American Law School Dean Study

Authors

Association of American Law Schools

Document Type

Issue/Research Brief/Blog

Publication Date

4-2022

Keywords

law school faculty, law school administration, diversity

Abstract

As legal education reaches another watershed moment, understanding the American law school deanship has become more important than ever.

The American Law School Dean Study is based primarily on a survey of the 197 sitting and 222 former law deans who served between 2010 and 2020.

The Study was designed to answer three principal research questions:

1. What are the career paths for law school deans before they are selected and after they finish their deanship?
2. What are the processes by which individuals are recruited and selected to be deans at American law schools?
3. What are the most pressing challenges facing law school deans at American law schools, and what solutions have they adopted?

The survey was conducted for AALS by NORC at the University of Chicago. In addition to the survey, individual interviews were conducted with a diverse group of twelve deans at a mix of law schools around the nation, representing law schools that are public and private, large and small.

The capstone report is the first of its kind on law school deans, and reveals important findings of interest to a wide variety of legal education stakeholders.