Climbing Above the Culture Clash

Dear Alumni and Friends,
You’ll find many timely stories in this year’s edition of The Record. We interviewed Irving Picard (’66), the trustee appointed to liquidate
the estate of Bernard Madoff, engineer of the largest Ponzi scheme ever conducted. We profiled Professor Tamar Frankel, whose
prescient 2006 book Trust and Honesty: America’s Business Culture at a Crossroad suggested that the growing fraud and abuse of trust in
this country could have a widespread impact on America’s economy and prosperity. We also asked Con Hurley, director of the Morin
Center for Banking and Financial Law, and a frequent commentator on the financial crisis that has gripped U.S. and world markets, to
share his observations on the economy with The Record. We talked with Michael Flaherty (’94) about his campaign to become mayor
of Boston, and with alumni who are assisting veterans returning from the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. Gary Locke (’75), the son of
immigrant shopkeepers, also spoke with us about his remarkable journey to become our country’s first Asian-American governor and
U.S. secretary of commerce.
Clearly, the past year has been a tumultuous one. The recession has affected almost everyone, and alumni donations have been adversely
affected at a time when our students need financial support more than ever. I encourage all of you to support the School in any way you
can. If you can hire a BU Law student or graduate, I urge you to do so. If you can make a donation to the annual fund, whether you’re a
regular contributor like Mike Schell (’76), whom we profile in these pages, or someone who has never given before, now is the time to help
out. Your contribution will make a difference in the lives of our students, who are facing unprecedented challenges as they prepare to enter
the legal profession.
BU Law continues to be recognized as a top-tier school in legal circles, both nationally and internationally. U.S. News & World Report
ranked our health law program #4, our tax law program #6, our intellectual property law program #11 and the law school overall #20
out of 184 accredited law schools nationwide. Our faculty is widely and consistently acclaimed for its teaching and scholarship, giving
the School added prestige and helping to attract highly qualified applicants. In fact, applications to BU Law were up 29 percent this year
(nationally, applications to law school were up 6.5 percent). We received more than 7,600 applications for 265 slots, allowing us to be
even more selective in the admissions process.
If you’d like to meet some of our students online, get in touch with old friends or network
with other alumni, you can join the BU Law Connection. We’ve created this site to help
you connect more easily with members of the BU Law community. You can also submit
a class note through the Connection and let your fellow alumni know what you are
doing. To take advantage of all the Connection has to offer, just go to our Web site,
www.bu.edu/law, click on BU Law Connection and follow the prompts to register.
It’s quick and easy.
As always, we appreciate your feedback. Tell us what you’re thinking and give us your
suggestions for stories. You may contact the Alumni Office by phone at 617.353.3118 or by
e-mail at lawalum@bu.edu. Thank you for your continued support; we look forward to
hearing from you.
Sincerely,
Maureen A. O’Rourke, Dean