Law Schools

Oldest Law School In America Appoints First Black Dean

Proponent of law school reform gets a chance at William & Mary Law School.

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Something that unfortunately got lost in the shuffle of non-stop layoffs and furloughs was William & Mary Law’s announcement of a new dean. When the nation’s oldest law school announces a new dean, it’s newsworthy enough, but when the school appoints its first black dean, it’s an important milestone in legal academia:

A. Benjamin Spencer, a nationally renowned civil procedure and federal courts expert and current professor of law at the University of Virginia, will begin at William & Mary Law School July 1. Spencer will be William & Mary’s first African-American dean of any school at the university, including the law school. His selection follows a national search to succeed Davison M. Douglas, who will return to the faculty after serving as dean for more than 10 years.

Professor Spencer, a Shearman & Sterling alum, has served on the faculty at UVA for the last several years, having worked at Washington & Lee and Richmond before that, and will assume the deanship of William & Mary coming off a year as a visiting professor at Harvard Law School. He’s also an Army Reserve JAG Captain because why not add more to a crowded plate? The move to William & Mary is a homecoming in a sense for Spencer, who tells Black Enterprise that even though he’s a newcomer to the school, it holds a special place in his professional development:

Spencer said he is excited about the new role. “It was not until the hiring committee from William & Mary approached me back in 2003 that I gave any thought to becoming a law professor,” he said.

Now he joins the management side of the law school equation and gets a chance to put some of his past theories into practice. Spencer, as longtime readers may remember, became an Above the Law favorite way back in 2011 when he penned an article in the Washington Post calling on law schools to fundamentally reform themselves — with the assistance of a strengthened ABA accreditation process. You know, back when we imagined that the ABA accreditation process wouldn’t face well-funded right-wing assault at every turn.

While almost a decade old, Spencer’s article reads as prescient as ever, highlighting the role of technological advancement in revolutionizing the law firm business model and the need for regulatory changes to legal education and licensure:

Reforming admission to the bar should also be considered. For example, rather than making the bar exam a concentrated experience, the certification process could be extended over a period of years as with the various steps of the U.S. Medical Licensing Exam. Law graduates could be required to take an initial doctrinally focused exam followed by a probationary period during which they would work for less pay under the supervision of practicing attorneys. That, in turn, would be followed by an exam that tests their practice skills.

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While the current debate centers around replacing the doctrinal exam entirely, this has some of the early markings of the “plus” part of diploma privilege plus — pushing out the licensing process to focus on apprenticeship and/or practical achievement. Obviously an individual dean is more restricted in action than a professor offering a sweeping reform vision, but it’s going to be interesting to see what Dean Spencer is going to be able to do with his hand on the rudder.

A. Benjamin Spencer selected to lead W&M Law School [William & Mary]
MEET THE FIRST BLACK DEAN OF THE OLDEST LAW SCHOOL IN THE U.S. [Black Enterprise]

HeadshotJoe Patrice is a senior editor at Above the Law and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer. Feel free to email any tips, questions, or comments. Follow him on Twitter if you’re interested in law, politics, and a healthy dose of college sports news. Joe also serves as a Managing Director at RPN Executive Search.

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