Before coming to the Law Center, Professor Kirkland spent ten years litigating civil disputes including medical malpractice, employment and commercial cases, as well as counseling corporate clients on employment issues. She is an officer of the Board of Governors of the New Hampshire Trial Lawyers Association and a member of the American Trial Lawyers Association. While practicing she also served on the Continuing Legal Education Committee of the New Hampshire Bar Association. She taught as an Adjunct at the Law Center in1999 and 2000.
Clients rely on and value lawyers for their judgment.
The judgments lawyers make have a profound impact on their clients' lives and businesses and on society at large. Making these judgments requires lawyers to take risks, to put themselves and their thinking on the line on a daily basis. I believe a legal education must provide students with the fundamental grounding in the substantive law and the sharp analytic tools required to make these judgments with care and confidence. Students who acquire this combination of knowledge and skills will be equipped to continue to learn new facets of the law as their interests and their clients' needs evolve and change. Law school should also be a place where students can learn to appreciate the opportunities for creativity and fulfillment in the process of making the judgments that are the stock and trade of the profession.