South Texas College of Law Annotations (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 38, No. 2, Ed. 1, October, 2005 Page: 6 of 8
This newspaper is part of the collection entitled: Annotations and was provided to The Portal to Texas History by the South Texas College of Law.
Extracted Text
The following text was automatically extracted from the image on this page using optical character recognition software:
Page 6
October 2005
New Blood at STCL
Continued from page 1
professionally rewarding ex-
perience of my career, be-
cause it gave me the oppor-
tunity to contribute to the
professional and personal
development of so many new
lawyers as well as mid career
lawyers enrolled in the LLM
program."
From that moment on
his greatest professional am-
bition was to become a law
professor, so that he could
continue to reap the reward
that comes from making such
a contribution. After meeting
the STCL faculty and admin-
istration, Corn tells me he felt
a strong sense of the school's
genuine commitment for pro-
viding students the opportu-
nity to discover their true
potential as future iawyers.
Corn was impressed with
STCL's hiring process be-
cause he felt that there was
a genuine team approach to
decisions of importance to
the school, which was not
the sense he had with sev-
eral other schools he met
with. Beyond that point in
the process, he says every-
one he dealt with was pro-
fessional, kind, and seemed
committed to making him feel
welcome at the school. So,
in the end, Corn says it was
really a very easy decision to
come to STCL.
Since he has been at
STCL, Professor Corn has
found it interesting to learn
about the history of the law
school as well as the back-
grounds of his fellow col-
leagues.
Professor Corn currently
teaches two sections of crimi-
nal law, and when asked
about his teaching style, Corn
said he believes people learn
best when they are intellec-
tually challenged; he acknowl-
edged that he will do his level
best to provide such a chal-
lenge to his students.
Lucky for his students.
Corn also believes it is im-
portant to enjoy the learning
process, and he hopes to be
able to inject some humor
into the instruction on occa-
sion. At STCL, Corn pointed
out that the quality of the dia-
logue in the classroom was
very similar to what he re-
called from his first year ex-
perience, a fact that he at-
tributes to the diligence of the
students.
In his personal life, Pro-
fessor Corn, his wife and two
kids have finally settled in
Houston after five years of
moving around. Beyond that,
between 180 criminal law stu-
dents, and two teenagers, he
finds that his time is pretty
much taken up lately! But,
he did tell me that he does
occasionally find time to sit
on his porch and play the
banjo!
Professor Adam
Gershowitz has come to
STCL after receiving his
Bachelor of Arts degree at the
University of Delaware and
his J.D. from the University
of Virginia School of Law.
After graduation,
Gershowitz clerked for Judge
Robert King on the U.S.
Court of Appeals for the 4th
Circuit and subsequently
practiced law in a Washing-
ton D.C. law firm where his
practice focused on insurance
litigation and white collar
criminal matters, particularly
internal investigations of large
companies. Gershowitz filled
me in on the particular hiring
COLL B OUT
tfb SEARCH
PRES8WIRB Mm mm
By The Seat of Your Pants
E L G
B
N T A
Q H K L S
J P 1 O J 1 U
H
G H T
T
G D L
L O B X C
O R D U R O Y
Y
K N K
G
A J 1
G A B R B
M F N F R H R
H
G Q Y
M
1 A N
MX 1 RJ
1 R P A C P M
O
X Z S
G
D Z R
PSEXX
J G J C N WQ
Y
1 Q F
L
W X X
A E R X E
G Q R T Q V E
H
J I Q
S
A M T
C J W E T
S N WO O T T
S
N L C
V
E C H
R 1 E X K
1 Q H Y O H U
N
G D M
V
S E K
Z O E A B
C D D X V D H
U
PMH
s
S K K
S A U F N
K 1 P F U P C
E
T H M
X
UFH
TYMSP
S B N N Z Y A
Z
O R J
A
A G K
XMZ 1 E
P C G K Y Y R
G
Z G A
U
C H O
ECVML
RA 1 W T T A
T
L Y K
C
RED
NURMT
R S Z D O R P
Q
E J S
H
Y G Y
C J Z O E
G S P X H A J
T
J W 1
A
D WK
U JDEP
ZVEUBMS
V
D U F
P
R Z F
D L S O E
P A H E O S Z
H
L B H
S
N Z D
K V S Z V
L E K 1 N A N
N
B X S
K
Q K P
X U J R P
1 WD 1 U O D
1
U 1 F
T
V F K
J W N Y K
MU8TLCX
S
I
mm
'BUM
1
Breeches
Dungarees
Parachute
Capri
Gaucho
Slacks
Chaps
Hot
Smarty
Corduroy
Jeans
Trousers
Cropped
Knickers
Under
process that he encountered.
Gershowitz informed me that
he met a number of STCL
faculty wTiile at the AALS
Conference, which is held in
Washington D.C. every year,
and was invited back to
Houston to give a teaching
and research presentation.
After making his presenta-
tion, the faculty questioned
him about his topic for almost
an hour. Gershowitz tells me,
"It was the most rigorous job
interview I've ever had."
Now a criminal proce-
dure professor at STCL,
Gershowitz believes that
South Texas has a wonderful
focus on the practical appli-
cation of law and finds that
his students are very good on
their feet arid less shy than in
other law schools.
As for his teaching meth-
ods, he believes that it is im-
portant to focus on topics that
will be covered on the bar
exam as well as to discuss the
practical aspects that relate to
the subject. For instance,
Gershowitz thinks it is impor-
tant to discuss the real world
implications of the rules made
by the Supreme Court in his
criminal procedure classes.
He discusses the accuracy of
eyewitness testimony, the
number of cases that are plea
bargained instead of tried,
and the huge number of drug
cases in the criminal justice
system.
From his law school ex-
perience in a small town,
Gershowitz tells me that all
of the students knew what
every other student was do-
ing, which was good and
bad. It was good because
you really got to know people.
It was bad because there was
sometimes a lack of anonym-
ity. In that respect, he thinks
it was very different than go-
ing to school in a big city like
Houston. Other than that,
however, he finds law school
at the University of Virginia
was very similar to South
Texas—lots of students
studying hard and looking for
jobs.
In his spare time, Profes-
sor Gershowitz enjoys read-
ing, running, and watching
movies.
I'd like to welcome these
new professors, to STCL, as
they are a wonderful addition
to our fine faculty. With their
individual expertise, they
each bring new energy and
know-how to the classroom.
The Wrath of the Bell
Curve
Continued from page 5
to find a job, and unfortu-
nately, some law firms still
don't know that grade infla-
tion exists. An anonymous
law student at the University
of Texas ('07) recounts her
experience in the interview
process with several large
firms in Houston, "one of the
employers really knew the
numbers and immediately
knew I was about average for
my school... but in one in-
terview, a recruiter described
my GPA as 'commendable'
and talked about how impres-
sively high my grades were.
This was a little embarrass-
ing because my grades are
just at our B+ average."
In doing research for this
article, I found that most stu-
dents believe that class rank
equalizes inequity in grading
systems among various insti-
tutions. They're probably
right. That is the whole point
of having a percentage rank-
ing, to have a tool for
quantifiably comparing stu-
dents against each other.
There is no significant differ-
ence among legal employers
if they have all of the facts.
The only potential problem
here is that it seems that a
few employers, at least, are
not aware of the discrepan-
cies in grading that exists be-
tween schools.
In spite of the average
grade statistics presented
above, I still don't advocate
inflating our average GPA. I
trust that the faculty and ad-
ministration are doing what
they think is best for our over-
all legal careers. They should
be looking out for our best
interests, not only out of the
goodness of their hearts, but
also because our perfor-
mance as students and law-
yers reflects back on them.
I also see responding by in-
flating the average GPA at
STCL as an imperfect solu-
tion to this problem.
If the suggested first year
curve were raised, it would
be prospectively, not retroac-
tively. Therefore, no cur-
rently recorded grades would
be adjusted. Additionally, it
could only substantially affect
the next entering class, not
current students.
The bottom line is that,
although the concept of com-
parative grade deflation is in-
teresting, and it may truly
exist at our school, its impact
on our lives is probably de
minimis. My solution is
simple: I use my class rank
instead of GPA on my re-
sume, and I start booing any-
time another law school is
mentioned in public.
Upcoming Pages
Here’s what’s next.
Search Inside
This issue can be searched. Note: Results may vary based on the legibility of text within the document.
Tools / Downloads
Get a copy of this page or view the extracted text.
Citing and Sharing
Basic information for referencing this web page. We also provide extended guidance on usage rights, references, copying or embedding.
Reference the current page of this Newspaper.
Granberry, Afton. South Texas College of Law Annotations (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 38, No. 2, Ed. 1, October, 2005, newspaper, October 2005; Houston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth144570/m1/6/?q=%22%22~1: accessed July 16, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting South Texas College of Law.