Students, lawmakers celebrate legislative process in WVU president\'s law class
Coming to a law book near you: Legislation introduced by a West Virginia University student.
When WVU President David C. Hardesty Jr. began teaching hisLawyers and the Legislative Processseminar at the College of Law eight years ago, he had an idea.
Instead of simply hitting the books, his students would work to get actual laws on the books.
And to do that, his students would pitch their proposed legislation to lawmakers in person: Over the years, a host of marquee names in Mountain State politics have appeared before his class as living, breathing, sounding boards for proposed bills.
Some of those legislative luminaries include Senate President Earl Ray Tomblin, House Speaker Bob Kiss, House Education Chair Tom Campbell and House Finance Chair Harold Michael.
Senate Education Chair Robert Plymale also put in time in front of the class, along with the current Senate Finance Chair Walt Helmick and the former lawmaker who held that post for several terms, Oschel Craigo.
It makes areal difference,said Hardesty, himself a Harvard-trained lawyer, when students are staring in the eyes of actual entities as they pitch their legislation.
Its a good dialogue,he said.Our lawmakers couldnt be more gracious, and I dont have to tell you how impressed Ive been with our students. Over the years, theyve worked on legislation from the state tax code and Sunday hunting. Its like the old cliché goes, you really do learn by doing.
The learning, says another lawmaker who appeared before the class, goes both ways.
Sen. Jeffrey Kessler, D-Marshall, is also a practicing attorney, and he said he came away with afresh perspectiveafter he appeared before the class.
It really is an innovative class,Kessler said.Young law students see things differently. Theyve got original ideas. And the thing is, so many of our laws are based on precedent, because �€~thats just the way it is.This class is about what it could be, or should be.
And it couldnt do a better job, House Chair Tom Campbell said, of guiding students through the sometimes daunting labyrinth that makes up the countrys legislative process.
With young people and government, we sometimes expect them to just �€~pick up the process on their own,and thats a pretty tall order,Campbell said.This class really demystifies all that. It tells you what you need to do, and it shows you how to do it. Im sure a lot of the students I talked to will end up being policy makers themselves, in some form or another.
The seminar, Hardesty said,never failsto renew his faith in the once and future lawyers readying to go forth. And its also a celebration of society and the countrys legal system, he said.
Lawyers can make a difference,he said.And, as I always tell our students on the first day of class, lawyers should consider all the legal means out there. Because the system really does work.