Contact: Russ White, University Relations, (517) 432-0923, whiterus@msu.edu

2/15/2005

EAST LANSING, Mich. – Michigan State University College of Law has been named to the National Jurist technology honor roll. In its January 2005 issue, the magazine listed the 50 most wired U.S. law schools, with MSU in fifth place after University of Oregon, Nova Southeastern, University of Illinois and Duke.

To be named to the honor roll, law schools must have implemented leading-edge technology such as computer-based exams, videoconferencing for job interviews, high-tech courtrooms and Internet technology in the classroom. MSU Law offers a wireless network with access to all areas of its building, completely wired classrooms, a distance-learning room with videoconferencing capabilities, and a Technology Initiatives Program that provides free laptops to half of its entering students each year (with 95 percent of all students owning laptops).

The recent $700,000 renovation of the Clif and Carolyn Haley Moot Court Room brings the college’s technology investment to nearly $2.4 million over the past five years. The courtroom boasts an evidence-presentation system that allows electronic presentation, annotation and recording of evidence; flat-panel monitors allowing juries and other trial participants to view evidence and proceedings; videoconferencing for remote testimony by minors and experts; and a touch-screen system allowing experts to highlight evidence.

The upgrades give law students access to technology similar to that used in courts throughout the country and enhance the courtroom as a venue for mock-trial competitions as well as actual trials.

MSU College of Law was founded as the Detroit College of Law in 1891. To extend its commitment to educational excellence, the college affiliated with MSU in 1995 and moved to MSU’s East Lansing campus in 1997. The move enabled the law college to build state-of-the-art facilities and to provide the benefits of a Big Ten campus.

MSU College of Law strengthened its affiliation with MSU in 2004, becoming more closely aligned academically. The association between the two schools has led to a comprehensive interdisciplinary legal education program at the law college. Today, the college remains the nation’s oldest continually operating independent law school and one of only two private law schools to be affiliated with a research university.