© 2013 The Texas Lawbook.
By Natalie Posgate
Staff Writer for The Texas Lawbook
(December 17) – Southern Methodist University announced Tuesday that criminal and family law scholar Jennifer M. Collins will be the new permanent dean of the Dedman School of Law.
Collins, who currently is a law professor and the vice provost at Wake Forest University, will begin her duties as dean on July 1, 2014. SMU Provost Paul Ludden and alumni said they can’t recall any previous times that a woman served as the dean of SMU Dedman.
Aside from her career in academia, Collins has experience as a federal prosecutor in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia and spent most of her time in the homicide section, where she prosecuted more than 30 jury trials.
She was also an attorney-adviser at the U.S. Department of Justice Office of Legal Counsel. Before that, she briefly worked in private practice in Washington, D.C.
Collins said she accepted the job because it was the right time professionally and personally to take a new challenge and she was extremely impressed with the SMU community.
“SMU is an absolutely outstanding institution,” Collins said. “I was so impressed when I made the visit with the faculty, students and an incredibly dedicated, welcoming alumni base. I thought it would be a terrific community to join.”
So far, feedback from SMU alumni has been positive about Collins becoming the next dean.
Mike Boone, who served on the search committee and is chairman-elect of SMU’s Board of Trustees, said Collins’ qualities as a strong legal scholar and leader as well as having administrative experience and real-world experience in the legal market made her the perfect candidate.
“It was clear there was an overwhelming support for her on the committee,” said Boone, one of the co-founders of Haynes and Boone. “I don’t think we could find anybody better in the country.”
Alan Feld, another SMU Dedman graduate who served on the search committee, agreed.
“She’s going to be a terrific dean and she’s a really good appointment,” said Feld, a named partner at Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Feld. “I think she’ll be very good at facing up to whatever the strategy will be to move the law school forward.”
Collins prevailed in a group of six leading candidates that the search committee selected for SMU Dedman’s next dean, according to various faculty and staff. The ultimate decision was up to Provost Ludden.
Out of the six candidates, two were current deans at other law schools, sources said.
“It was a wonderful group and every one of them had great strength,” Ludden said. “It’s a lot of work to select the right person. An outstanding individual was selected to be the next leader of the Dedman School of Law.”
Prominent SMU Dedman alumnus Darrell Jordan was not involved in the dean search but said he trusted the decision of those involved.
“I will give her every benefit of the doubt and I hope that she’s a great dean and can deal with all the various responsibilities,” said Jordan, a commercial litigator at Dykema and a previous president of the State Bar of Texas. “I think her résumé stood out from others. The fact that she’s prosecuted and has real world experience will be an asset.”
Collins succeeds John Attanasio, whose 15-year career as SMU Dedman’s dean ended earlier this year after Ludden and SMU President R. Gerald Turner declined to renew his contract.
Award-winning property law scholar Julie Forrester is currently serving as the law school’s interim dean.
Collins, a mother of three and wife to a fellow attorney, said her family looks forward to exploring Dallas.
She started teaching at Wake Forest’s law school in 2003 and became the associate provost in 2010. In September 2013, Collins was named vice provost. She has continued to teach courses on gender in the law and legal professionalism while serving in the provost’s office.
While associate provost, Collins spearheaded Wake Forest’s entry into the online and distance education market and developed new initiatives to increase diversity and inclusion on campus.
Her legal research has focused on issues involving families and the criminal justice system, including the prosecution of parents who are responsible for their children’s deaths.
Collins graduated magna cum laude from Harvard Law School in 1991 and received her bachelor’s degree cum laude from Yale University in 1987.
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