The Drake community mourns the passing of Professor Emeritus Daniel L. Power. Dan served as director of the Drake Legal Clinic from 1971 to 1994. He was a trial attorney with the U.S. Department of Justice when he joined the Drake Law faculty as the founding Executive Director of Clinical Programs. An early proponent of clinical education, Dan was purposefully looking for a law school that would allow him to start a legal clinic.

Dan’s vision and dedication helped grow the clinic program from handling clients’ simple criminal and civil matters in an old house in the Drake neighborhood into the nationally recognized program it is today. His partnership with the late Congressman Neal Smith and his wife Bea led to the building of the state-of-the-art Neal and Bea Smith Law Center that now houses the clinic programs. Last fall, the Neal and Bea Smith Law Center courtroom was named the Daniel L. Power Courtroom in his honor.

Faculty, staff, and alumni will remember Dan’s generosity of spirit. His commitment to every student who came through the Legal Clinic helped launch many successful careers. And his annual St. Patrick’s Day green carnation deliveries to the Law School and Clinic will be long remembered.

“We celebrate Dan’s pioneering vision for clinical legal education but even more so his passion for helping students be better prepared for the practice of Law,” said Drake Law Dean Jerry Anderson.

The family has planned a visitation at Iles Dunn’s Funeral Home, 2121 Grand Avenue in Des Moines on Sunday, Aug. 20, from 4–7 p.m. A funeral mass will be held on Monday, Aug. 21, at 10 a.m. at Saint Augustin Church. Dan’s full obituary can be found here.