Law School Deans, Law Schools

Dean Of Most Prestigious Law School In America To Step Down

Who will serve as the law school's new dean?

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yale law schoolCome the end of the academic year, the most prestigious law school in the nation may find itself without a dean if things don’t go according to plan.

Robert Post, who has served as the dean of Yale Law School for almost eight years, will be stepping down from his position at the end of the school year. He will not be seeking a third term as dean. Post will remain on the law school faculty.

Post, a 1977 graduate of Yale Law, joined the school’s faculty in 2003 after spending about 20 years teaching at UC Berkeley Law. Professor Heather Gerken spoke very highly of Post: “He really stepped in at a time when we really needed leadership. Everyone on the faculty will always be grateful for his willingness to take on the mantle of leadership.”

Post ascended to the Yale Law deanship in 2009, during the height of post-recession difficulties for law schools and legal education, but he didn’t allow his alma mater to falter in the slighest, as so many other law schools did. Law.com has additional details:

The law school has prospered under Post’s leadership. It has maintained its No. 1 spot on U.S. News & World Report’s influential law school rankings during his tenure, and the school has been insulated from the enrollment and financial woes buffeting American legal education.

The number of first-year law students has fallen 29 percent nationwide since 2010, but Yale has maintained its class size of about 200 students without dropping its admission standards, according to data reported to the American Bar Association.

Post is deeply respected by faculty and students alike, and he guided the law school through tumultuous times when students took issue with the lack of diversity and inclusion on campus. He appointed a committee of faculty and students who examined those issues and released a report with 60 recommendations to improve diversity on campus; Post put half of those suggestions into practice before the report was even released. In fact, Yale Law’s current first-year class has three times as many African-American students as the entering class that came before it. According to the Yale Daily News, Post even marched with students to protest Eric Garner’s killing.

Not only has Post been a champion for his students, but he has also been a “prolific fundraiser,” securing donations as large as $30 million from Joseph Tsai of Alibaba Group Services, $25 million from real estate developer Robert Baker, and $10 million from Saudi Arabian banking executive Abdallah Kamel.

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A search committee, chaired by Professor Paul Kahn (who chaired the committee when Post was selected for the deanship), is composed of seven law school faculty members, including Professors Stephen Carter, a staple on the school’s faculty, and Amy Chua, the tiger mother herself. Jan Conroy, director of communications and public affairs at Yale Law, says that the committee — which will seek input from students, alumni, faculty, and staff — hopes to make a recommendation for a new dean by the end of the semester.

Best wishes to Dean Post as he transitions to the next phase of his successful career.

Yale Law students, who do you want to be your next dean? We’d love to hear your thoughts. Please email us or text us (646-820-8477) and let us know who you’d choose.

Yale Law Dean to Step Down at End of Academic Year [Law.com]
YLS Dean Robert Post will not seek third term [Yale Daily News]

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Staci Zaretsky is an editor at Above the Law. Feel free to email her with any tips, questions, or comments. Follow her on Twitter or connect with her on LinkedIn.

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