News

Dean Rodriguez Assumes Presidency of AALS

January 08, 2014

Daniel B. Rodriguez, dean of Northwestern University School of Law, was inaugurated as the president of the Association of American Law Schools (AALS) at its annual meeting in New York City January 2-5, 2014.

Rodriguez will serve a one-year term as president. He succeeds Leo P. Martinez, Albert Abramson Professor of Law at the University of California, Hastings.

AALS is the nonprofit educational association that serves as the academic society for law teachers and is the nation’s principal representative of legal education to the federal government, other national higher education organizations, learned societies and international law schools.

 “Legal education is at a crossroads, and those of us principally involved in legal education must think creatively and strategically about how best to assure that we are serving the objectives of our profession and managing rapid change,” Rodriguez said. “I look forward to working with my AALS colleagues and all legal educators on many interesting initiatives and on improving the nation’s law schools.”

Rodriguez has contributed significantly to the work of the AALS over the years, serving most recently on the executive committee from 2009 to 2011. He chaired the Section on Legislation and Law of the Political Process and served on the executive committees of four other sections, as well as on standing committees for libraries and technology and curriculum issues. Rodriguez has also served on ABA-AALS joint site teams and has chaired a special site visit for the AALS.

AALS is a voluntary membership organization of 176 U.S. law schools representing more than 10,000 law faculty. It was founded in 1900 for “the improvement of the legal profession through legal education.”