Professor Samuel V. Jones of The John Marshall Law School has been named interim director of the law school’s Summer College to Access Legal Education Skills (SCALES).
SCALES is John Marshall’s conditional admission program designed to offer candidates specialized training while providing the law school a means to appraise each candidate’s potential to successfully negotiate the rigors of law school in today’s exceptionally competitive climate. The program is available to promising candidates who did not qualify for acceptance through John Marshall’s traditional admissions process.
“I believe this is an exciting time to lead our summer college,” said Jones. “The law school enjoys the benefit of new decanal leadership, a new board president, an intellectually driven faculty and an exceptionally diverse student body. To have been selected for such a noble and formidable task is profoundly humbling.”
The law school will be exploring significant changes to SCALES, said John Marshall Law School Dean Darby Dickerson, adding that Jones is exactly the right person to steer the program into the future. “Professor Jones is a strong leader. I am looking forward to working with him on this program that is essential to our mission.”
Professor Jones is no stranger to demanding leadership roles or complexities of legal education. He is a retired U.S. Judge Advocate, former U.S. Army military police captain, and former U.S. Marines rifleman/scout. During the course of a military career that spanned twenty years, Jones received numerous honors, including, U.S. Army Reserve Special Operations appointment, U.S. Army Achievement Medals for being selected a distinguished instructor and named an honor graduate. He holds diplomas from numerous military schools including the U.S. Army Judge Advocate General's School; the U.S. Army Officer Candidate School; the U.S. Army Military Police School; the U.S. Marines Platoon Leaders Course; U.S. Marines NCO Leadership Course. He has also served as a special advisor to the Chief Judge of Cook County, and the Illinois Supreme Court has repeatedly appointed Jones to the faculty of its judicial education conferences to instruct judges on a range of topics. Before John Marshall’s faculty, Jones practiced law at K&L Gates, formerly known as Hughes & Luce, LLP, and served as senior counsel for AT&T and corporate counsel for Blockbuster, Inc. Jones completed his advanced legal education at Columbia University Law School, where he was appointed a teaching assistant and admitted into Columbia’s Legal Theory Workshop. Inspired by his childhood experiences to become an educator, Jones plans to rely on his military leadership, personal, and scholarly experiences to help shape the summer college. “I am convinced that if our summer college students are provided an inspiring and culturally responsive learning environment that is rooted in high expectations for academic achievement, and appropriately accounts for their diverse experiences and values, they’ll succeed, and so will our institution.”
At John Marshall, Jones teaches contracts, alternative dispute resolution, and criminal law and is the first African-American male full professor in the history of The John Marshall Law School.
About The John Marshall Law School
The John Marshall Law School, founded in 1899, is an independent law school located in the heart of Chicago's legal, financial and commercial districts. The 2018 U.S. News & World Report's America's Best Graduate Schools ranks John Marshall's Lawyering Skills Program 5th, its Trial Advocacy Program 13th and its Intellectual Property Law Program 19th in the nation. Since its inception, John Marshall has been a pioneer in legal education and has been guided by a tradition of diversity, innovation, access and opportunity.
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