LER No. 53 - Legal Ethicists as Law School Deans (07.29.24)
Congratulations to Steven Vaughan, the latest legal ethicist selected as a dean. He will lead Monash University Law in Melbourne, Australia.
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The US Supreme Court’s ethics continued to make the headlines last week, following the Brennan Center’s announcement of a $30 million gift to fund an effort devoted, at least in part, to ethics reform (for more on that, see Bonus Content Post No. 15). During remarks at a judicial conference in San Francisco, Justice Elena Kagan called for a panel of lower federal court judges to review the justices’ compliance with their new ethics code. Her comments sparked headlines like these:
From CNN: “Justice Elena Kagan says Supreme Court’s code of conduct needs an enforcement plan. Takeaways from her wide-ranging comments.” Read more here.
From The Volokh Conspiracy: “‘Wall Slammer’ Kagan Seems to Endorse Ethics Code Enforcement at Supreme Court.” Read more here.
From the Washington Post: “Justice Elena Kagan suggested Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. could appoint an outside panel of highly respected judges to review allegations of wrongdoing.” Read more at this gift link.
From the Wall Street Journal: “Justice Kagan’s Ethics Inversion. Having lower judges investigate the Justices is not a good idea.” Read more at this gift link.
As I told one reporter, Justice Kagan’s proposal is a welcome and much-needed call for meaningful enforcement of the Supreme Court’s ethics code, which is currently toothless. I recommend that the enforcement panel consist of former US Supreme Court justices as well as former chief justices of state supreme courts. This group would all have substantial experience in weighing concerns involved in recusal or disqualification and would also come from a broad range of diverse backgrounds representing the entire country. I think this could also address concerns that might arise if lower level federal judges, still actively hearing cases, served in the role proposed by Kagan.
This week we’re mixing things up AGAIN here at the Roundup, this time to congratulate Steven Vaughan, the most recent legal ethics scholar to be selected as a law school dean, and to reflect on others with similar scholarly expertise who’ve served as deans. By my count, there are more than two three dozen. (I’m sure I’ve accidentally omitted some, too. Readers, please send me a quick note if so and I’ll amend/correct my list - legalethics@substack.com. And many thanks to those of you who’ve reached out so far!) While Justice Kagan is not on my list below, given her latest interest in judicial ethics perhaps she should be! Kagan served as dean of Harvard Law School from 2003-09.
Andy Boon, former dean University of Westminster Law
Lonnie Brown, current dean University of Tennessee Law
Roger Cramton, former dean Cornell Law
Mary Daly, former dean of St. John’s Law
Richard Devlin, former acting dean Dalhousie University Law
Adam Dodek, former dean University of Ottawa Law
Kim Economides, former dean Flinders Law School and Exeter Law School
Trevor Farrow, current dean Osgoode Hall Law
Barbara Glesner Fines, former dean UMKC Law
Susan Fortney, former interim dean Texas Tech Law
Monroe Freedman, former dean Hofstra Law
Bryant Garth, former dean Southwestern Law and Indiana University-Bloomington Law
Janine Griffiths-Baker, former dean Nottingham Law School and Law Institute of Jersey (Channel Islands)
Neil Hamilton, former interim dean University of St. Thomas Law
Lawrence Hellman, former dean Oklahoma City University Law
Michael Hoeflich, former dean University of Kansas Law
Vincent Johnson, former interim dean St. Mary’s University Law
Michael Kelly, former dean of Maryland Law
Suzanne Le Mire, former dean University of Adelaide Law
Joan Loughrey, current dean Queen’s University Belfast
Richard Moorhead, former dean Exeter Law School
Tom Morgan, former dean Emory Law
Reid Mortensen, former dean University of Southern Queensland Law
Alan Paterson, former dean University of Strathclyde Law
Paul Paton, current dean Chapman Law and former dean Alberta Law
Ray Patterson, former dean Emory Law
Andy Perlman, current dean Suffolk Law
Maynard Persig, former dean Minnesota Law
Peter Pitegoff, former dean University of Maine Law
Carla Pratt, former dean Washburn Law
Nancy Rapoport, former dean University of Houston Law
Margaret Raymond, former dean University of Wisconsin Law
Norman Redlich, former dean NYU Law
Irma Russell, former dean University of Montana Law
Lorne Sossin, former dean Osgoode Hall Law
Bob Stein, former dean Minnesota Law
Ellen Suni, former dean UMKC Law
John Sutton, former dean Texas Law
Rob Vischer, former dean University of St. Thomas Law (and now president of same)
Lisa Webley, former dean Birmingham Law School
Mitch Winick, current dean Monterey College of Law, San Luis Obispo College of Law, Kern County College of Law, Empire College of Law
A special shout out is due to Susan Fortney, Tom Morgan, Paul Paton, Margaret Raymond, and Lisa Webley who helped with many of the names on my list. When I told Susan about my plan to create a post recognizing deans who are/were legal ethics scholars, she offered this observation: “I think that legal ethics people are particularly effective in dean roles because they are often connected to the bench and bar, understand legal profession issues, and the important role of law schools in professional development and helping students obtain ethics grounding.” This list certainly proves her point. And so does the addition of Steven Vaughan.
I first met Steven when we both spoke on a Law & Society panel at the annual meeting in San Francisco, 2011. I then had the good fortune of hosting him as a scholar-in-residence at Michigan State University’s Kelley Institute of Ethics and the Legal Profession when I was still on the faculty there. And Steven overlapped with me during my sabbatical at Stanford Law School’s Center on the Legal Profession in 2015. Regular readers of the Roundup might recall LER No. 19 - Headline #2, which featured Steven’s terrific report for the Legal Services Board “What Does it Mean for Lawyers to Uphold the Rule of Law?” It has been wonderful to follow his scholarly career over the years and to now see him in this new role as dean. To celebrate this honor, I asked Steven to engage in a Q&A with me. Read on for insights about deaning and some of our favorite spots in Melbourne!
RKJ: A number of current/former law deans have scholarly backgrounds in legal ethics, like you. Do you think this is a coincidence? (I don’t!) How has your background as a legal ethicist prepared you for becoming a dean?
SV: I am smiling at this question, as a friend was only saying recently they think lots of environmental law scholars end up as law school leaders... So, I am not sure about the coincidence. That being said, I do think my background as a legal ethicist will allow me to use my various connections with the legal profession, judges, and legal services policy makers in service of the faculty. And I wonder if there is something about legal ethicists seeing the place of law in society in a particular way (in contributing to ‘good’ societies and so on) because of the debates we have about the role of lawyers in society? Maybe it’s also (he says, provocatively…) that we see the need for effective leadership in a certain sort of way and some kind of moral obligation to ‘step forward’?
RKJ: Legal education is currently facing many challenges globally. What do you think are the top three?
SV: First I think is the reminder to those who need to hear it of that special place of lawyers as social actors with critical social roles: products, servants, and agents of the rule of law. The debates -- if you can call them that -- about ‘fat cat’ lawyers, about lawyers as ‘enemies of the people’ and so on, are harmful and need challenging. Second, and related (but pushing in the opposite direction), I think we can and should do better to reflect on the agency lawyers have: not to shy away from hard or uncomfortable conversations (lawyers, for example, as professional enablers sometimes of corruption and/or populism) but have to those conversations out in the open. These two challenges are about holding multiple things about the law students we teach and the legal lives they go on to live in tension in our heads. Third, I’d say a need to come back to the power and value of expertise: of seeing law and legal knowledge as critical to both the challenges of the age and everyday living. Of law not being a silo, and legal academia not being that so-called ‘ivory tower’. You’ll note here that I’ve not mentioned how law schools get funded, whether the ‘younger’ generation wants or expects different things from the law and law professors, the joys and challenges of AI etc etc. But you did only ask for three things.
RKJ: What is your vision for Monash Law as dean?
SV: The $100m question! My main and overriding goal is to be a champion of the faculty: of its staff and it students. To amplify and elevate all the wonderful things that already happen there, including the world-leading clinical legal education offerings and the deep commitment of Monash colleagues to using law and legal scholarship to effect change and make a difference. Really, my vision is to keep true to how Sir David Derham, the first Dean of the faculty, saw our collective mission when he said that, “Law is deeply embedded in society and unless it is working for society, it is missing the point.”
RKJ: What advice can you offer other legal ethicists who might be considering deanships or other administrative roles in legal education?
SV: I think my advice is more general. We (the ‘we’ being local, national, and global communities of scholars) need people who will take on leadership roles. While they can come with their own special challenges, I think we can all agree that having someone in a leadership role who cares about the people they lead, who wants those people to feel respected and seen, who cares about fostering a sense of community and purpose makes a difference. And the idea that you can just wait for someone else to step forward into those roles seems… less than ideal. I’ve always found these sorts of roles incredibly rewarding on a personal level too.
RKJ: Melbourne is one of my favorite cities in the world. What are you most looking forward to about living there? (Please go get a scoop of ice cream at Jocks in Albert Park – the Honeycomb and Obamarama, which is peanut butter and jelly of course, are my favorites!)
SV: I could go on and on in relation to this question because I also adore Melbourne… The coffee, the pastries (hello Lune my old friend!), the ice cream (I had my first Messina in 2016 and always go back), the netball (I am a Mavs fan), the weather and the beaches, the art and culture, the general ‘vibe’ (someone once said to me that Melbourne is ‘queer’ while Sydney is ‘gay’; and I love this – it feels so correct), and – of course – getting to know all of my new colleagues in the Faculty. My husband Digby and I are so super excited about this move and all the possibilities it brings.
Here’s the official press release announcing Steven’s appointment as dean. Congratulations both to him and to Monash Law!
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