different undergraduate institutions. The average age of the class is 26.6. 48 of the class is female. Students of color make up 38.6 of the class. A number of the new students hold graduate degrees in fields including management human resources social work education finance tax social policy public administration political science and pharmacy. I know from the early feedback that this is one terrific group of eager and qualified students. There have been many significant positive changes and trends at Touro Law Center over the past 18 months. Last July Touro Law was one of only two schools to see its bar pass rate increase in NY. This was followed by an increase in our February 2015 pass rate and Touro Laws pass rate for our inaugural class of Pro Bono Scholars was 100 above the average pass rate for all schools combined. As you likely know New York has announced a new bar exam effective July 2016. The faculty and administration worked hard all summer to prepare for necessary curricularcourse coverage modifications to ensure that our students are well prepared for the Uniform Bar Exam. Thank you to our alumni who also support our bar prep efforts by serving as tutors and by providing financial support to students who need additional help during bar prep. We have also seen remarkable positive changes on the employment front for both current students and recent alumni. This past year we welcomed Jim Montes as the Assistant Dean of Career Services. Dean Montes joined us from Nixon Peabody where among other things he served on the hiring committee. The Law Centers Board of Governors stepped up and under the leadership of John Bishar created and implemented a Board of Governors Summer Associates Program where our rising 2Ls and 3Ls now work in well-respected law firms on Long Island for good summer pay and these employers are exposed to Touro Law students and the preparation they receive here. Throughout the last two summers a number of students have secured full-time employment as a result of the program. While it is too early to report the employment statistics for the Class of 2015 the early information is promising. We have five alumni who secured clerkships including one with the Pennsylvania Supreme Court we have many alumni as in the past who have secured jobs with various district attorney offices public defender offices legal aid and law firms. We also have a number of alumni who accepted offers at large and medium-sized national and international law firms. The class of 2015 is also civic minded and four alumni were accepted into the New York State Excelsior Fellows Program one alumna accepted a post-graduate fellowship with the New York State Senate and of course we continue to send graduates to the NYC Department of Law. These impressive results are just the beginning. This past academic year Touro Law became one of the inaugural schools to National Association of Law Placements study on alumni job satisfaction and satisfaction with the Law Centers Career Services Office and the relevance of our curriculum to the practice of law. The good news is that we have had high levels of satisfaction and we also learned about opportunities to be more strategic. The results of the 2015 survey were shared with the Alumni Advisory Council this summer. There is also renewed excitement in the Office of Alumni Affairs with the very recent appointment of Erica Vladimer 13 as Director. I am confident that Erica will create innovative and new levels of alumni engagement with the Law Center. We need you and we want you to be involved with students faculty staff and fellow alumni. So many alumni have contributed thousands of hours of time and their resources and we are grateful. As we start the new academic year we welcome Professor Patrick Connors from Albany Law School as a Visiting Scholar. Professor Connors who is a widely regarded as a leading authority on the New York Civil Practice Laws and Rules will be teaching all sections of New York Practice this fall. This is an incredible opportunity for our 3L students. We also welcome Professor Joy Zheng from South China Normal School of Law in Guangdong Province as a Visiting Scholar in Residence for the year. Professor Zheng was selected by the Chinese Scholars Council for the honor which covers all of her expenses. Professor Joan Foley becomes the third distinguished professor to hold appointment as the Gitenstein Professor of Health Law Policy following Professor Deseriee Kennedy. Professor Marianne Artusio has been named as the Founding Director of our Institute on Aging and Longevity Law and Professor Leif Rubinstein has been named Director of our Clinical Education Program. These appointments bring tremendous opportunity for Touro Law. The Touro Law identity is solid and its strength continues to grow. Through the generous support of alumni and friends we have raised more than 11M in the last three years added more than two dozen named and endowed scholarships for our students launched a Legacy Society with inaugural commitments of a 1M bequest and a gift of a life insurance policy. Alumni support at any level of givingfrom 25 to 25M makes a difference. At our spring 2015 Builders Society Dinner we commemorated the 35th Anniversary of Touro Law Center. We have come a long way and working together the best is yet to come Sincerely Dean Patricia E. Salkin PATRICIA E. SALKIN Dean Professor of law A Message from the Dean 02 THE TO URO LAWYER FALL 201 5