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Academic

: The Faculty Lounge

Four Dean Finalists At Harvard Law School?

By Dan Filler

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When it comes to law school dean searches, you usually find two types: those that publicize their finalists and those that provide no information. At Harvard Law School, there is no official shortlist. There are, however, some industrious reporters at the Harvard Crimson who may have sussed out the final four. At least, the Crimson editors think so. But at Harvard, and isn't this so Harvard, finalists may not even be interested in the job!

According to Harvard's daily:

The field is...open, with a slate of seven internal candidates and, among those, three or four top candidates whom [Harvard President Drew] Faust is considering for the job. The short-list includes acting Dean Howell E. Jackson and Harvard Law School Professors David J. Barron ?89, John Coates, John F. Manning ?82, Martha Minow, David B. Wilkins ?77, and Elizabeth Warren, according to the senior Law School professor familiar with the search process. Among that list, Jackson, Manning, and Minow have risen to the top. Wilkins may also be a top candidate, but opinions among the faculty vary about whether he should be included on the list of most likely candidates. Faculty members were, however, in near unanimity in naming Jackson, Manning, and Minow as frontrunners. Although these professors have all been considered for the position, whether they would accept an offer to serve as Dean remains unclear.

Elizabeth Warren is such an intriguing option because she strikes me a seriously attractive candidate: incredibly high profile, widely respected...and a Rutgers-Newark law graduate. Even if she was interested in the position, could Faust - would Faust - pull the trigger on that decision.

Everyone feels great about a meritocracy until it actually torpedos tradition (and widely used heuristics.)

Full post as published by The Faculty Lounge on June 04, 2009 (boomark / email).