The Market for Deans

Abstract

Deans are extremely important figures in the performance of American law schools in modern times. And giving the growing complexity of legal education, we can expect that the importance of law school deans and deaning will only expand in the coming years. It is especially vexing, then, that the market for deans is - and will likely continue to be - more bear than bull. Why is this and why should we care? Social science geeks beware: The methodology in this discussion paper is a loose admixture of anecdote, polemic, and preliminary data. A more complete analysis would, of course, require the careful study to which this essay only suggests.

Keywords: deans, law school, deaning