It’s the time for the annual law school dean shuffle. Several schools recently announced new deans, including Texas Tech University and George Washington University.
Texas Tech University named Darby Dickerson as the next dean of its law school, to take effect July 29. In addition to the role of dean, Dickerson will hold the W. Frank Newton Endowed Professorship. Before joining Texas Tech, Dickerson served as a faculty member and then dean at Stetson University in Florida. Dickerson earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees from The College of William and Mary, and her J.D. from Vanderbilt University School of Law. She clerked for a Sixth Circuit judge and also practiced commercial litigation at the predecessor to Locke Lord Bissell & Liddell LLP in Dallas. Dickerson will step in for interim dean Susan Saab Fortney, who has filled the position since 2010 when Walter Huffman left the school after nine years as dean.
George Washington University Law School will appoint Paul Schiff Berman as its new dean starting July 1. Berman comes to GW from Arizona State University Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law, where he was dean for almost three years. Berman also will serve as GW’s Robert Kramer Research Professor of Law. Prior to his time at ASU, Berman was the Jesse Root Professor of Law at the University of Connecticut School of Law and a visiting professor and visiting research scholar at Princeton University’s Law and Public Affairs Program. Berman graduated from Princeton University and holds a J.D. from New York University. After law school, Berman served as a clerk for the D.C. Circuit and then for Justice Ginsburg on the U.S. Supreme Court. Berman will replace interim dean Gregory E. Maggs, who took over for outgoing dean Frederick M. Lawrence in November 2010.
