With unmatched zeal and plan/
for the future, our new law dea
steps into office
by Todd Chamberlain

DAVE FROHNMAYER SAYS THAT EVERYTHING IN HIS LIFE HAS RUN IN 10-YEAR CYCLES.

"The first 30 years were spent getting an education, getting my feet on the ground, and finally, meeting the woman I wanted to marry," says Frohnmayer.

Although his father was a prominent lawyer in Medford, Frohnmayer says that, if anything, all the work his father put into his job initially discouraged him from pursuing a law career.

"I think my own motivation for going into legal education and getting a law degree was that this was a very good background for going into public service, which is something that had always fascinated me. I had an intrinsic fascination
with the debate on how people should live and how they could live better," says Frohnmayer.

He did pursue a legal education, though, graduating magna cum laude from Harvard College and receiving bachelor's and master's degrees from Oxford University. He received his law degree from the University of California at Berkeley in 1967.
At the age of 30, he became a professor at the University of Oregon's School of Law. Five years later, he began the first of three terms as a state representative, continuing to teach at the University until he was elected state Attorney General in 1981.

After three terms as Attorney General, a position which earned him national prominence, he decided the time had come to move on. That move brought him back to the University, this time as dean of the School of Law. Although he says this decision would have surprised him a year ago, he now feels that is exactly where he needs to be.

OV: What do you see as the law school's place at the University?

Frohnmayer: It's an integral part of a major research university. Law is an academic discipline as well as a professional calling. There's more and more evidence that law needs to develop a better relationship with other disciplines: law and economics, law and humanities, law and religion, law and social sciences. All of these are areas where there is an increasing need for and benefit from crossfertilization with other disciplines that you find in a graduate university.

OV: Why is the law school important to Oregon?

Frohnmayer: It's the only public law school in Oregon, and it's one of two in the Northwest, the nation's fastest-growing region. I think a public law school has a mission above and beyond training people for a profession. There's an obligation to have legal education accessible at an affordable cost, which is increasingly difficult as one looks at the private schools.

Beyond that, we have service and outreach missions to the underserved and the non-served segments of the population, and we have an obligation in terms of law reform. There's a very long history of law reform at Oregon which is probably not found in such rich measure in other law schools. It's reformed property laws, the evidence code, the rules of civil procedure, the probate law, administrative procedure reform.. .all of those things were done out of this law school.

OV: Beyond pure financial means, what do you see yourself doing to alleviate those problems, to get over that reputation on a national level?

Frohnmayer: We've attracted some very good faculty at the entry level. We've been able to stay competitive, and that in itself is a very good sign. We downsized the student body so there's a much better student-to-teacher ratio. Good things are happening. I suppose part of my job is to be a cheerleader-to beat the drum and show people by example and word that we're on the move.
The other part of what I want to do, apart from the thing that deans usually do-which is to teach and write-is to make sure that we have better and closer relations not only with our alumni, but the legal profession and other constituencies in Oregon and on this campus. We want to increase our outreach and involvement with the rest of the University.

Years ago, the law school sponsored a course on law for undergraduates that was enormously popular, and I would love to bring that course back. I think people feel they have a real need to penetrate what they see as the excessively mysterious ways of the law, even if they have no intention of becoming a lawyer or pursuing a career in law. Given time and energy, it's something I'd like to do myself, as a teacher.

OV: How long do you see yourself being dean?

Frohnmayer: I haven't any idea. I suppose the trite answer is, "As long as I can make a difference." It's something that I really want to do. If you had told me a year ago that I'd be doing this, you probably could have knocked me over with a feather. Having been asked to consider it seriously, though, I saw a whole lot of things that really converged in my life and my career that made this a very exciting assignment.

OV: When you're done here, what would you like to feel that you'd accomplished? What would you want people to say about your work here?

Frohnmayer: Obivously, as long as I'm in this assignment and have resources to work with, I'd like to have this seen accurately as a first-rate professional school with people engaged in exciting, important teaching and scholar
ship that's recognized nationally.

On a personal level, my wife and I have had some medical adversities as far as our children are concerned, and to the extent that we have free time, we have devoted it to raising funds for and developing research into cures for anemia. It's been both therapeutic and it's really made a difference. Scientists are now quite close to finding out why this disease is genetically so destructive. Out of that, we hope, will come cures so that other people won't have to experience what we have- the loss of a child. We've raised more than a million dollars for this purpose. That's something we can look at with some tangible pride, as it has life-saving potential far beyond the particular disease that affects our daughters.

I guess in some respects, I hope I never retire. I don't see myself amassing a huge fortune and moving down to Palm Desert for winters-it's not the way I'm built. My father is 87 and still in the active practice of law, and I admire that because I think it keeps your mind alive and keeps you active in the community. I suppose I'd like it said whenever my days on this planet come to an end that I'd made a substantial difference for the better in the lives of my fellow citizens.