September 3, 1999

Interim Dean James Klebba Working for the future growth of the law school

By Mariel Coen, A'00 Intern in the Office of Public Affairs

On August 1, James Klebba, J.D., former associate dean for academic affairs at the School of Law, became the interim dean, replacing John Makdiski who left to become dean of the St. Thomas University School of Law in Miami.

Klebba began his career with Loyola in 1973 and has served nine of these years in administration, including an appointment as interim dean in 1989. Klebba says he has fresh and progressive plans for the law school.

"I'd like to increase the amount of good publicity Loyola's School of Law receives and improve the level of student satisfaction, faculty scholarship, and our bar results. I'd like the faculty to take greater part in extracurricular events in the law school and give the students more personal attention so they can get more feedback. This doesn't come as naturally as in undergraduate school where it's more personal and the classes are smaller."

Beyond Loyola's borders, Klebba also is active with the relief mission to aid Honduras after Hurricane Mitch. The School of Law and the College of Business Administration are working with University of New Orleans, Tulane University's School of Public Health, the Louisiana State University's Agricultural Center, and MetroVision, the multi-parish nonprofit organization that fosters economic development. Their goal is to reinvent and revitalize the Honduran economy and infrastructure after the storm.

Klebba went to Honduras in May with business Dean J. Patrick O'Brien and he says the physical damage from the hurricane is still present in Tegucigalpa.

"The project goes beyond physical rebuilding to rebuilding the economy,"

Klebba explains. "We met with lawyers, government officials, bankers, professors, and deans. We are planning to examine their curriculum and make changes that will bring them into the modern age, and we're helping with their banking laws and regulations."

In addition to aiding the victims of Mitch and helping to run the law school, Klebba also has directed the law study abroad program in Russia and Budapest since 1993. This is a five-week program for students to spend three weeks in Moscow and two in Budapest. This year the trip was canceled because of the war in Yugoslavia, but normally classes have a comparative aspect to them so students can understand the difference between American and foreign legal systems. Classes abroad include lectures from judges and lawyers, and trips to courts and law firms.

"Study abroad gives law students a first hand view of comparative and international law they cannot get from books, and they get a chance to form personal friendships with law students from these countries," Klebba explains. According to him, there are very few study abroad law programs in the former Soviet Union. "You can count them on one hand," he says.

Because of his position in the study abroad program, Klebba was responsible for Mikhail Gorbachev's visit to Loyola in 1997. He is looking forward to the upcoming Biever lecturer this fall, Gorbachev's personal interpreter, Pavel Palazchenko.

With his extensive experience at Loyola and beyond, Klebba is sure to excel at his newly acquired position of interim dean.