News from Tulane

Jim Letten, the former U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Louisiana, will join Tulane University Law School this month in a newly created leadership role as assistant dean for experiential learning, the law school announced.

Letten will lead a major effort to expand practical skills training for law students at Tulane. In addition to coordinating the law school’s existing skills programs, he will spearhead new efforts to enlist legal employers and alumni in creating additional opportunities for students to learn through simulation courses and supervised practical experience.  

David Meyer, dean of the Tulane Law School, described Letten’s appointment as a bold statement of the law school’s intentions to lead a national movement to remake legal education.

“Tulane is already at the forefront of innovative efforts to give students a stronger grounding in law practice while in law school,” Meyer says. “With his deep experience and national leadership, Jim Letten is uniquely qualified to spearhead that effort and ensure that Tulane continues to be recognized nationally for its innovation in skills training.

"In the coming months, we will be launching additional initiatives to expand students’ opportunities to gain practical lawyering skills, and Jim Letten is ideally qualified to guide those efforts,” Meyer says.  “We are ensuring that Tulane lawyers are recognized everywhere as both globally sophisticated and able to deliver value to clients from the very start of their careers.”

Letten says he is grateful for the opportunity to serve in a new and innovative leadership role at his alma mater, "especially in forging and advancing innovative strategies to enhance the practical skills of young lawyers facing the ever-changing challenges of the profession.”

Prior to stepping down in December 2012, Letten had been the longest-serving U.S. attorney in the nation and was one of only three U.S. attorneys in the country appointed to the position by successive presidents from different parties.