The Role of the Dean in Ensuring a Sustainable Law School: Everything Comes Down to What I Learned in Land Use Planning and Sustainable Development Law

This article offers advice for anyone preparing to interview for a deanship - go back to what you are passionate about to really express how you might approach serving as a law dean. In this case, the passion centers on the subject of land use planning and sustainable development law. When interviewing for the position of dean of a law school, Academics who rise through the ranks to a deanship have a background in legal scholarship that often marries theory and practice. Faculty spend countless hours, even years, developing theories and concepts to advance the law in a particular discipline. Hopefully, the investment of time indicates a passion for the subject matter. Individual perspective on any subject matter can shine light on attitude and approach to problem-solving, vision, and passion. The recommendation to decanal candidates is skip the copycat discussions of boring and rote role of the law school dean, and demonstrate the kind of dean you would be through examination of your own area of law teaching and/or scholarship. While analogies to real estate development make sense through the land use and sustainable development law lens, the conversation can flow just as easily through business organizations, family law, alternative dispute resolution and dozens of other fields