The Impact of a New Dean on Law School Ranking Forum

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Hello all,

I am deciding between UC Irvine and UMN (Minnesota). Within the last couple of days, Minnesota has installed a new dean, Garry Jenkins. His past experience as an assistant dean is not particularly striking, nor does it appear that Minnesota is making an upgrade from their previous dean. If anything, it appears they are moving sideways, albeit to someone with less experience.

UCI law's dean, Erwin Chemerinsky, has had recognizable success in establishing this fledgling law school and moving it in the right direction (at least in terms of ranking).



So. When considering Minnesota over the next couple of years, how big of an impact can a new dean have on the ranking of a law school?

[lawadmin]

Hello all,

I am deciding between UC Irvine and UMN (Minnesota). Within the last couple of days, Minnesota has installed a new dean, Garry Jenkins. His past experience as an assistant dean is not particularly striking, nor does it appear that Minnesota is making an upgrade from their previous dean. If anything, it appears they are moving sideways, albeit to someone with less experience.

UCI law's dean, Erwin Chemerinsky, has had recognizable success in establishing this fledgling law school and moving it in the right direction (at least in terms of ranking).



So. When considering Minnesota over the next couple of years, how big of an impact can a new dean have on the ranking of a law school?

Generally, 0% to 0% in terms of direct ranking changes. Rankings are based on inputs (LSAT, UPGA), outputs (bar passage, employment outcomes), reputation (surveys of professors and others) and other considerations. I guess someone can make an argument that the installation of a new Dean will have a wild swing on reputation scores, but that would almost always be incorrect.

Your bigger issue is figuring out if you want to be in MN or CA. Neither school is a national school and you should only go to the one where you feel comfortable practicing law.