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What Unusual Traditions Does Your Law School Celebrate?

Posted Apr 10, 2008, 09:34 am CDT
By Sarah Randag

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As the academic year heads to a close, whimsical annual events are popping up on law school calendars.

Just last week, University of Toledo’s student bar association sponsored its fourth-annual 5K Ambulance Chase. Race proceeds benefited a local substance abuse treatment center.

That got us thinking …

Does your law school have any fun or unusual traditions, formal or informal?

Answer in the comments below.

There were no answers to last week's question.

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Title: What Unusual Traditions Does Your Law School Celebrate?


Comments

  1. Posted by Sheila Hansel - 5 months, 3 weeks, 6 days, 19 hours, 15 minutes ago

    South Texas College of Law houses one of the full-sized replicas of the Liberty Bell set around the country during the 1976 bi-centennial celebration. The tradition is, after taking your very LAST ever law school final you ring it one time. If you are too aggressive and it rings more than once that signifies how many times you’ll have to take the bar to pass. The ringing is celebrated with crowds of friends and family cheering and taking photos. Caution: If you ring it before you’re completely done with law school finals it means you won’t graduate!

  2. Posted by Jack Marshall - 5 months, 3 weeks, 6 days, 13 hours, 30 minutes ago

    Georgetown University Law Center is the only law school with a year-round student-run theatrical organization, the Georgetown Gilbert and Sullivan Society. The group performs three full productions a year: a drama, a Broadway musical, and a Gilbert and Sullivan operetta, complete with orchestra. The group was founded in 1973, and will celebrate its 35 anniversary of continuous operation this week, as alumni of the group from all over the country will attend a weekend of festivities and student production of “The Pirates of Penzance.” Prof. Heathcote Wales, playing the Sergeant of Police, was in the very first production of “Trial By Jury,”, which I directed as a first year student.

  3. Posted by Karla Allen - 5 months, 3 weeks, 5 days, 21 hours, 50 minutes ago

    Stetson University College of Law every Spring semester has a “Kiss the Pig” competition co-sponsored by Phi Alpha Delta.  Jars with the names of professors are placed in the common area and students place money in the jars.  The professor whose jar has the most money at the end of the week has to kiss a pig brought to the school by a local farm.  The money raised goes to the local children’s hospital.

  4. Posted by Jill M. - 5 months, 3 weeks, 5 days, 20 hours, 30 minutes ago

    University of Wisconsin does the cane toss.  Every fall at the homecoming football game, 3Ls armed with a hat and a cane are lead across the football field by the dean.  When they reach the end zone, they toss their cane over the goal post.  Those who catch their can are destined to win their first case!

  5. Posted by Donna Vandever Yelverton - 5 months, 3 weeks, 5 days, 20 hours, 12 minutes ago

    Each year the Cumberland School of Law at Samford University honors the memory
    of Rascal, the only recipient of the Doctor of Canine Jurisprudence degree at the annual Rascal Memorial Procession.  According to Cumberland tradition, Rascal was a mongrel pup who faithfully attended classes at the law school’s former home in Lebanon, Tennessee, beginning in 1933, and in 1937 he was presented the rare degree of Doctor of Canine Jurisprudence. Rascal passed away in 1940,
    and was buried with much ceremony beneath the window where he attended
    classes. When Cumberland moved to Birmingham, Alabama in 1961, Rascal’s tombstone and a few spadefuls of dirt were brought to the Samford Campus, and
    again interred at Blackacre, on the west side of Robinson Hall.  This year, on, Thursday, March 6, students, faculty, and friends of the law school--and their pets processed from the foot of Samford’s Centennial Walk to the Blackacre patio area.  After a eulogy by Professor Howard Walthall, mourners and pets enjoyed a hotdog lunch served by Cumberland faculty, plus awards and party favors were
    given.

  6. Posted by Dbomb - 5 months, 3 weeks, 5 days, 19 hours, 51 minutes ago

    That’s definitely the strangest, Donna.

  7. Posted by Claire Z. - 5 months, 3 weeks, 5 days, 19 hours, 19 minutes ago

    University of Miami :
    Every spring in April we compete in an 8 day competition called the Dean’s Cup against the Med school.  There is a huge trophy that the winner gets to keep at the Dean of Students office all year with the past winners. We play them in bowling, indoor soccer, outdoor soccer, swimming, golf, floor hockey, basketball, flag football, tennis, racquetball, table tennis, water polo, beach volleyball, 5k race, kickball, billards, darts, and poker.  This year we have added a few new events too. A community service event, tug-o-war, hot dog eating contest, track, and weightlifting.  We have been doing Dean’s Cup for the last 25 years.

    It is the BEST time of the year!!

  8. Posted by Liza S. - 5 months, 3 weeks, 5 days, 19 hours, 14 minutes ago

    Florida State College of Law students participate in a Triathlon to raise money to fight ALS (Lou Gehrig’s Disease).  In 2006, one of our favorite professors, Steven Gey, was diagnosed with the horrible disease.  The students responded by putting down their books and picking up their swim goggles, bikes, and running shoes.  Just this Saturday, we finished our second “Tri-for-Gey.” 68 triathletes fundraised over $68,000 for ALS research in connection with the event.  It was very special to say the least.

  9. Posted by Whit Remer - 5 months, 3 weeks, 5 days, 18 hours, 43 minutes ago

    Greeting from Louisiana!  I thought I would take just a minute to chime in on this interesting discussion.  Here at Loyola University College of Law New Orleans, many of you might be surprised to know that we don’t have an official “spring break.” Rather, we get a couple (two) of days off for Easter.  The other three days (those which are typically allotted for a five day break) are given to us in February (at least this year).  The reason, as many of you might suspect, is for the renowned Mardi Gras celebration here in New Orleans.  That’s right we get three days off for Mardi Gras.  Actually, most of the city besides the restaurants and beer stores shut down to take part in this fantastic event. Moreover, our SBA usually rents out a bar sometime during those days off for what has been deemed “Mardi Law.” This is become a tradition at the school, and is certainly one of our more celebrated bar reviews.

  10. Posted by January - 5 months, 3 weeks, 5 days, 18 hours, 42 minutes ago

    The William S. Richardson School of Law at the University of Hawai’i has an annual flag football game known as the Ete Bowl in which the female students face off against the female alumni (often judges and magistrates).  The male students and alumni serve as coaches and cheerleaders, and in some years we have even had one poor fellow dress in drag to serve as the queen.

  11. Posted by G. Joseph Pierron - 5 months, 3 weeks, 5 days, 14 hours, 36 minutes ago

    The University of Kansas has 2 surviving traditions out of many that have been observed over the years. 

    Walk to Old Green Hall. —The Law School moved from “Old Green Hall “ (now Lippincott Hall) to “new” Green Hall in 1977.  Every year a KU law professor leads a group of students through KU’s campus from new Green Hall to “Old Green Hall.” The tradition began in the Spring of 1978 when the graduating law students asked a KU law professor to lead them on a walk back to the building in which they spent their first two years of law school.  It is now a prized tradition.  Come rain or shine, KU Law professors lead students through the campus, sharing with them the school’s history.  Sometimes the commentary is given at the foot of the Daniel Chester French statue of James Woods “Uncle Jimmy” Green, the founder and first dean of the Law School ,which was placed in front of “Old Green Hall” in 1924.

    Pub Night—Pub Night is an annual fundraiser organized by KU’s Women in Law organization, which began in the 1980’s.  Each year the Women in Law organizes a talent contest, and solicits donations through a silent auction for scholarships and other organizations in Lawrence, Kansas, the home of the University.  The highlight of the evening is a performance by the Moody Bluebooks, a rock band composed of KU law faculty and staff.

  12. Posted by Sara - 5 months, 3 weeks, 5 days, 5 hours, 49 minutes ago

    KU Law also has the Bluebook Relays, where 1Ls walk quickly (running is not allowed) through the library, bringing back citations of reference materials to be judged.  It’s always held on a Friday afternoon, and is great nerdy fun.  We also have Race Ipsa, a 5K charity run. 

    And at the main campus graduation, when the law school is announced, the med students pretend to read newspapers, imitating a great student tradition at basketball games.

    Rock Chalk!

  13. Posted by J - 5 months, 3 weeks, 2 days, 6 hours, 33 minutes ago

    At Syracuse University College of Law, every year when a certain contracts professor discusses the “Chicken Case” (Frigaliment Importing Co., Ltd. v. BNS International Sales Corp., 190 F. Supp. 116 (S.D.N.Y. 1960) he dresses up in a big bird costume.  It has become a well-established yearly tradition at SUCOL and I must say it is one of the most ridiculous things I have ever seen.  He wears the costume throughout the day and wonders the hallways.  It is hilarious.  Another unusual tradition is the yearly cafe karaoke in where the only people who participate are the chefs from the cafe, but this is another story altogether…

  14. Posted by Justin - 5 months, 3 weeks, 22 hours, 17 minutes ago

    At St. Mary’s University School of Law, every Spring we have Oyster Bake (this Friday).  Its part of a San Antonio-wide “Fiesta.” Classes are cancelled, games, concerts, and alcohol are part of the festivities.  Thats the best part about a Catholic school- just about everything is an excuse for free beer and margaritas.

  15. Posted by A - 5 months, 2 weeks, 5 days, 18 hours, 57 minutes ago

    University of Missouri Kansas City School of Law has “$1.98 Law Review” every year in the spring. Students and professors attend, and beer is served (of course). Students perform skits, frequently “guested” by professors, that make fun of almost everything about the law school, professors, students, and especially the dean! Most of the time, it is good-natured.

  16. Posted by Daniel Reitman - 5 months, 2 weeks, 5 days, 17 hours, 11 minutes ago

    When I was at the University of Oregon Law School, the previous year’s 1Ls would conduct the “Parade of Bishops” every year shortly before Halloween.  This involved wearing masks or construction paper mitres to imitate Learned Hand’s twenty bishops, then parading through the Contracts classes chanting Latin terms from contract law, ending by taking over the class of the professor who often referred to the bishops in class.

  17. Posted by Ellen Suni - 5 months, 2 weeks, 20 hours, 3 minutes ago

    University of Missouri-Kansas City (UMKC) School of Law also has “Day of the Banana” which is held the last week of classes at noon on the Truman Terrace.  Faculty and staff line up and serve students banana splits to celebrate the end of the semester.  Faculty personally pay for and provide all the fixings.

  18. Posted by Christine Meadows - 5 months, 2 weeks, 7 hours, 26 minutes ago

    Lewis & Clark Northwestern School of Law - has an annual auction to raise money for the Public Interest Law Project which subsidizes students who work in public interest.  The main event is when “Dean for a Day” is auctioned off.  Classes and sometimes sections of classes compete against each other to raise enough money to buy the right to designate the dean for a day (or sometimes more than one, depending on ideas and contributions).  Past Deans for a Day had professors serve beverages to students in class, allowed dogs to attend class with their owners (although that sometimes happened anyway), errected a memorial dog hitching post in the center of campus, directed faculty to perform in a poetry slam, (you get the picture, the campus is taken over for a day of frivolity).


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