Breaking: UCLA Law Dean Michael Schill Will Leave for Chicago
UCLA School of Law will lose its dean at the end of the year. Dean Michael Schill will leave the law school at the end of the year to assume the deanship of the University of Chicago Law School. Dean Schill just informed his students over email:
Dear Members of the Classes of 2010, 2011, and 2012,A little over five years ago I came to UCLA School of Law from the east coast to become dean of one of the greatest educational institutions in the world. From the moment I arrived I appreciated the strength and depth of our student culture. Indeed, you are part of the reason my five years as the dean of this school have been the happiest and most fulfilling years of my life. Thus, it is with mixed emotions that I announce today that I will be leaving the deanship at the end of the calendar year for a new challenge as dean of the University of Chicago Law School.
Why is he leaving so suddenly? Why was this decision made now instead of over the summer? University of Chicago Dean Saul Levmore announced he was stepping down back in February. Why the late trigger at UofC?
Dean Schill offers some additional information about his decision process — and the University of Chicago touts its new dean — after the jump.
Update: The announcement might be surprising to UCLA Law students. But when we emailed with Dean Schill, he explained that his process for making this decision was not sudden:
There is nothing sudden or unusual about the decision. The search process took place over the summer (Chicago is on quarters so Chicago hasn’t even begun its school year yet) and I made a decision a couple of weeks ago. I plan on remaining at UCLA for the next four months to assist in the transition, which I know will be a smooth one. I am, however, eager to begin a new professional challenge. Chicago is the home of the most important idea to shape the law over the past half century. I intend that the school will continue that leadership role in the future.
So far, the response from the University of Chicago has been positive. One Chicago law professor told Above the Law:
Mike is a first-rate scholar and a proven dean, who is widely regarded as a thoughtful and caring leader. We couldn’t ask for more.
We haven’t heard back from a certain high-profile former law professor at U of C.
We wish Dean Schill the best of luck. Congratulations to the University of Chicago Law School on its new hire.
Read Dean Schill’s full email to UCLA students — and the email informing Chicago students — below. Or check out the U of C press release, over here.
UCLA SCHOOL OF LAW — DEPARTURE MEMO — DEAN MICHAEL SCHILL
Dear Members of the Classes of 2010, 2011, and 2012,
A little over five years ago I came to UCLA School of Law from the east coast to become dean of one of the greatest educational institutions in the world. From the moment I arrived I appreciated the strength and depth of our student culture. Indeed, you are part of the reason my five years as the dean of this school have been the happiest and most fulfilling years of my life. Thus, it is with mixed emotions that I announce today that I will be leaving the deanship at the end of the calendar year for a new challenge as dean of the University of Chicago Law School.
The law school has accomplished so much over the past five years. Over the past three years, this school received more applications than at any time in memory. Your entering credentials are stronger than any group of students in our history. Perhaps more importantly, I have seen your aspirations and achievements grow and grow. I am so proud of each of you and regret that I will not be here to shake your hands and hug you as you cross the podium at commencement.
These are challenging times for many of you. The temporary disruption in the legal market has no doubt created some uncertainty about your employment prospects. I want you each to know how confident I am in your futures. Each and every one of you has what it takes to be an enormously successful lawyer. The faculty, administrators and staff that we have assembled here are dedicated to helping you fulfill your dreams. That commitment will continue regardless of who sits in the dean’s office.
Financially, the school is in strong shape despite the problems with California’s budget. And, our alumni have stepped up and are now sharing the cost of your education. This shift in our funding model will need to continue for our school to prosper and grow. It is my sincere hope that when each of you graduates from the school you support future generations of Bruins and the law school that has given you so much.
During the coming week, a search will commence for a new leader, who will undoubtedly continue to build upon the traditions of innovation and excellence that are the foundation of this school. While I am greatly looking forward to my new responsibilities in Chicago, I also hope that I will remain in contact with many of you. Though I will live 1,700 miles away, a piece of me will always reside in Westwood and at UCLA Law.
Warm regards.
Mike
UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO LAW SCHOOL — LAW SCHOOL DEAN APPOINTMENT
From: President Robert J. Zimmer and Provost Thomas F. Rosenbaum
Subject: Law School Dean Appointment
We are very pleased to announce that Michael H. Schill, a nationally known scholar of property law and highly successful leader in his current position as dean of the UCLA Law School, will become the next dean of the University of Chicago Law School on Jan. 1, 2010.
The Law School has a remarkable history of achievement, a distinctive culture of rich intellectual engagement, and a dynamic collection of faculty, students, and staff. An important part of this history is a powerful collaboration with scholars across the University, and in spite of the challenging economic times, it is a moment when the University must commit to investing in the Law School to support its sustained eminence. We are very confident that Mike will bring to the deanship the values, vision, aspirations, University-wide perspective, and leadership to help ensure that the future of the Law School is as compelling as its past.
This appointment follows the recommendation of a national search conducted by the committee of elected faculty of the Law School, chaired by Professor Eric Posner, and we are grateful for the vision and energy that the committee and its chair brought to this crucial task.
We would also like to extend our gratitude to Saul Levmore for eight years of devoted service as dean. He has been an excellent steward of the school and its core values of intellectual engagement and informed argument. We are delighted he will remain with us in the capacity in which he arrived twelve years ago, namely as an original scholar and distinguished member of our faculty.
A graduate of Princeton University and Yale Law School, Mike Schill spent a period in private practice before joining the University of Pennsylvania, where he was professor of law and real estate. He became the Wilf Family Professor in Property Law at New York University School of Law and professor of urban planning at NYU’s Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service. He was the founding director of the Furman Center for Real Estate and Urban Policy. Mike has continued to pursue his scholarship in real estate and housing policy, deregulation, finance, and discrimination. He is a co-author of the property law casebook used by more than half of all law students nationwide. He became dean at UCLA in 2004 and has been widely recognized as a dynamic leader for that law school in the five years he has served as dean.
Please join us in welcoming Mike to the University.
Schill appointed next dean of University of Chicago Law School [University of Chicago Law School (press release)]
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Comments
argh
-UCLA alum
"Lose" or "loose"?
"UCLA School of Law will loose it’s Dean . . ."
Welcome back Elie.
UCLA just got Lathamed, like many of its class of 08 alumni
I suppose that I should know the answer to this question, but is UCLA Law accredited by the American Bar Association? Does anyone know whether the school is a member of the Association of American Law Schools?
2 is right -- that's just basic English.
2 is right -- that's just basic English.
5, UCLA Law is an online school not eligible for ABA accreditation. It is not to be confused with the University of California, Los Angeles School of Law; the two are unrelated, and UCLA Law is permitted to continue because the initials UCLA are not trademarked.
However, UCLA is accredited by the State Bar of California, so rising 2L's take the 'baby bar' and are then eligible to keep studying if they pass; upon graduation, they can sit for the CA bar exam and may be able to eventually get into other jurisdictions by reciprocity.
Bring Eugene Volokh with you!!!
Bring Eugene Volokh with you!!!
Bring Eugene Volokh with you!!!
Sincerely,
Chicago
I suppose that I I should know the answer to this, but is the University of Chicago Law School accredited by the American Bar Association and a member in good standing of the Association of American Law Schools?
Dear UCLA,
I'm leaving you retards for a better school.
Toodles,
The Dean
There's no chance Chicago would hire Volokh.
Bring Volokh - a great idea.
- U of C 3L
PS. Thanks U of C for emailing to inform us as well; hopefully under the new administration we'll see some admin changes at the school.
12-why not?
Lat or Ellie, block the ISP of the 5 and 10 douche.
12-why not?
Lat or Ellie, block the ISP of the 5 and 10 douche.
12 here: he's a solid doctrinal scholar, not an intellectual innovator.
10:
My understanding is that University of Chicago Law School was set up by the city of Chicago, and is a night school that exists primarily to serve those students who are unable to attend Depaul, Loyola (of Chicago) or Chicago Kent.
I don't think they are ABA-accredited but (and, again, this is only based on my understanding), I believe they are trying to obtain such accreditation. For now, I understand that the degree obtained from the school only permits the recipient to practice in municipal courts in Cook County. When and if the school does obtain ABA accreditation, I think that graduates will be eligible to sit for the Illinois bar exam and - if all goes as expected - possibly the Indiana and Wisconsin bars as well.
Dear Future Elie:
I have a fantasy football draft tonight. It is in a keeper league. Now that Favre is gone, should I draft Sanchez in the first round? Does he take the Jets back to glory? Thanks.
What about all of the firms that are trying to save face during OCI by waiting until October to let their 2009 summers know whether they are receiving an offer?
19 -
which firms kthx?
Suggestion: Create two ATL sites. One for law school news that affects Harvard, Yale and Stanford, and another - Junior ATL - for law school news affecting every other school, whether accredited or not. Hate to sound like a snob, but I don't come to this site for stories about some online law school trading one dean for another. The new site could be called Below the Law or Below Above the Law.
21, you're an idiot. These are both Top 15 schools (okay, UCLA is tied for 15th).
Suggestion: Create two comment threads. One for the big boys and another - Junior Comment Thread - for idiots who repeat post, post memes, whine about being a 2L, or complain about Latham firing first years. Hate to sound like a snob, but I don't come to this site for the same old schtick from some d-bag sitting on his couch in his pajamas. The new comment thread could be called Commenting for Idiots and Law Students.
This makes me sad, I eagerly clicked the comments to hear the gossip and opinions from people who know Dean Schill or things about his reputation, and all I found were people whose personal lives are so sad and lonely they feel the need to create reputations and personas on here. ATL needs a way to score and ban commenters.
WHO CARES!!!!
Who cares?
Post news re: firm offer rates & summer class sizes for 2010. Do it by vault ranking, instead of randomly reporting on MLB and Kirkland instead of Milbank and others.
22, you're confused and thinking of University of California at Los Angeles, not UCLA. The former is tied for 15, the second (subject of this post) is an online knockoff.
Schill was my property professor at NYU. He was amazing. Chicago is very lucky.
As an interesting side note, Schill was interviewed by the Daily Show during his last year at NYU. It was quite funny.
So Schill couldn't pass the CA bar so he is moving to a state with an easier one?
So this guy is supposed to be briliant in real estate so he bought in California in 2004 and is selling now?
Now that Leiter has a former Penn prof as his boss, is he going to cut the "Penn is overranked" crapola?
18 - only a retard would take Sanchez in the first round. also, only a retard would ask that question out loud, hence giving away your retardedness.
did i mention you are retarded?
#24 - I am a grad of UCLA School of Law (the real one) and think Schill did a good job. Seemed like a genuinely good guy who really improved the school's fundraising efforts with alumni. I don't know anything about his decision to leave. He'll be missed but hopefully the school can get someone good to follow him. The school has an excellent faculty.
"Chicago is the home of the most important idea to shape the law over the past half century."
The billable hour?
23 should be nominated for comment of the year.
And bring Volokh with you!!!
Neither the deans nor schools involved in this story pique my interest. However, I wonder if Dean Schill will introduce his clever "4th year" of law school concept in the form of a "practical skills" LLM to the U. of Chicago? Perhaps the trustees of U. of Chicago believe dean Schill can utilize his silver tongue to increase the steam on that sallie mae loan revenue gravy train.
36,
Awesome memory! How TTT of UCLA!
Does no one else think it's at least moderately amusing that the dean of a lawyer factory is named Schill?
First NYU law alum to say that either Schill or Kramer should have instituted a bloodless coup on Revesz' deanship.
This must be Latham's fault, somehow.
Not a PE fan, but 36 FTW. I had forgotten all about that. Has UCLA started the first class of its "LLM" yet? ATL, please do a follow-up.
For those who missed it/need a refresher: http://abovethelaw.com/2009/04/ucla_the_latest_law_school_to.php
[Note that Elie completely drops the ball and the comments have it right. No surprise.]
#38 - yes, I thought of the irony in his name every time I got a letter from him asking me for an alumni donation to UCLA School of Law
I love Schill's comment about the school being in a good financial shape. I'd hope so since tuition for in-state has gone up from 26k to 31k to 36k in the last three years. Under Schill, UCLA became more of a private school than a public school. What makes matters worse is the piss poor amount of endowment money out there to give scholarships. Of course, that doesnt stop Schill from promising that coming to his public school is like getting a scholarship since it is soooo much cheaper than USC. Good riddance.
Watch out Chicago, out of control fee hikes are coming your way.
39 - Ricky's doing just fine. NYU is lucky to have him.
Noooooooooooo!
Latham drove Schill out of LA with its toiletry
Latham laid off so many of Schill's former students as first years that Schill just had too many bad memories to stay in LA
47 - you ex-Latham people are really running out of material, huh
From a UCLA 1L: take me with you...and spare me the trouble of preparing my transfer apps.
Schill is leaving before the damage done by UC Irvine is well known. With Irvine giving away a good law school education nearby, both USC and UCLA had trouble meeting their numbers in the 1L class that just showed up. The numbers become final for ABA purposes on Oct. 1st, and then end up in US News
Next season's Survivor is being filmed at Latham
50
UCI will go down in TTT flames. They can't afford to give free tuition forever, especially in this economy. Once that gravy train runs out they'll debut in the 4th tier where they belong
my TTT law school finally gets an ATL post and all I get are Volokh fangurls and broken record Latham rejectees??? Needs MOAR oci talk, anti-USC statements, and denial of self-TTT-ness.
quit the obama trolling Elie. adjunct lecturer =/= law professor
UCI Law only has 60 students. Do you really think that made a large impact on UCLA and USC, two schools that have established (and very good) reputations? On another note, 75%+ of the posts on this website are completely inane. Get a life.
oh, chicago hates minorities too?
53
Don't worry Latham will be laying you off too, whether you're starting there or not.
USC is a TTT filled with retard legacies. Like the kind of people who'd get a job at dad's firm, fail the bar, then mysteriously survive a round of first year associate layoffs at Latham.
In-state tuition is now 36K? Geez, I was there when it was 10. Makes me feel old. Although, it really wasnt that long ago, and people could actually get jobs back then.
the idiot regents wouldn't give him the raise (any raise) he so duly deserves.
56--hey, cut Chicago a break; the school has one black faculty member; they just couldn't find enough qualified minorities given the obvious lack of black people on the South Side of Chicago.
the sad thing is UCLA's monstrous tuition goes to the UC system, so i imagine it's being used to subsidize that unnecessary and worthless TTT on the block, UCI
LECTURER = some guy who teaches a class that few students register for because he is not a PROFESSOR = some guy who actually contributes to legal scholarship and and is a full member of the faculty.
Obama = LECTURER, never PROFESSOR because he never wrote a single thing.
#62 is right-on. Schill is the best thing that's happened to this law school in a long time. It's a huge loss.
Señor Emeritus,
I wish that you were my brother. I know that you were taught during your service in the first great war never to leave your brothers behind. I want you never to leave mine.
- Enrique
Agree with #64. When Schill took over UCLA, it had terrible donation rates and little endowment money. It also was not keeping pace with other peers in terms of LSAT and GPA medians. Now, fundraising is way up, applications have skyrocketed, and medians are up too.
Schill shouldn't be blamed for the huge tuition increases and the fact that California is broke. Tuition is increasing at every UC and there's only so much a dean can do about that.
Schill probably figured that the self-perpetuating T14 nut might be too tough to crack in the near future no matter how much UCLA improves and decided he had done all he could. Can't blame him, but for UCLA, it is a big loss.
uci law must die. california doesn't need another law school.
Schill supposedly had a plan to make the school semi-private, like UVA or Michigan. Wonder what's going to happen with that now.
I went to USC and got a real job. The bottom half of UCLA ends up in insurance defense.
Trojan Family!!!!!!!!!!!
I have never attended UCLA. However, I have a profound respect for the school. This is frankly a slap in the face. If Schill had some sort of legacy at the school, he killed it. You shouldn't leave as the Dean of UCLA Law for any other law school. After you feel your time is up, you should go back into the faculty and teach or research. The Deanship at UCLA Law should be more or less a final destination.
Dumping UCLA for Hyde Park is total crap. UCLA students and alumni should turn their backs on him as he has turned his back on them. Best of luck to everyone left behind.
Last point, for all the people calling UCLA TTT, you either go to a better school and are elitist pricks or you go to a worse school and could never get into UCLA if you tried. No matter how you cut it, you suck.
Schill's explanation of the process seems in line with a piece I recently read on how deans and presidents should quit, by Washu's dean, Kent Syverud.
75 is an idiot.
Why can't it be that nasty Cheadle (dean of students) that leaves??? That piece of work has been there since the 90s' when I went to UCLA law, and I will not contribute a dime until she is finally gone. It's amazing how the nastiest people in organizations tend to last the longest.
SC Law grads ave $25k more/yr starting salary
than fucla--before the financial Pompei. SC was ranked
8th in starting salary.
Cali is like its own country--most don't go back East because who wants to live there--let alone the Midwest. USC is the school of Toffs--
Cal/UCla is the school of proles using education to better their
their pitiful existence.
And yes UCLA law used to have a giant urinal tub in the bathroom. DAS LAW Schhol for das people.
The Che mural in the law library is an affront to every
blue-blood.
Fight ON!! And doesn't suck the Hotel Bel Air is closed for 2 years!
Cal state LA law school is good--
good to turn down
Why don't they just change U-C
to the Posner School of law--
Christ what are they going to do when he dies--if he is still alive?
Posner= Strauss and not in a good way