O’Grady appointed associate dean

07/17/2008

O’Grady appointed associate dean

Cathy O'Grady 2008

Catherine O'Grady
     Professor Catherine O’Grady of the Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law has been named Associate Dean for Clinical Affairs and the Profession by Dean Paul Schiff Berman.
     O’Grady, Executive Director of the College’s Clinical Programs, will be responsible for coordinating and energizing myriad issues related to practice-based experiential learning and the demands of professionalism, Berman said. In her new post, O’Grady will continue to oversee the College’s eight clinics, as well as the Legal Research and Writing Program, of which she is a former director, the Externship Program and the Academic Success Program. Additionally, she will serve as the Dean’s designee for investigating academic misconduct complaints.
     Berman said O’Grady’s energy, talents, and experience, including a recent sabbatical at the Arizona Solicitor General’s Office, are a good fit for the position.
     “The new model for public legal education that we are building at the College of Law requires that we be embedded within the broader legal communities of Arizona, the United States, and the world,” he said. “As such, we take very seriously our commitment to clinical education, the public service obligations of lawyers, and the responsibilities of professionalism.
     “In Cathy O’Grady, we are blessed to have the ideal bridge-builder between the academy and the practicing bar, and I look forward to working with her on further developing innovative initiatives to educate young lawyers in the rigors and rewards of professional legal practice,” Berman said.
     O’Grady, a former attorney at Meyer, Hendricks, Victor, Osborn & Maledon in Phoenix whose practice emphasized appellate litigation and general corporate litigation, joined the College of Law in 1991. She has taught Civil Procedure, Constitutional Law, Civil Practice Clinic, Lawyering Theory and Practice, the Practice of Law in a Digital Era, and the U.S. Supreme Court seminar.
     O’Grady spent the last academic year on sabbatical working as a Special Assistant Attorney General in the Solicitor General Division of the Arizona Attorney General’s Office. There, she was co-counsel on a Superior Court trial involving Arizona constitutional law, wrote briefs for various courts of appeals, and gave an oral argument before the Arizona Supreme Court, among other experiences.
     “It was great for me to put myself back out in the profession, not as a supervisor of students, but as an individual attorney working with Arizona’s courts,” she said. “It was a good reality check, and an opportunity for me to reflect, improve, and continue to grow as an attorney.”
     O’Grady, who writes and talks about the importance of lawyers maintaining their personal autonomy as professionals, said she is excited about her new opportunity at the College of Law.
     “I’m delighted Dean Berman wants to make a focus on clinical education, writing, experiential learning, and professionalism a key part of the culture of the school.  This focus is important to both our students and our professional community,” she said. “My position as Associate Dean of Clinical Affairs and the Profession will encompass all issues related to preparing students to enter the profession, including making sure our students begin in law school to develop a sense of professionalism, judgment, and an understanding of what it means to be a part of the legal profession.”
     O’Grady, who has a Business Administration degree from the University of Michigan and is a 1987 alumna of the College of Law, clerked for Judge William C. Canby of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals after law school. She is a member of several Arizona Supreme Court committees, including the Commission on Technology, the Judicial College of Arizona, and the Rule 123 and Data Dissemination Advisory Committee.
« Back