News and Information
Emory University
Atlanta, GA 30322

Release date: June 8, 1999
Contact: Elaine Justice, Assistant Director

EMORY LAW SCHOOL TO USE $2.5 MILLION SETTLEMENT TO ESTABLISH SAM NUNN CHAIR, FELLOWSHIPS, COLLOQUIA

Emory Law School will use income from a $2.5 million settlement received earlier this year in a case involving DuPont Co. to establish a faculty chair in ethics and professionalism, student fellowships for professional service, and a series of colloquia on the profession of law, all named in honor of former U.S. Sen. Sam Nunn, an alumnus of the school.

The new initiatives are being supported with Emory's portion of the settlement agreement. Under the agreement, DuPont paid a total of $11 million into the United States District Court for the Middle District of Georgia. Judge Hugh Lawson then approved the distribution of $2.5 million to each of the state's four law schools plus $1 million to establish an annual symposium.

"Our goal is to put the income to the most effective and efficient uses that are consistent with the mission of the law school and the settlement agreement," says Howard O. Hunter, dean of the law school.

The Sam Nunn Chair in Ethics and Professionalism will support the permanent appointment of a distinguished professor who teaches and writes in the area of legal ethics and professionalism, says Hunter. The holder of the chair also will participate in the annual programs on ethics and professionalism supported by the separate $1 million endowment to be shared among the four Georgia schools.

The Sam Nunn Fellowships for Professional Service are designed to encourage students to take leadership roles in professional service. They will be awarded to upperclass students who have demonstrated a serious commitment to working in public service, whether in government or other agencies. The fellowships, granted as either summer stipends or scholarships, "will demonstrate in a concrete way our commitment to training servant leaders, one of the most outstanding of them having been Senator Nunn," says Hunter.

The Sam Nunn Colloquia on the Profession of Law will consist of series of workshops and discussions on the nature of law as a profession, says Hunter. "These sessions will bring to campus some of the brightest minds in the academy and the profession who will meet informally with students and faculty and present a paper or lead a discussion. The colloquia will be a source of new ideas for students and faculty and will encourage ongoing conversation about the many dimensions of legal practice."

Deans of the four law schools included in the settlement-Emory, Georgia State University, Mercer University and the University of Georgia-have agreed that the annual conference/workshop on professionalism and ethics will focus on connections between the legal academy and the practicing bar, says Hunter. The conference will be hosted on a rotating basis by each of the four schools.