Dean Darby Dickerson joined Southwestern as its 12th Dean and second female dean in July 2021. Dean Dickerson has extensive experience in leadership, teaching, scholarship, community service, and philanthropy.
Executive/Legal Education Experience:
As one of the longest-serving deans in the United States, Dean Dickerson has served as the inaugural dean at the University of Illinois Chicago School of Law, as Dean/CEO of The John Marshall Law (which she helped to merge into the University of Illinois Chicago), as Dean and the W. Frank Newton Professor of Law at Texas Tech University School of Law, and as Interim Dean then Dean and Vice President of Stetson University College of Law.
She started her full-time academic career at Stetson, joining the faculty in 1995. At Stetson, she also served in a wide variety of other administrative roles, including Vice Dean, Associate Dean, Director of Legal Research & Writing, Moot Court Board Director, and Law Review Advisor.
Over the years, she has taught Legal Research and Writing, Contract Drafting and Review, Torts, ADR, Arbitration, and Election Law. She has supervised various externships, including creating a full-time Regional Externship Program at Texas Tech, and served as the faculty advisor or coach for law reviews and moot court boards and teams.
Her scholarship, which includes two books, several book chapters, and dozens of articles, focuses on legal writing, drafting, and editing; legal education; higher education; and pretrial civil litigation practice.