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Welcome from Dean Anderson

Meet Elisabeth Haub School of Law at Pace University Dean Horace Anderson.

In this introductory video, Dean Anderson shares his personal story and explains the important meaning behind the University’s motto of "Opportunitas."

"Opportunitas," it's the university's motto but it's more than that. It's not just a word on a seal for us. It's something that we live every day. Our law school, as well as our university, stands for opportunity. Everything that law school does is about providing opportunities for our students-- an opportunity that may not be easy to get elsewhere.

We attract a lot of students who are first-generation law students, first-generation college graduates, first-generation Americans. We see ourselves as not just teachers of our students, but mentors to young lawyers. I was them 30 years ago. I was a first-generation law student, a first-generation American, figuring out how to get a law degree and hoping that getting it would allow my family to experience a slice of the American dream.

At Pace Law, you're in a position where people know your name. So that means that what happens to you here matters. We're small enough that you feel a sense of community, a sense that you are being mentored along a path, as opposed to just studying for a degree. We are helping them to perfect that opportunity, and to reach career and life goals because of their time at Pace.

Why should you come to Pace? Because from day one, we are teaching you not only to think like a lawyer but to do the things a lawyer does. Very early in your time here, we will go beyond the theoretical ideas of the classroom. Students can roll up their sleeves, and they can actually get involved in legal work-- anything from representing immigrants and asylum seekers to representing domestic violence survivors in connection with the Women's Justice Center to working on securities arbitration with our Investor Rights Clinic to working in our Environmental Litigation Clinic and helping to protect our environment.

Also, students can get involved in our Food and Farm Clinic. Our environmental program has been nationally ranked for a very long time and is currently number one in the country. The important thing about that program is that it's a great example of the way that we evolve our program, and try to always be on the cutting edge.

By the time you graduate from Pace, you're really ready. You are seriously ready to be a lawyer. And so my hope is that when my students look at me, they say, "I can get there too." My job as I see it is to provide mentorship to our students. You can come see me in my office. You can see me in the hall. You can see me in the classroom.

Not just me, but our entire faculty and staff, we want to see you, we want to talk to you. We take very seriously the idea that we are helping to guide you along a path. I want to be part of providing that opportunity really helping the institution live Opportunitas, and seeing over the years, how our students are empowered by their time at Pace and are going out to have an impact on the world.