Dean's Activities and Speaking Engagements 2009

June, 2009
Dean Miles attended the 34th District of Columbia Judicial Conference at the Ronald Regan Building on Friday, June 19. The following morning she hosted a panel discussion for minority law school faculty at The Association of American Law School's Workshop for New Law Teachers. Dean Miles traveled to Montreal, Canada, to attend the June meeting of the ABA Accreditation Committee from June 24 - 27.

June 1 - Dean Miles (right) hosted a breakfast in Richmond before the orientation and swearing-in ceremony for the newest alumni members of the Virginia State Bar. Pictured are: Linda Loi Vu, 2004; Lee W. Heffner, Nicholas G. Hallenbeck, and Tamika Dawn Jones, all from the Class of 2008.

Dean Miles, Hon. Alfred Donald Cooper, Sr., 1983, and
Hon. Juanita Bing Newton, 1975. 

May 14, 2009 - Dean Miles traveled to Brooklyn to attend the New York Metropolitan Black Bar Association’s 25^th annual awards dinner honoring distinguished African-American lawyers, judges and leaders in law, government and business.  CUA law alumna Hon. Juanita Bing Newton, 1975,  was among three people to be honored with the Jurist of the Year Award.  Judge Newton is deputy chief administrative judge for Justice Initiatives, Office of Court Administration, Criminal Court of the City of New York.

April, 2009
Dean Miles was chosen to be featured on the cover of the April 16 issue of Diverse: Issues in Higher Education. The award-winning magazine focuses on issues of interest in higher education to minorities and other readers. Dean Miles also contributed to its lead article, “First Ladies of Law” that solicited opinions on a variety of issues from some of the nation’s women law school deans, including the five African-American women who currently serve as deans of ABA-accredited law schools. Miles shared her thoughts on the biggest challenges facing law schools today.  

Feb. 6, 2009 - Dean Miles was among the deans of four Catholic law schools who discussed the question, “Do Catholic law schools make sense in a secular world?” at a forum hosted by St. Mary’s University School of Law in San Antonio, TX. Joining her were the peers from the law schools of Villanova University, the University of St. Thomas, and St. Mary. Before the public, the group considered such topics such as whether a Catholic law school should try to have a theological influence on its students, and if so, how to implement such influence.

January, 2009 - Dean Miles and members of the law school faculty attended the annual meeting of the Association of American Law Schools in San Diego and held a reception for alumni and friends on Jan. 7.  The reception also celebrated the achievements of CUA faculty members Margaret Barry, Faith Mullen and Sandy Ogilvy and their contributions to clinical legal education. Later in the month, Dean Miles headed west again to attend  a meeting of the National Conference of Bar Examiners’ Special Committee on the Uniform Bar Exam in Tuscon, AZ, held on Jan. 17; and to Los Angeles on Jan. 22 to attend a meeting of the accreditation committee of the ABA section on Legal Education and Admission to the Bar.

Dean Miles, Claudia Hrvatin, class of 2003 and her guest Gregg Buckler on the rooftop of the Kennedy Center Friday night.

Dean Miles, Professor Beth Winston, Tom Madden, class of 1968 and his wife Irene. Madden is Professor Winston's Father.

November 18, 2008 - Dean Miles joined area graduates at the Tower Club in Vienna, Virginia, to host the law school's reception for Northern Virginia Alumni & Friends.

As in Philadelphia the previous evening, alumni were pleased to learn of the latest bar exam results for their state. Virginia is the second most popular jurisdiction among CUA graduates taking the bar exam, and first-time test-takers last summer earned a 84 percent success rate, right on par with the state average.

Nov. 17, 2008 - Dean Veryl Miles, 1980, and Board of Visitors Member John P. Donohue, 1969, hosted a reception for Philadelphia area CUA law alumni at the downtown offices of Thorp Reed & Armstrong, LLP. Among the reasons to celebrate was the 100 percent pass rate among recent graduates who sat for the Pennsylvania bar exam last summer.

September – 2008

September was a busy month, with Dean Miles attending to functions, events and professional obligations within and without of the law school. On Sept. 19-20, she welcomed ten alumni classes, with years ending in 8s and 3s, to Reunion 2008. Highlights included breakfast with alumni, faculty presentations, a law school community picnic and a welcome back celebration at the Kennedy Center.

Dean Miles also began her work with the American Bar Association’s Accreditation Committee, which is tasked with assessing the educational offerings of the majority of the nation’s law schools. She traveled to Chicago for a retreat and committee meeting on September 25-27.

Dean Miles was recently invited to serve a one-year term on the Special Committee on the Uniform Bar Examination for the National Conference of Bar Examiners, an invitation that she accepted. Her term of service is 2008-2009.

Friday, August 8, 2008: Dean Miles hosted an Alumni, Faculty & Friends Reception at the Beekman Room in New York City. The event was held in conjunction with the annual meeting of the American Bar Association.

CUA Law School Dean Visits Republic of Georgia

On July 18 and 19, Veryl Miles, dean of CUA’s Columbus of Law, participated in a conference on “Judicial Independence and Legal Education: Two Pillars of a Democratic Legal System” held in the Republic of Georgia.  Click here for more information.

June - 2008

During the month of June, Dean Miles traveled throughout the country to speak at several professional conferences. Immediately after commencement, she traveled to Marco Island, Florida, to participate in the ABA New Deans Workshop (May 31 – June 3) as a faculty panelist, where she and other experienced deans advised the newest class of first-time law school deans on the nuances of law school administration. Dean Miles was also the vice chair of the planning committee for this year’s conference.

On June 12 she traveled to Denver to speak at the plenary session of the ABA Conference for Associate Deans about “How the Associate Dean’s Changing Roles Affects Relationships.” Associate Dean Stacy Brustin also participated in the conference, leading discussions addressing how and when law students experience “non-classroom learning.”

Dean Miles was invited to participate in the June 19 inaugural annual meeting of the Washington Bar Association. Included in the program was a panel discussion regarding “The Black Attorney in the Legal Academy.” In the spirit of the historic significance of the meeting and the bar association, the meeting was held at the historic Charles Sumner School Building on Connecticut Avenue, which opened in 1872 for the education of African-American children in the District of Columbia. Professor Suzette Malveaux also represented the law school at the conference and participated on several panels.

On June 29 Dean Miles addressed the fall 2008 entering class of the nation’s law faculty at the AALS Workshop for New Law School Teachers, which was held in Washington, D.C. Dean Miles focused her remarks on the topic of “Assessing Faculty Performance and Institutional Citizenship.” CUA law was also represented by Professor Cara Drinan, who offered a first-year law professor retrospective for the workshop attendees.

April 18, Wyoming Bar Association – Lander, Wyoming

Dean Miles was the luncheon speaker at the Women’s Legal Forum sponsored by the Wyoming Bar Association. This was the first time a Women’s Legal Forum was sponsored by the Wyoming Bar Association in response to the growing number of women attorneys practicing in the state. The purpose of the program was to provide a forum for the state’s women attorneys of all generations and backgrounds to share practical ideas on how to succeed in their legal careers. Dean Miles was asked to provide the attendees with a view from the law school: a look at today’s generation of the women law students, as well as the views and perspectives from women law faculty and administrators who teach and mentor them.

Feb. 20, Columbus School of Law

Dean Miles delivered the 17^th Mary, Mirror of Justice lecture in the law school's Walter S. Slowinski courtroom. Inaugurated in 1989, the annual address is intended to recognize and encourage lawyers and scholars who, through their research contributions and dedication to teaching, clarify and advance the pursuit of peace with justice through the law.

Among the lecture's highlights: "The law school of The Catholic University of America should become the leading legal community in the nation where conversations concerning law, justice, reason, faith and conscience reverberate in the classrooms, the hallways and offices throughout the building in the spirit of the Catholic intellectual tradition.” The lecture series is sponsored by the Pope John Paul II Guild of Catholic Lawyers.

Feb. 7-11, Santa Monica, CA

Dean Miles attended the ABA Dean’s Mid-year Workshop in Santa Monica, California, where she was a speaker on a panel workshop entitled “The Stages of Deaning”. The law school also held an Alumni & Friends of the Law School Reception at the ABA Mid-year Meeting in Santa Monica and other alumni events in the San Francisco Bay area.

Jan. 16, Bethesda, MD

The Montgomery County Alumni & Friends Reception celebrated CUA Law's outstanding results on the July, 2007, Maryland Bar exam with members of the Montgomery County Bench and Bar.

Jan. 6, New York City

Dean Miles (right) joined Professor Ralph Rohner (holding award) as he was presented with the Tri-centennial Medal of Appreciation by Marek Bojarski, (2nd from right) dean of the law faculty at the University of Wroclaw, Poland, for his involvement in strengthening American-Polish educational collaboration. It was awarded to Rohner at a CUA law alumni reception in New York City in January, which was held in conjunction with the Annual Meeting of the Association of American Law Schools. Professor Rohner's wife Monica is at far left.