Law School Deans, Prostitution

Former Law School Dean Busted On Prostitution Charge

Members of law school administrations are just like us: they sometimes get arrested for salacious crimes.

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Members of law school administrations are just like us in that they sometimes get arrested for salacious crimes — including prostitution. Don’t believe us? We’ve seen this before, many times (see here, here, here, and here). Today, we’ve got news on yet another law school dean who has allegedly fallen from grace.

Who’s in the hot seat today?

You may remember John B. Attanasio of the SMU Dedman School of Law in Dallas, Texas, who served as the school’s leader from 1998 until 2013, when his contract wasn’t renewed. Since Attanasio’s deanship ended, he’s been teaching at the school, where he serves as the Judge William Hawley Atwell Chair of Constitutional Law.

In his spare time, Attanasio allegedly enjoys… partaking in Class B misdemeanors? Here’s more information from the Dallas Morning News, which broke the news of the ex-dean being picked up for prostitution:

John Attanasio, 60, was booked into the Collin County Jail but was released after posting $500 bond on the Class B misdemeanor.

The Collin County Sheriff’s Department said he was arrested by Texas Department of Public Safety Troopers.

A DPS spokesman declined to release details about the arrest, calling it part of an ongoing investigation.

At this time, it is unclear (due to the wording of the statute) whether Attanasio was the alleged john in this precarious prostitution pickle. We knew law schools needed cash amid a shrinking applicant pool, but we never thought that a former member of the administration would allegedly have to resort to hooking just to get it. One of our many tipsters on this story noted that “[a]s one of the law students at SMU when Attanasio was dean, I witnessed firsthand how he sucked.” Whoa. Hopefully Attanasio’s purported sucking didn’t carry over into his alleged weekend activities.

SMU Law would not comment on the former dean’s arrest, as “[i]t would not be appropriate … for [the school] to comment on matters that are being investigated by area police,” but another tipster opined that Attanasio is “a known awful human.” Hot damn! Tell us how you really feel, SMU Law students.

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Here’s his booking report (scroll down and click on “Attanasio, John Baptist”):

The good professor appears to be wearing some sort of a Snuggie in his mug shot, and he had his wife, Kathy Attanasio, bail him out after he was arrested on this prostitution charge — which we imagine must’ve made the situation doubly awkward.

UPDATE (12:30 p.m.): Attanasio is actually wearing a towel in his mug shot, which is standard procedure in Collin County, Texas. The towels are draped around the necks of alleged offenders “so everyone looks the same in photo lineups.”

Since John Attanasio is out on bail, will he return to teaching classes this week? Here’s an email from Provost Paul Ludden that all students received this morning:

Dear SMU Law Faculty and Students,

I am writing to share the below message with you that Dr. Turner has just sent to the University’s Board of Trustees. This will also be shared with the media in response to inquiries.

“SMU learned from media reports today of the arrest of Law Professor John Attanasio in Collin County. In accordance with University policy, SMU does not comment on matters under active investigation by area police. Professor Attanasio will not teach his class this week. SMU will gather information and follow University procedure to determine any appropriate action under its policy in such matters.”

This week’s session of Professor Attanasio’s class is cancelled. Students should not come to class.

Paul Ludden

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Best of luck to John Attanasio as he attempts to clear his name. For what it’s worth, professor, we hear that SMU has a lot of “talent” in its dating pool — next time, why not take one of those lucky ladies out on a date if you’re looking to score?

Former SMU law dean arrested on prostitution charge [Dallas Morning News]
Former SMU Law Dean arrested on prostitution charge [WFAA]
Con law professor, a former law dean, is arrested on prostitution charge [ABA Journal]

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