A New Era of Leadership

Over the summer, I took the helm as the new dean of Alabama Law. Even though I have a new position, I’m not a newcomer to our Law School – this Fall semester marked the beginning of my thirty-first year as a member of our faculty.

One of the things I’ve loved most about being a part of our Law School over the past three decades has been participating in institutional transformation that has been nothing short of remarkable. Alabama Law has blossomed into a nationally recognized research institution that attracts talented students and faculty from across the nation and around the world. Part of our success stems from our ability to offer a world-class legal education while enabling our students to graduate with one of the lowest average student debt-loads (#8) in the nation. We also recruit great students who leave our Law School with a bright future ahead of them: Last year’s 1L class had the highest median undergraduate GPA of any incoming class in the country, and we most recently had the seventh-highest percentage of federal judicial clerkship placements among U.S. Law Schools.

While our ultimate goal is to provide the best possible experience for our students, our faculty are, in a real sense, the lifeblood of our institution. They create the classroom experience that enables our students to succeed, they lead, mentor, and train our students, and they help shape the future of the law and the legal profession. I invite you to take a few minutes to learn about their work.

As excited as I am about our faculty’s achievements, we can and will do even better as we move forward. Particularly, our junior colleagues are as productive and passionate about their work as any group I’ve seen. I have invited them to bring big ideas to the table and challenge me to find additional ways to support their work. And we’re actively searching for great scholars to add to our number in a wide variety of fields.

I’m proud of our past and our present; at the same time, I’m confident that what lies ahead will be even better.

All my best,

Bill Brewbaker