© 2013 The Texas Lawbook.
By Natalie Posgate
Staff Writer for The Texas Lawbook
Southern Methodist University Provost Paul Ludden has appointed the dean of the Cox School of Business, Albert W. Niemi, to lead the search committee for a new dean of the Dedman School of Law.
SMU spokesman Kent Best said Wednesday in a written statement that the search committee will include representatives of the law school faculty, law school student body, members of the Board of Trustees, law school executive board members, law school alumni, leaders from the local legal community and other institutions.
“We look forward to working with the faculty and the legal community to select an outstanding dean,” Ludden said in the statement. “I am confident and grateful that Al Niemi will provide the leadership needed to guide this process.”
Ludden informed Dedman Law Dean John Attanasio in mid-December that his contract would not be renewed when it expires in May. Attanasio, who is the second longest serving law school dean in Texas, has been at SMU for nearly 15 years.
Several prominent alumni of the law school expressed open disapproval of the decision to replace Attanasio. Many of those same alumni said they had the same disappointment and reservations about the provost’s choice of Niemi to lead the search committee.
Niemi, senior dean among those leading SMU’s seven schools, could not be reached for comment. Several members of the law school faculty did not respond to multiple inquiries by The Texas Lawbook.
Prominent M&A lawyer and incoming SMU Board of Trustees chairman Mike Boone is expected to be a member of the law dean search committee.
“I think the jury is out on how this experiment turns out and we may not really know that result for several years,” said SMU law alum Mike Lynn of Lynn Tillotson Pinker & Cox. “I think alumni are hopeful for the future but concerned this change has not been managed well and most are awaiting a strong signal [that] better management will be forthcoming before committing time and resources.”
Darrell Jordan, a past president of the State Bar of Texas and SMU alum, said that he has no opinion of Niemi, but he believes it’s a “sign of incompetence” to not choose somebody within the law school or legal community to lead the search committee.
“It should be somebody who has some understanding of what is required of law school deans and who have some ideas of who the potential good candidates could be,” said Jordan, a senior litigation partner at Dykema and a member of SMU’s law school executive board. “I doubt seriously that someone who is involved in the business school meets that criteria.”
“The way in which the provost handled this pretty well assures that no one of any stature will want the job,” he added. “I am surprised the president hasn’t terminated the provost over his ineptness.”
© 2013 The Texas Lawbook. Content of The Texas Lawbook is controlled and protected by specific licensing agreements with our subscribers and under federal copyright laws. Any distribution of this content without the consent of The Texas Lawbook is prohibited.