Section IV.G: Bylaws of the Law School

ARTICLE I. MEMBERSHIP

Section 1. Voting Faculty

The voting faculty consists of all tenured faculty, tenure-track faculty, tenured-in-position faculty, clinical faculty, lawyering faculty, and the Director of the Law Library, all of whom are entitled to participate in and vote at faculty meetings. For purposes of these bylaws, the voting faculty does not include emeriti or retired faculty, visiting professors, professors of practice, or lecturers. Appointment to a position on the voting faculty requires: 80 percent of the voting faculty and student representatives to the faculty, present and voting either in person or by electronic means at a regularly scheduled or duly noticed special meeting of the faculty, vote in favor of appointment; approval of the Dean of the School of Law (the “Dean”); and approval of the President of Lewis & Clark College (the “President”). In addition, except as provided in Article II, Section 4 below, two student representatives shall be entitled to participate in and vote at meetings of the faculty.

Section 2. Dean’s Term

The President shall appoint a new Dean to a defined term of service as Dean. It is expected that the term of service will be three to five years. In the fall semester of the final year of the Dean’s term, if the Dean desires to serve an additional term, a faculty member elected by the voting faculty at the first faculty meeting of the year shall collect feedback on the Dean’s performance and provide a report on that feedback to the Dean. The elected faculty member shall thereafter report to the faculty on the general results of this survey, and the voting faculty, after receiving that report, shall vote whether to recommend to the President that they appoint the Dean to an additional term of service. The elected faculty member shall submit the faculty recommendation to the President. The President shall appoint the Dean to an additional term of service, or not, at the President’s discretion. Any additional term of service will also be three to five years. Nothing in this section limits the President’s authority to remove the Dean or the faculty’s authority to otherwise provide feedback to the Dean.

Section 3. Student Representatives

Student representatives to the faculty may be selected by any means acceptable to the student body, although no student may serve as a student representative to two faculty committees or to the faculty and to a faculty committee during the same year.

ARTICLE II. MEETINGS OF THE FACULTY

Section 1. Regularly Scheduled Meetings

Regularly scheduled meetings of the faculty shall be held once each month and be noted on the law school calendar. The Dean shall circulate the agenda for such meetings to the voting faculty, student representatives, and invited staff members at least three days prior to such meetings.

Section 2. Special Meetings

Special faculty meetings may be called by the Dean or by five members of the voting faculty if the business of the law school requires a special session. The Dean shall determine an appropriate date and time for the special faculty meeting and shall provide at least two days’ notice of the meeting. The notice shall include the agenda for the special meeting.

Section 3. Attendance at Faculty Meetings

Except as provided in Section 4 below, all voting members of the faculty, as defined in Article I, sec. 1, are expected to attend faculty meetings. Other faculty and administrative staff members invited by the Dean, the student representatives to the faculty, and student representatives to each committee having business before the faculty may also be present at all faculty meetings.

Section 4. Executive Sessions

When the Dean determines that the matters to be considered are confidential, the Dean shall declare an executive session of the faculty. Attendance at an executive session is limited to voting faculty and other appropriate individuals designated by the Dean.

Section 5. Quorum

A quorum requires a majority of voting faculty members and student representatives who are entitled to vote to be present, either in person or by electronic means if the Dean determines that remote participation is appropriate.

Section 6. Minutes

The Dean shall ensure that minutes are kept for all meetings of the faculty, including executive sessions. Minutes from regularly scheduled meetings of the faculty shall be circulated to voting faculty, except for minutes of executive sessions. All statements of new policy decisions affecting students will be made available to students by the office of the Associate Dean for Student Affairs. The Dean’s Executive Assistant shall maintain an official file of all minutes and policy decisions.

Section 7. Promotion and Tenure

Faculty meetings concerning promotion and tenure shall be governed by the Law School’s procedures for promotion and tenure.

ARTICLE III. COMMITTEES

Section 1. Committee Structure

At the beginning of each academic year, the Dean shall establish the following committees: Admissions; Budget; Curriculum; Diversity, Equity and Inclusion; and when necessary, Faculty Appointments and Promotion and Tenure. The Dean, the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs, the Associate Dean for Faculty Development, and the chair of the Budget Committee shall form the Sabbatical and Leave Committee. The Dean shall establish such additional committees, including subject area committees, as the Dean determines necessary and appropriate.

Section 2. Membership

After consultation with the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs, the Associate Dean for Faculty Development, and the faculty, the Dean shall appoint the chairs and faculty members of each committee. Consistent with Article I, sec. 3, the students shall select up to two student representatives to serve on each committee designated in Section 1, other than the Sabbatical and Leave Committee and the Promotion and Tenure Committee. Other committees may also solicit one or two student representatives. Student representatives may vote and otherwise participate in meetings of committees named in Section 1, except for the Sabbatical and Leave Committee and the Promotion and Tenure Committee. The Dean shall designate appropriate members of the administrative staff to serve as nonvoting ex officio members of each committee.

Section 3. Committee Charge

At the beginning of each academic year, the Dean may prepare a memorandum for each committee outlining the duties and responsibilities of each committee for the year.

Section 4. Committee Procedures

(a) Whenever a faculty committee is to meet and discuss policy or formulate recommendations with respect to policy changes, a written notice and agenda for the committee meeting shall be circulated in advance to committee members and to appropriate members of the administrative staff.

(b) The chair of each committee has the discretion to invite faculty, students, and members of the administrative staff who are not on the committee to attend and participate in committee meetings.

(c) At the end of the academic year, the chair of each committee shall prepare a report for the Dean. The report shall include minutes of the committee’s meetings to the extent that the committee took minutes.

Section 5. Committee Policy Recommendations

Recommendations for policy changes developed by each committee shall be in writing and shall be circulated to the Dean’s Executive Assistant or directly to the voting faculty and student representatives to the faculty prior to the faculty meeting at which they will be discussed. If a committee recommends a minor change in or interpretation of a policy, it may circulate its recommendation directly to the voting faculty with the explanation that the policy change or interpretation shall go into effect unless within seven days a faculty member objects or requests discussion of the issue at a faculty meeting. If no objections are received within seven days and the Dean concludes that there is no need for discussion at a faculty meeting, the actions taken will be considered ratified by the full faculty. If an objection is registered within the seven-day period, the Dean shall place the proposed policy recommendation on the agenda of the next regularly scheduled faculty meeting.

ARTICLE IV. FACULTY REPRESENTATIVES TO THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES, THE LAW SCHOOL BOARD OF VISITORS, AND INSTITUTIONAL COMMITTEES

The Dean shall select a faculty representative to the Board of Trustees and a faculty representative to the Board of Visitors prior to the beginning of each academic year. The Dean shall appoint faculty representatives as necessary for institutional committees.

ARTICLE V. RATIFICATION

These Bylaws shall be ratified upon the approval of a majority of the voting faculty, the President, and the Board of Trustees.

ARTICLE VI. AMENDMENTS

These Bylaws may be amended by a majority vote of the voting faculty and approval of the President.