Each year the members of the faculty of the Cumberland School of Law welcome the entering students with a discussion of professional values.  “Starting today,” we say to our students, “you should begin to think about these core values and to display them in your actions as a law student, a lawyer, and a person.”  The core values include integrity, service, competence and expertise, balance, and professionalism.   

 

One morning last April, our Cumberland students were called to exercise these core values in ways they had not anticipated.  One of their classmates, a first-year student named Matthew McLain, died in a tragic accident.  In the days and weeks following the loss, these young men and women surrounded the McLain family with love and support.  They were—and are—models of compassion.   

 

The world is better because of the students, faculty, and staff of the Cumberland School of Law.