DEAN’S COLUMN

 

Preparing for Retirement

By Dean Richard Morgan

 

As you may have read or heard, I have announced my retirement from the deanship of the Boyd School of Law, effective June 30, 2007.  At that time, I will have completed 10 years as founding dean of the Boyd School of Law and 20 years as a law school dean.  With the law school now well established, this seems to me to be a good time for a transition in its leadership, and for me to spend more time on family and recreational interests.

 

It has been a great honor and privilege for me to serve as the founding dean of the Boyd School of Law.  I was lucky to be selected for this important position, to which I came with high expectations and a great sense of excitement.  Over the past 10 years, those expectations have been exceeded.  We have assembled an excellent faculty, staff and student body, creating a very exciting and excellent educational program.  That program could not have come to fruition without the wonderful support of the bench and bar in this state.  Thank you for that support.

 

When I began my deanship, I was often asked what would be the most important factors in building a great law school for Nevada.  My answer has always been the same: the most important factor is community support.  You are part of that support, and because of it and you our law school has succeeded.

 

Because of the support from the community – the Legislature, the regents, then-President Harter and the university administration, bench, bar, donors and others – I was able to promise potential faculty, staff and students that Nevada’s new law school would be a success; that they could come here to help build an excellent law school, because the resources and energy of the community would support and elevate the law school.  That promise led to excellent people joining the law school community, and their efforts built the excellent law school that exists today.  But because they built not only a law school, but an excellent one, I was able to return, time after time, to the community to request further support for the school.  In those return visits, I was able to say, “Look what community support has produced: a fine law school.  Think what we could do with even more support.”  And further support came forth, which funded further improvements in the school.

 

Of course, the building of our law school is not complete, and it never will be.  There will always be new opportunities, challenges and community needs with which the people of the law school will deal.  But the establishment of the law school is complete.  It is an institution comprised of excellent people, with interesting and innovative programs.  It enjoys widespread support in our community.  And, it enjoys an excellent reputation nationally as a school that has established itself very quickly and very, very well.

 

Indeed, as new law schools start up around the country, I am often called upon to consult in their planning and development.  This happens not because of any particular planning or management abilities that I possess, but because our law school is known as the model for how to start a law school.  Having achieved ABA accreditation and membership in the Association of American Law Schools in record time, we are now regarded as much more than a start-up law school; we are an established and mature law school, albeit one that is incredibly young.