Introduction: Essays by Dean David F. Levi and Chancellor Jack M. Weiss

• Pages: 911-912

Page 911

The following two essays address the recent trend in law schools throughout the country in selecting deans with "non- academic" backgrounds. Law school deans traditionally are long- time members of the legal academy, often making the transition from tenured law school professor to law school administrator. But some law schools have departed from this custom by hiring individuals either from practice, government, or the bench to head their institutions.

During the summer of 2007, Thomas J. Romig, a retired Major General of the United States Army, was appointed dean of Washburn University School of Law.¹ Before his appointment "[Dean] Romig . . . served since 2005 as deputy chief counsel for operations for the Federal Aviation Administration" (FAA), and, before joining the FAA, Dean Romig served as the 36th Judge Advocate General of the United States Army for four years.²

Further, "Lloyd A. Semple, former Chairman and CEO of Dykema Gossett, PLLC, and Distinguished Visiting Law Professor, [was] named Dean of the University of Detroit Mercy (UDM) School of Law effective April 18, 2009."³ Dean Semple "joined the UDM School of Law faculty in 2004 after more than [forty] years practicing law with Dykema, one of Michigan's largest and most prestigious law firms."⁴

Then in the summer of 2009, R. Alexander Acosta joined the Florida International University College of Law as its second dean after serving as the United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida for four years.⁵ "Prior to his appointment as U.S. Attorney, [Dean] Acosta served as the Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division of the United States Department of Justice" and also clerked for then-Judge Samuel Alito while he sat on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit.⁶ Page 912

The two essays that follow are both authored by law school deans with similarly "non-traditional" backgrounds. The first essay is by Dean David F. Levi, who became the fourteenth dean of Duke Law School on July 1, 2007.⁷ "Prior to his appointment, he was the Chief United States District Judge for the Eastern District of California."⁸ Dean Levi was also "appointed United States Attorney by President Ronald Reagan in 1986 and a United States district judge by President George H. W. Bush in 1990."⁹ The second essay is by LSU Law's own Chancellor Jack M. Weiss, who was named chancellor¹⁰ of the Paul M. Hebert Law Center in May of 2007.¹¹ "[Chancellor Weiss] practiced in New...