Visiting Professor of Law Lucie E. White '72 has accepted a tenured position as Professor of Law, Dean of the Law School Robert C. Clark announced yesterday.

White is the third Law School professor tenured this year. Professor of Law Elizabeth Warren and Professor of Law Einer R. Elhauge accepted appointments earlier this spring.

White could not be reached for comment yesterday.

White's appointment will make her the Law School's seventh female tenured professor of a total of 59 full faculty members, Law School News Officer Michael J. Chmura said yesterday.

But White was offered tenure not because of her gender, but because of her qualifications, Clark said.

"Our primary aim is to increase the size of the faculty and to get experts in the faculty in areas [in which] we have great necessity," Clark said. "Naturally, the more [women and minorities] we appoint, the more the faculty will start to look like the composition of lawyers."

Clark said in a press release yesterday that White will give "a tremendous boost" to the Law School's clinical program.

White's appointment is especially meaningful because she specializes in poverty law with an emphasis on clinical work,Clark said.

"I think appointing her is strategicallyimportant to the school," he said. "She's one ofthe few leading scholars as well as a person whodoes clinical work. It's a very preciouscombination."

Faculty members interviewed yesterday agreedthat White's specialty will fit in well at HLS.

"She is one of the most productive scholars ofclinical legal education," said Professor of LawCharles J. Ogletree. "We're very fortunate to havebeen able to persuade her to leave UCLA....I'mexcited because she will expand the breadth anddepth of clinical scholarship here."

"I think she'll be a terrific addition to thefaculty," said Cheryl B. Rusk, associate directorof the Law School's Hale and Dorr Legal ServicesCenter.

Rusk said she "heard nothing but rave reviews"from students when White taught a clinical seminarat the Legal Services Center this past year.

White, a law professor at the University ofCalifornia at Los Angeles, has been a visitingprofessor at the Law School since 1993.

This past year, she taught the first-yearrequired course "Civil Procedure" and the second-and third-year courses "Community-Based Advocacy"and "Social Welfare Law: Politics, Policy andPractice."

The School often "invites candidates asvisitors whom they might be interested in havingas a permanent faculty member," Chmura said.

Clark said White's visiting professorship hadbeen a sort of "trial period."

"We tend at the Law School never to make anappointment unless someone's been here," Clarksaid.

White was offered an appointment last year butcontinued as a visiting professor for a secondyear because she had to work out specifics of howto move her family, Clark said.

Clark described White as an enthusiastic andcommitted instructor.

"She's extremely devoted and conscientious as ateacher," Clark said. "She loves her students andspends infinite amounts of time making instructiongood and meaningful."

Clark also described White as a remarkablescholar.

"She's exceptional as a poverty law scholar,which is quite important to us," Clark said.

Prior to White's appointment, BrandeisProfessor of Law Gary Bellow, who is facultydirector of clinical programs, was the only fullfaculty member at the Law School who performedclinical work in poverty law, Chmura said.

"In the past, people have been critical of BobClark, saying he's not supportive of clinicalprograms," Chmura said. "I think this shows heis."

White will teach "Civil Procedure" again nextyear, the Law School registrar's office saidyesterday