Sandy Slaga is a favorite person of mine. If you do not regularly read her blog, you ought to. You can find it at SandySlaga.Com. Sandy just returned to the practice of law. She is working from her home, primarily.
I was communicating with Sandy about a number of issues including undervalued law schools. She suggest her alma mater, Saint Louis University School of Law.
I like the idea because Sandy and I are both guilt-ridden Catholics, along with a few others like Future Lawyer Rick Georges. I went to a Marianist university while the other two went to the more highbrow Jesuit universities. What we know, however, despite the Catholic catechism, is that many of these Catholic university law schools are real gems from a legal education standpoint. You do not have to believe that Pope John Paul II is the greatest thing since sliced bread to attend.
SLU Law is located in St. Louis, Missouri. It is a top tier university (if you dare follow U.S. News rankings). The law school opened its doors in 1843, before there was a U.S. News, and it is the first law school established west of the Mississippi River. The law school boasts the highest enrollment of law students in Missouri. It has a full time and part time, evening program.
The school is known for its dual degree program in which you can receive a MBA, MHA, MA in Public Affairs, MA in Urban Affairs, MPH or PHD along with your JD.
But, what the school is particularly known for is its Center for Health Law Studies. It was one of the first of such programs and was established over 20 years ago. It is considered the leading health law program in the country.
The law school is int he process of raising up to $35 million so it may break ground on its new law school building.
Showing how old I am, I remember one of its notable professors, Thomas Eagleton, who was the U.S. Senator from Missouri from 1968 to 1987. He is best remembered as the Democratic Vice Presidential nominee in 1972 with George McGovern. He stepped down after it was discovered he had been treated for depression in the past. Back then I do not think anybody understood mental health issues.
Other than Sandy, its alumni is a veritable who's who of Missouri politics and government. What I find interesting is that the law school has a practitioner in residence program. A visiting health law attorney is hosted by the Center for one to three months at the School of Law. The attorney has the opportunity to reflect on the practice of law and refresh his or her perspective while offering students and faculty insight into the realities of the practice of health law.
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