Charleston School of Law invites inquiries, nominations, and applications from experienced leaders and accomplished legal educators for the position of its Dean.

Charleston School of Law is an IRC § 501(c)(3) ABA-accredited institution located in historic, downtown Charleston, S.C., which Travel + Leisure Magazine has, for more than a decade,named as one of the best cities in the United States. Charleston School of Law has a longstanding commitment to service to the community. Since the Law School’s first class matriculated in 2004, students have contributed hundreds of thousands of hours of pro bono legal service across the nation, and its alumni are licensed to practice in 48 jurisdictions. Drawn by the Law School’s reputation for classroom excellence and compelling student-faculty relationships, CharlestonLaw currently boasts a diverse student body from more than 250 undergraduate institutions across the United States and around the world.

Charleston Law offers a unique and inviting culture for both faculty and staff, pursuing new faculty committed to delivering an extraordinary classroom experience, embracing an “open-door” policy with students, and motivated for scholarly achievement. The faculty’s publication history includes contributions to respected academic journals, classroom texts, and practitioner resources. Charleston Law also enjoys a close relationship with the bench and the bar. Charleston School of Law faculty are highly regarded, particularly for their accessibility and teaching quality. In the Princeton Review’s 2025 rankings, the school received a 98 out of 99 rating for faculty accessibility and a 97 out of 99 rating for the quality of teaching. According to the Princeton Review, Charleston Law places among the top law schools nationally in these categories. The Law School has also been recognized by the Princeton Review as the fourth best law school nationally for its resources for women.

The next Dean of Charleston School of Law will serve as its chief academic officer, becoming just the fourth Dean in its 21-year history. Charleston Law envisions that the next Dean will complete its journey to full non-profit status and regional accreditation, deepen the institution’s current financial stability, embrace the Law School’s defining student-centric culture, grow the Law School’s reputation and brand both regionally and nationally, and advance strategic partnerships and relationships with students, faculty, alumni, practitioners, the judiciary, community leaders, regional colleges, and prospective students. The next Dean will also collaborate successfully with the faculty and administration to enhance the Law School’s prominence and distinctive character. Through vision and tenacity, the next Dean will be dedicated to service and community involvement, accelerating the Law School’s continuing upward trajectory in admission criteria, enhanced selectivity, and increased bar passage. In embracing these missions, the new Dean will develop, organize, and oversee academic programs and implement new initiatives to meet the compelling opportunities of a law school on the rise in the changing legal profession.

Qualifications:

• An earned JD from an ABA-accredited institution;
• A record of scholarly achievement, teaching, and exceptional professional achievement that, in any case, warrants appointment at the rank of full Professor of Law;
• An award of tenure at a previous law school;
• Demonstrated leadership skills and capability to manage the Law School’s Five-Year Strategic Plan;
• Demonstrated capability to manage professional and support staff effectively;
• Demonstrated interpersonal communication and decision-making skills;
• Demonstrated ability to create and oversee the Law School operating budget in coordination with department leaders and administration and supervise financial support for the organization, its constituents and programs;
• Strong working knowledge of the American Bar Association Law School accreditation standards, rules, and practices;
• A strong and demonstrated commitment to enriching and broadening the Law School’s community;
• Demonstrated ability to launch new curricular programming and expand current clinical and experiential skills opportunities; and
• An ability to work collaboratively with the President, Board of Trustees, faculty, students, staff, alumni, and community leaders as partners to advance the Charleston Law’s teaching, outreach, engagement, and service missions.

The Law School has charged a search committee to recruit and vet candidates for the Dean position. Applications and nominations for the position should be submitted electronically in PDF format to the Dean Search Committee at [email protected]. Questions regarding the position may also be sent to that email address.

Materials accompanying an application should include:

• A letter of interest in the position or a letter nominating a candidate;
• A current CV or resume;
• A list of at least three references which includes names and contact information (telephone and email), none of whom will be contacted without the written permission of the candidate.

Charleston School of Law is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate against any individual or group based on gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, age, race, color, religion, national origin, veteran status, genetic information, disability, or any other legally protected class.