Today, Dean B. Keith Faulkner of Liberty University School of Law addressed the Lynchburg Bar Association at our monthly luncheon. This is not the first time Dean Faulkner addressed our bar, as he noted at the beginning of his presentation. In fact, Dean Faulkner spoke to the group once before about four years prior, almost to the day.
When Dean Faulkner first spoke to our bar, he discussed where Liberty was going and what goals he intended to implement for the law school and for our community.
Today, Dean Faulker focused on those goals that he has accomplished and he spent the majority of his time discussing the future practice of law. Quoting “The Great One” Wayne Gretzky, Keith Faulkner said lawyers have to focus not just on the daily to-do list.
But lawyers should also focus on what the market is saying it wants from legal professionals and then to make sure to adjust their business models to adapt to changing conditions. In pinpointing those changing areas, Dean Faulkner went a step further and assumed the burden of educating future lawyers not how the law was practiced pre-recession, but how the law will be practiced in 30 years.
Dean Faulkner also proudly announced, for the first time, that Judge R. Edwin Burnette, Jr. will join the Liberty University School of Law Faculty. Judge Burnette retired in December as a Judge of the Lynchburg Circuit Court in the 24th Judicial District. Judge Burnette took the Circuit Court bench in July of 2015 after having served on the Lynchburg General District Court bench for 14 years prior to that.
Of course, Judge Burnette made history as the youngest President of the Virginia State Bar and, to this day, is the namesake for the R. Edwin Burnette, Jr. Young Lawyer of the Year Award.