We all know this story. Law school clinical program does work that steps on the toes of industry. Politicians respond. That's going on at the University of Maryland right now - and it's a reheating of old claims. Last week Governor Martin O'Malley wrote Dean Phoebe Haddon, complaining that the suit filed by the school's environmental clinic against Hudson Farms and Perdue Farms was "state sponsored injustice and a misuse of taxpayer resources." Dean Haddon responded to the Governor writing that she believed there to be "good grounds" for the lawsuit and added that O'Malley's letter itself had "the potential to become highly prejudicial, undermining the integrity of the judicial process." This all follows on legislators' unsuccessful efforts last year to address the lawsuit by chopping money from the law school budget
I haven't found the complete letters but the National Law Journal has extensive excerpts of O'Malley's letter here.
Update: The Governor's letter is here. The Dean's letter is here.
The Baltimore Sun has the complete letters:
http://www.baltimoresun.com/features/green/bal-omalley-letter,0,5367376.htmlpage
http://www.baltimoresun.com/features/green/bal-dean-letter,0,6618162.htmlpage
Posted by: 2ndyearprof | November 22, 2011 at 11:18 AM