Stanford Law School has announced the appointment of Professor William (Bill) Koski as the school’s inaugural Eric and Nancy Wright Professor of Clinical Education. Continuing its deep commitment to the advancement of clinical education, Stanford Law School has established this unique endowed professorship to promote scholarship and teaching in public interest law. Professor Koski has been a member of the Stanford faculty since 2001, serving as the director of the Youth and Education Law Clinic. Prior to his faculty appointment, Professor Koski was the supervising attorney for the East Palo Alto Community Law Project and lecturer in law at Stanford Law School.

“Bill Koski has distinguished himself as an extraordinary clinical teacher who has a bold vision for the law and a deft hand in mentoring students to achieve the best possible clinical experience,” said Professor Larry Marshall, director of clinical education and associate dean for public service and clinical education at Stanford Law School. “The Wright professorship is the first in a series of chairs that the law school hopes to endow within the clinical program. Our decision to pursue the endowment of several clinical chairs is a strong testament to the law school’s resolve to build a clinical program that will be a model for the nation.”

“All of Bill’s students are very devoted to him, and his course and clinic are highly sought by students,” said William Abrams, partner at the prestigious law firm of Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP and lecturer in Stanford’s Program in Human Biology, who has worked with Koski’s students. “Many years from now, when students are asked which teachers had the most profound effect on them, I am sure they will still say Bill Koski roused them to action and inculcated values of professionalism, commitment and service.”

Koski’s Leadership and Scholarly Work: From Respected Teacher to Education Reform Policy Expert

Professor Koski is the founding director of the Youth and Education Law Clinic, overseeing students in their advocacy work and providing instruction to students on substantive education law, effective lawyering, professional ethics, and education law and policy. Over the past five years he has built that clinic into a vital tool for not only teaching students practical lawyering skills, but also for developing students’ abilities as reflective advocates. Under Professor Koski’s direction, the clinic has become a strong presence in the educational advocacy community in California, evidenced by the clinic’s school reform litigation, individual representation, and legislative advocacy.

In addition to his considerable accomplishments as director of the Youth and Education Law Clinic, Professor Koski has produced a substantial body of academic research. Reflecting his multi-disciplinary background as a lawyer and social scientist, Professor Koski’s scholarly work focuses on the related issues of educational accountability, equity, and adequacy; the politics of educational policy reform; and judicial decision-making in educational policy reform litigation. For example, he has developed evidence in the form of a detailed quantitative and qualitative case study of the central role of judicial attitudes and institutional constraints in state supreme court decision-making in educational finance reform cases. His research into this subject formed the basis for three scholarly articles published in leading academic journals.

In his recent work, Koski has collaborated with Stanford professor Rob Reich, assistant professor of political science and ethics in society and courtesy professor in the school of education. Their research focuses on the normative case for ensuring equity in educational opportunity in the presence of the legal and policy shift toward theories of educational adequacy.

“This professorship demonstrates the law school’s commitment to ensuring that we train the best lawyers in the country,” said Professor Bill Koski. “I’m proud to be the first and even more proud to be associated with Eric and Nancy Wright, two pioneers in Bay Area legal services and clinical education.”

The Wright Professorship

With the establishment of the Eric and Nancy Wright Professorship for Clinical Education, Stanford Law School and the generous donor (who wishes to remain anonymous) honor the work and dedication to public service that Eric ’67 (AB ’64) and Nancy Wright have demonstrated as individuals and as a team throughout their combined sixty-one years in public service law. When Eric Wright was a student at Stanford Law School, he and a small group of students, with the aid of the faculty, established the first incarnation of Stanford Law School’s legal clinic in East Palo Alto. Mr. Wright has been a professor at Santa Clara University School of Law since 1971; Nancy Wright joined the faculty there as a professor in 1990. Prior to joining the faculty at Santa Clara, Ms. Wright was Stanford Law School’s first public interest advisor and started the annual public interest conference now known as “Shaking the Foundations.” Together at Santa Clara, the Wrights founded the Center for Law and Public Service and the East San Jose Community Law Center. At Stanford, they have continued to be involved with clinical and public interest programs as visiting professors, teaching in the Community Law Clinic. Throughout their careers Eric and Nancy Wright have participated in a variety of community organizations, serving on numerous boards of directors, and performed extensive pro bono work, receiving many awards in recognition of their work.

About William Koski

Professor Koski earned his bachelor’s degree in business administration with highest distinction and his JD cum laude from the University of Michigan. He was awarded his PhD from the Stanford University School of Education in 2003. Prior to his employment by Stanford Law School in 1998, Koski was an associate at Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe and then an associate at Alden, Aronovosky & Sax.

About Stanford Law School

Stanford Law School is one of the nation’s leading institutions for legal scholarship and education. Its alumni are among the most influential decision makers in law, politics, business, and high technology. Faculty members argue before the Supreme Court, testify before Congress, and write books and articles for academic audiences, as well as the popular press. Along with offering the traditional law school classes, the school has embraced new subjects and new ways of teaching. The school’s home page is located at www.law.stanford.edu.