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Stanford Law Is Churning Through Deans Right Now

Man, if you thought Claudine Gay’s tenure as president of Harvard was short-lived, you’ve been looking at the wrong school’s leadership. The face of Stanford Law’s dean has changed so often in the last 4 months that Anya Stark would be impressed.

From Reuters:

Stanford Law School has appointed its third dean in four months, this time with Paul Brest serving as an interim leader.

Stanford officials announced on Monday that Brest, who previously was Stanford Law dean from 1987 to 1999, is replacing Robert Weisberg as interim dean. Brest is the law school’s third leader since October, when dean Jenny Martinez became university provost.

The average law dean tenure is about four years, according to a database of deans maintained by Mississippi College School of Law, and dean searches can last a year or more.

While there are surely good reasons for Stanford’s revolving dean door — Weisberg is dealing with some health troubles and becoming Provost is a buff in rank —  it must be odd to flood the student’s e-mails with so many “Hi”s and “Bye”s. They may want to get used to them. I’m not sure what the exact over under is, but only time knows how many more baton passes we’ll get before the year is over. I’m sure Stanford will still manage fine.

Stanford Law Gets Third Dean In Four Months [Reuters]


Chris Williams became a social media manager and assistant editor for Above the Law in June 2021. Prior to joining the staff, he moonlighted as a minor Memelord™ in the Facebook group Law School Memes for Edgy T14s.  He endured Missouri long enough to graduate from Washington University in St. Louis School of Law. He is a former boatbuilder who cannot swim, a published author on critical race theory, philosophy, and humor, and has a love for cycling that occasionally annoys his peers. You can reach him by email at [email protected] and by tweet at @WritesForRent.

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