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The Pioneers of Penn State Law

As Penn State Law celebrates its 10-year anniversary in University Park, we take a look back at the faculty, staff, and students who have helped make this decade of world-class legal education possible.
Lewis Katz Building construction

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- When Angelica Sinopole decided around the age of 12 that she wanted to become a lawyer, she didn’t imagine that she would begin her legal education by taking classes in a converted dormitory.

Sinopole, now a respected attorney with an international firm based in New York, was among the very first students to enroll in the Dickinson School of Law, the predecessor to Penn State Law, in University Park 10 years ago—a group of students that Professor Marie Reilly calls “student pioneers.”

“Our faculty all came here because we wanted to be part of building something together,” said Reilly, who also served as senior associate dean for academic affairs from 2008 to 2015. “These were people who said, ‘put me in the game, coach; I want to do more.’ We tried to make a law school—and we did.”

Today, Penn State Law boasts a roster of outstanding faculty, accomplished alumni, state-of-the-art learning facilities, and a talented, hard-working, and diverse student population from across the world. Although Penn State Law’s commitment to delivering a world-class legal education remains the same today as when it first opened, things were a little bit different for Sinopole and her classmates back in 2006.

The Lewis Katz Building—regarded today as one of the top academic buildings in the world—stands on what used to be a parking lot. Classes were held in the Beam Building in converted dorm rooms and in an assortment of classrooms around campus. Orientation was held on the floor of the Bryce Jordan Center. Most events were held in borrowed space in the Business Building.

“I don’t think any of the students back then were prepared for how unconventional our learning experience was going to be,” Sinopole said. “But it was quite the adventure.”

Before Penn State Law and Dickinson Law in Carlisle began operating as independent Penn State law schools in 2014, the two campuses were part of the same law program.  When the University Park campus opened in 2006, students and faculty on both campuses were connected via a state-of-the-art audio-visual teleconferencing system that allowed students in both locations to take courses together.   This unique way of teaching and learning presented a new challenge but also a new opportunity for students and faculty.

Although Sinopole said it took some getting used to using cameras and microphones in the classroom, this innovation prepared her for the growing role of technology in the legal profession. Whether she’s having a meeting with attorneys in another country or interviewing witnesses via teleconference, Sinopole said the role of technology at Penn State Law prepared her to be on the leading edge of her field, even when it wasn’t written into the curriculum.

Randy Fulton, Penn State Law’s director of business services, was involved in much of the work to ready the school’s temporary location in the Beam Building and permanent home in the Lewis Katz Building. Before the first day of law classes in the Beam Building, there were walls that needed to be torn down, wiring that needed to be run, and servers that needed to be installed over months of preparation.

Meanwhile, members of the administration, like Penn State Law’s registrar Shari Welch, were busy integrating the new Penn State Law campus into the larger University network, navigating behind-the-scenes decisions to ensure that students were properly registered and scheduled for classes.

“I take pride in the work we all did and the service we’ve provided to our students and faculty,” Welch said. “You look back over what we’ve gone through and we’ve had ups and downs, but we brought everything together.”

All the while, the team behind the design of the Lewis Katz Building was also hard at work inspecting top-of-the-line law facilities around the world, ensuring a green and energy-efficient design, and facilitating input from faculty, staff, and legal professionals for the new home of Penn State Law.

Then, one weekend in December 2009—just before the final semester for students who began their studies that first year—the time finally came: the Katz Building was ready. In just two days, Fulton recalls, the staff moved everything into place, set up the offices, readied the IT infrastructure, and opened the doors for classes that Monday.

“It was fantastic; everyone was so excited about getting into the new building,” Sinopole said. “We’d been watching it go up, we’d been hearing about it, and we were so thrilled for it to be complete and to be able to move in.”

In the intervening years, Penn State Law has continued to grow in size and scope, adding students from across the world to the ranks of Penn State Law alumni. With 48 full-time faculty with expertise across the diverse field of law, Penn State Law offers nine specialized fields of study to help students explore the legal profession and become the lawyers they want to be.

Students learn outside the law school classroom by participating in the school’s clinics, externship programs, scholarly journals, moot court competitions, research centers, and more than 40 law student organizations.  For the first students in 2006, there was one clinic; today there are nine, including the new Veterans and Service Members Legal Clinic, the Entrepreneur Assistance Clinic and the Intellectual Property Clinic. From the early days through today, students can pursue a joint degree with one of five Penn State graduate degree programs and enjoy the wide range of student activities, recreational amenities and entertainment available on Penn State’s amazing University Park campus. 

Despite all the growth and innovation in legal education at Penn State Law since the University Park campus first opened in 2006, one thing remains the same: the commitment to providing every student with a world-class legal education forged in those formative years by the faculty, staff, and students who united to build a school together.

“To this day, I tell stories about Penn State Law and everyone always stops, because there hasn’t been another school that has done what we’ve done,” Sinopole said. “I loved being a part of something so unique, to have the opportunity to work with the faculty and administration to become the school we wanted to be.”

Penn State Law will host a 10th Anniversary Celebration for alumni and friends on Saturday, October 29 and Sunday, October 30. To learn more or register to attend, please visit the event page.

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