BYU Law School Alumni Yearbooks

I was very pleased to discover the following news post on our law school website today: http://www.law2.byu.edu/news2/alumni-yearbooks#sthash.5WyS7ILP.dpuf

Alumni Yearbooks

BYU Law School professor James Backman has worked on a project to serve the alumni community as well as current and future students. He is in the process of compiling a series of yearbooks for each graduating class.

“I’ve wanted to do this for a long time because this is the untold story of the Law School,” Professor Backman said. “It’s a means of proudly displaying the story of BYU Law graduates.”

One of the famous quotes from the foundation era of BYU Law is that the purpose of the Law School will unfold in time. Professor Backman noted this vision was fulfilled to an extent by the original faculty, but that the yearbooks give a glimpse into the impact of BYU Law School beyond its walls. “This gets down to the basic class members,” Professor Backman said. “And—Wow. I just have to say, Wow! It’s full of achievement and life contributors in so many ways.”

The yearbooks help to fulfill the vision of the Law School by highlighting a graduating class with individual pictures, profiles, and infographics displaying trends particular to that class.

“It’s fun to see the graduates' movement geographically, but also the kind of offices they worked in,” he said. “Some graduates started with small firms and went to a big ones. Some started big and established smaller firms, their own firms. Some went from government agencies to private practice. You can’t measure that in trends because there are so many individual stories.

“The yearbooks give a picture of the class that you can’t tell any other way,” Professor Backman stated. “The only way to get a feel for it is to sit down and read.”

Only few physical copies of the yearbooks have been printed and bound. For most, the information is available on the BYU Law alumni website, where access requires a password. The yearbooks will also be posted as PDFs, so information can be added or edited as viewers of the content see fit.

Professor Backman expressed gratitude to Chris Hardy, a current BYU Law student for his help creating the infographics as well as David White for his contributions to the creation of the yearbooks.

Though Professor Backman will leave BYU Law School after summer 2014 to serve a mission in England, he anticipates continuing this work upon his return. “I fully intend to keep it as a hobby, if nothing else,” he said. “I’ve loved it. For me, it’s been just a thrill.”


Posted:  May 1, 2014 - See more at: http://www.law2.byu.edu/news2/alumni-yearbooks#sthash.KVQkwlkw.dpuf