Welcome to the

Center for Advanced Legal Studies

OUR MISSION STATEMENT

The Mission of the Center for Advanced Legal Studies is to create in depth continuing legal education for the legal community by utilizing the strengths and resources of the law school and the expertise of the bench and the bar.

HISTORY OF ADVANCED LEGAL STUDIES

Suffolk University Law School's Center for Advanced Legal Studies was created in 1982 to respond to the needs of an ever increasing population of attorneys for whom rapid changes in the law required superior continuing education. The faculty of Suffolk University Law School had long maintained that the study of law should not cease upon graduation but rather should remain a lifetime professional activity for every lawyer. They also believed that the modern law school should not remain isolated from the profession of the law but should be engaged in that process.

It was the vision of then Dean David Sargent and Professor Charles P. Kindregan, the Center's first Director, that a law school could produce programs academically superior to the continuing education programs then available through existing lawyer education providers. Since the Center's founding their vision has become a reality. Today, Suffolk University Law School enjoys a national and international reputation among members of the Bench and Bar as well as academics for producing intellectually challenging programs that are on the cutting edge of legal thinking and practical application.

Since its inception, the Center has presented a wide range of courses to members of the Bench and Bar in this country and abroad. The programs produced by the Center have ranged from evening forums, to one-day colloquia dealing with recent developments in a particular area of law, to multi-day institutes. Because of its unique position in the legal community, the Center has been able to call upon the resources of over sixty full-time law faculty members as well as its adjunct faculty and outstanding members of the Bench and Bar. The participating law school faculty members are recognized authorities in their fields and most of the participating judges and practicing attorneys are recognized as leaders in their areas of concentration. As a result, the Center has provided a professional and academic approach to continuing legal education that meets the needs of the practicing lawyer.

The faculty of Suffolk University Law School does not view the Center's programs as designed to compete with or replace Bar-sponsored skills-type programs commonly presented throughout the country. To the contrary, the Center's programs are designed to draw on the particular strengths of the modern law school in order to provide strong academic content to all its programs. And on occasion, the Center and the Bar providers have joined to address contemporary problems. In addition, The Center often co-sponsors programs with other law associations, other law schools and national providers of continuing legal education.