Sean M. Scott to Conclude Her Tenure as California Western School of Law President and Dean
SAN DIEGO (November 5, 2024) -- Sean M. Scott has announced that her tenure as President and Dean of California Western School of Law (CWSL) will come to a close on July 31, 2025, at the end of her five-year contract.
Dean Scott has been President and Dean of California Western since 2020, when she became the first woman and the first person of color in the school’s 100-year history to hold these positions. In her announcement to the California Western community, Dean Scott said, “These last four and a half years have been immensely gratifying, as we have worked together to build a thriving institution that puts our students’ education first.”
Despite the challenges of beginning her tenure in the midst of a global pandemic, Dean Scott charted a course to revitalize California Western School of Law by focusing on three strategic priorities: creating financial sustainability; raising the school’s academic profile; and modernizing the school’s facilities, resources, and curriculum. Dean Scott commented, “These four years have provided the necessary infrastructure for the law school to move forward with academic and programmatic changes to improve our competitiveness.”
Throughout her career, Dean Scott has been a champion of diversity in the law and in legal education. As CWSL’s President and Dean, she has ushered in a new era of leadership in and commitment to diversity on campus. In 2022, Dean Scott stewarded the largest gift in the school’s history: $3 million donated by Elaine Galinson and Herb Solomon to fund an endowed chair focused on racial justice, a speaker series addressing diversity and antiracism, and direct student support, through scholarships, bar study awards, and public interest internships. Dean Scott also created and filled the inaugural Chief Diversity Officer position for the school. Lisa Ferreira, California Western’s Dean of Students, applauded Dean Scott’s “dedication to fostering diverse conversations and education,” and the establishment of the Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging (DEIB) committee to keep the school “accountable to our commitments.”
Professor William J. Aceves, one of California Western’s longest tenured faculty members said, “Dean Scott has undertaken some of the most significant renovations of our academic program in decades.” During her tenure, Dean Scott has launched comprehensive, empirical reviews of California Western’s curriculum, bar pass rate, and academic achievement program, leading to a modernized 1L curriculum and the addition of two new academic concentrations: one in Social Justice and another in Intellectual Property, Privacy, and Media Law. Dean Scott successfully guided the school through its ABA reaccreditation and its first WSCUC accreditation; shifted the school’s part-time program to evenings; and moved the school from a trimester to a semester system. She also pushed for the adoption of unitary tenure track, parental leave, and pretenure leave policies to attract and retain faculty. In the last four years, the school has brought on six new faculty members from ranked law schools, such as University of Alabama, University of Arkansas, and the University of Mississippi, bringing with them expertise in criminal justice reform, environmental law, and legal automation and artificial intelligence. “Dean Scott has built a scholarly community at California Western,” said Professor Aceves.
In 2023, CWSL launched its Law, Justice, and Technology Initiative (LJTI), Dean Scott’s vision for giving students critical training in new legal technologies and in the pressing questions of the law of technology. Since its launch, the school has hosted panels with leading experts on algorithmic bias and privacy law. This past spring, the California Western Law Review and International Law Journal co-hosted a two-day symposium on AI regulation. This coming spring, the school will host a symposium on AI and criminal law. As part of the LJTI, Dean Scott also allocated $25,000 from donor funds for those pursuing the International Association of Privacy Professionals’ certificate in privacy law.
This year, Dean Scott has guided California Western’s centennial celebration, honoring the school’s hundred-year history and setting the course for another century of training practice-ready lawyers and leaders. In May, the school partnered with the Smithsonian Institute to host The Bias Inside Us, continuing to establish CWSL as a hub for critical conversations about social justice. In the last year, the school has brought in a host of illustrious guest speakers, including California Secretary of State Shirley Weber, Pulitzer-Prize winning author Louis Menand, and George Fatheree, the attorney and entrepreneur who secured one of the most significant land restitutions in U.S. history.
Dean Scott noted that “there is still much to be accomplished” in the remainder of her tenure: major software and facilities modernization projects; curricular changes to improve bar pass and diversify academic offerings; the relaunch of the STEPPS program under the guidance of Professor Aaron Schwabach; and the next chapter of the Innocence and Justice Clinic with Professor Amy Kimpel at the helm.
Dean Scott reported that she will be taking a sabbatical for the 2025-26 school year, after which, she plans to return to the classroom as a tenured faculty member, adding, “I look forward to continuing to serve the legal academy as Co-President of the Society American Law Teachers (SALT) and Co-Chair of the AALS Section on Deans.”
Dean Scott thanked the school community for their support and collaboration and said, “I look forward to seeing California Western continue to grow, empowering students and championing innovation and inclusivity in the law for many years to come.”