Dean Fisher stepping down

Law school dean John Fisher has announced a June 2008 retirement as dean of the WVU College of Law although he will continue to teach at the law school. Fisher said:

“I have always believed it is one of the chief responsibilities of any dean to ensure continuity of leadership,” he said. “With the University poised to initiate a new capital campaign, new facilities approved for the law school, and the forthcoming completion of our self study in the next academic year in preparation for the regular ABA-AALS reaccreditation visit, a new dean will have the opportunity to place his or her imprimatur on the future of the school.”

Fisher was never a teacher in any of my law school classes, but I've always heard good things about him as a teacher. The hope here is that a new dean will offer new ideas and push for a higher status as a school. There is no reason that WVU should be 4th teer in law schools, especially when the president of the school is a lawyer, given the size and resources of the university. It will be important for the new dean, whoever it is, to embrace newly emerging areas of law (maybe that crazy intellectual property all the kids are talking about) and be given the opportunity to cut some of the fat from the professors. I'm thinking of a certain white sneaker wearing professor we all know (not OS despite his love of white shoes). Also the new dean would have to think of WVU College of Law as a school that will supply lawyers for any destination instead of just West Virginia which has been a problem in the past.