Ethical
Law
Resolving conflict is just one way that law
students and faculty serve the public interest.
While many of us struggle to settle a single point of
disagreement in our lives, Mary Culbert has made a career of
resolving conflict and has mediated more than 1,000 disputes in her
12-year career as a mediator.
"Coming from a family of 11 children, you have to mediate
your way through life," says Culbert, who has been an attorney for
20 years. "As a mediator you have to be neutral, and for me it is
not difficult. I have always had my heart and soul set on working
for people who are disenfranchised."
As an associate clinical law professor and director of
Loyola Law School's Center for Conflict Resolution, Culbert and her
staff (professional mediators and as many as 35 student externs per
semester) serve the mediation needs of the Latino community in Los
Angeles -- a population that often does not have access to legal
assistance or to the court system. "There's a whole group of people
that can't access the justice system because they're too poor or
maybe they don't speak English."
The center is just one example of how the law school's
faculty and students are committed to providing legal services to
those in need. "In the 10 years this center has been in existence,
we've served about 325,000 people," she says. Located on the law
school campus, the center will mediate any dispute as long as the
parties are ready to communicate. "It can be consumer debt, family
disputes, consumer-merchant disputes, landlord-tenant disputes. You
name it, we've done it."
By resolving
disputes before they require a lawyer, judge, and jury, the center
has saved Los Angeles County residents hundreds of thousand of
dollars in litigation fees, says Culbert, who earned her juris
doctor degree from Loyola Law School in 1984.
With 300 to 600
cases pending at any one time, the staff members have resolved 85
percent of the conflicts they've handled. "Often this is the first
time that the two parties are hearing each other, and this process
empowers the disenfranchised to talk about what their needs and
interests are," Culbert says. "It can really be a magical
process."
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Loyola Law School
2003-04 Highlights
Dedicated to
legal ethics and the public interest, Loyola Law School had an
enrollment of 1,388.
David Burcham JD '84, the Fritz B. Burns Dean and Professor of Law,
leads Loyola Law School.
In 2004, nearly 6,000 students applied for just 408 spots, making
it the most competitive admissions year in school history.
Loyola Law School's Advocacy Program was ranked fifth in the
country by U.S. News & World Report.
The new Civil Justice Program researches, educates, and works to
provide equal access to the civil justice system.
Through the new Tax LLM (Master of Laws) program with the
University of Bologna, students can earn a Master's degree in
American law and international legal practice.
The law school launched the Juvenile Law & Policy Center to
provide legal representation to juveniles charged with
crimes. |