Staff realignment includes new social justice position

Interim Dean James A. Gardner has announced several changes in the Law School’s administration, including the creation of a new position aimed at facilitating students’ community service legal work.

The new position, vice dean for social justice initiatives, is being filled by Melinda R. Saran ’86, who has served since 1999 as vice dean for student affairs. “The idea is to integrate the programs that send our students out into the community to do pro bono or other good work, to make a coordinated effort to provide encouragement and supervision,” Saran says. “We will make sure that students have appropriate training and that they make the right connections. The goal is to make our community engagement more impactful and also encourage our students to do more.”

In her new role, Saran oversees the Law School’s externship program, manages the Pro Bono Scholars Program, and identifies and promotes social justice initiatives in the Law School.

She notes that many students already are seeking out service opportunities as they look to fulfill the new requirement of 50 hours' pro bono service for admission to the New York State bar. But beyond that requirement, she envisions matching talented students with a wide range of opportunities for serving citizens’ unmet legal needs.

“Students are starting to do more, and we want to encourage them to do more,” she says. “Maybe someone doesn’t have time to do a full-day externship, but there are limited-scope legal intervention clinics where students can go once a month, or one morning a week, or one afternoon a week or at lunchtime, and make a difference without disrupting their busy lives. The idea is to show them what’s available.

“It’s about access to justice, but it’s also about teaching our students both the soft skills of how to deal with clients, with agencies and with other attorneys, but also the hard skills of being an attorney. We hope it will foster a value in them to continue doing this when they’re attorneys.”

The other announced administrative changes include:

• Professor S. Todd Brown will become vice dean for academic affairs. He succeeds Professor Luis E. Chiesa, who is stepping down after two years in the position. “I am extremely grateful for Luis’ dedicated service, strong work ethic, ability to get things done, and for his candid advice,” Dean Gardner said.
• Law lecturer Bernadette Gargano will step into the role of vice dean for student affairs, while also continuing to teach in the Legal Analysis, Writing and Research Program.
• Lisa Bauer, who previously directed the Law School’s externship program, has been named assistant director of career services. In her new position, she is responsible for event planning and educational programming, career counseling, statistical collection and analysis, legal career research and publication, and helping to manage job postings, interviews and other recruitment tasks.