Law Schools

Elite Law School Names Woman Of Color As Their New Dean

There's a new boss at Stanford Law.

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Jenny Martinez (photo via Stanford Law School)

Congratulations are in order for Jenny Martinez — the Stanford Law School professor has been named the new dean of the law school. Martinez will be taking over for Elizabeth Magill, who is leaving Stanford Law to become the provost of University of Virginia.

As Law.com notes, Martinez is part of a welcomed trend that is increasing the diversity in the highest levels of law school administration:

Martinez—who is Hispanic—will join the growing number of women occupying the dean suites in law campuses across the country, particularly minority women. Women now comprise about a third of deans at ABA-accredited law schools, and that percentage continues to rise.

Martinez brings a lot of academic firepower to the position. A Harvard Law grad, she has also had impressive clerkships, with Second Circuit Judge Guido Calabresi and Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer. The search committee was obviously pleased with her bona fides, but they also cited her diversity work in making the decision to elevate Martinez to dean:

“Jenny Martinez is not only an exceptional scholar and gifted teacher, but has been a spectacular citizen at the law school who has played a pivotal role in the school’s important recent initiatives on promoting diversity and inclusion, and providing path-breaking global learning opportunities for our students,” said law professor Jane Schacter, who was co-chair of the dean search committee.

For her part, Martinez is looking towards the future of the law school:

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“Through my work in international and comparative law, I have seen how important law is to building societies where everyone is treated fairly and all kinds of human endeavors can flourish,” [Martinez] said. “Through innovative research and teaching, in collaboration with other departments in the university, Stanford Law School is uniquely situated to contribute to solving public policy problems and training lawyers for the future.”

Best of luck to Martinez in her new role.

headshotKathryn Rubino is a Senior Editor at Above the Law, and host of The Jabot podcast. AtL tipsters are the best, so please connect with her. Feel free to email her with any tips, questions, or comments and follow her on Twitter (@Kathryn1).

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