Guess what? Brooklyn Law is about to do a dean search! As I noted over at Leiter's Law School Reports, Michael Gerber is now Interim Dean of that fine free-stander. Joan Wexler, who was previously President and Dean is now simply...President. But this is a pretty unique deanship and, in my view, has the potential to be the most interesting dean search in recent memory. Why? Two reasons. First, the school is very well situated in terms of students, faculty, and location. Oh, the location! Not only is Brooklyn Heights drool-worthy as a place to work, but a ton of appealing decanal candidates already live in NYC.
But there's another reason why this job could attract some interesting, high-powered candidates. Given that Brooklyn is free-standing, and that Wexler will remain to handle many serious administrative tasks (like, uhh, making sure there's enough dough), the school may be very open to candidates with little or no administrative or fund-raising experience. Which means that it can afford to do what UC Irvine did: hire a high-profile academic who raises the school's stock simply by showing up. And say what you want about New York: it can attract just about every high profile academic imaginable. It's not a gimme that this will happen, of course. Candidates may be concerned that a President Wexler will have difficulty giving up control of the day-to-day. But assuming candidates are satisfied that they'll have sufficient control, I'm predicting that this search will produce some very attractive finalists.
And unlike with state schools, we may never know who they are. Any guesses?
Dworkin!
Posted by: Anon in SF | July 02, 2010 at 11:40 AM
I think Steven Winter, Walter S. Gibbs Professor of Constitutional Law at Wayne State University Law School, would make a nice fit, as he taught at Brooklyn Law some years ago. Of course I have no idea whatsoever if he would want such a position but I think he's eminently qualified. His faculty webpage is here: http://www.law.wayne.edu/faculty/bio.php?id=43027
Posted by: Patrick S. O'Donnell | July 02, 2010 at 07:08 PM
No offense to Steven Winter, but he's supposed to be a "high-profile academic who raises the school's stock simply by showing up" -- like Chemerinsky? Don't think so . . . .
Posted by: Anon in SF | July 02, 2010 at 08:09 PM
Well, I don't think he's up there with Chemerinsky, and I doubt they'll choose someone comparable, so I set my sights a bit lower although still, I hope, within the "very attractive finalists" category. No doubt there's others, he just came quickest to mind as someone who also happened to have once taught there.
Posted by: Patrick S. O'Donnell | July 02, 2010 at 09:02 PM
How about Austin Sarat from Amherst? Or Jonathan Simon from Berkeley? Or Kim Scheppele from Princeton? Every one would be a reach, but they'd all be exciting picks.
Posted by: Dan Filler | July 06, 2010 at 09:48 AM
Now we're talkin', Dan! All reaches, sure, but also lots of fun to toss their names around.
And how 'bout Barry Friedman or Brian Tamanaha?
Posted by: Anon in SF | July 06, 2010 at 10:55 AM