Loyola

A few weeks ago our friend Joanna was visiting from L.A. We met downtown Ann Arbor and had a nice leisurely stroll around campus and eventually ended up adjacent to the law quad. As we walked by she said "Every time my father walks near the law school he still feels sick to his stomach --- and he graduated in 1951."

Hearing this reminded me of how grateful I am to have attended Loyola University Chicago School of Law. Although law school in general is not much fun, I greatly appreciate having gone to a school with a focus on collaboration and cooperation. The charge to us students was that being a lawyer means being of service. The question we were asked is “How are you going to use your law degree to make the world a better place?”

Today, as I sit in a lawyer’s office and align myself with the collaborative divorce process, I again affirm my gratitude for the training I received at Loyola, where this type of approach was the norm.

In writing this blog I went to the websites of both University of Michigan and Loyola to find their mission statements. Here is what I found:

• Loyola University Chicago School of Law is a student-focused law center inspired by the Jesuit tradition of academic excellence, intellectual openness, and service to others. Our mission is to educate diverse, talented students to be responsible leaders in a rapidly changing, interdependent world, to prepare graduates who will be ethical advocates for justice and the rule of law, and to contribute to a deeper understanding of law and legal institutions through a commitment to research, scholarship and public service.

I was unable to locate the mission of U of M's law school.

In retrospect, I am honored to have been accepted at both of these schools and I am glad I chose Loyola. It was a much better fit for me.