A Message from President Wente and Provost Gillespie

July 21, 2022

To the Wake Forest community:

After three years of dedicated service to Wake Forest, Jane Aiken has decided to step away from her role as Dean of the School of Law on July 31, 2022. Dean Aiken will be on a research leave working on issues of the criminalization of the exercise of reproductive rights as Consulting Counsel with National Advocates for Pregnant Women. The issue of criminalization of women’s self-protection is the subject of Dean Aiken’s scholarly writing and teaching for her entire career, and we understand her desire to engage in those issues in a direct way. After this research leave, Dean Aiken will return to the faculty as a University Professor. We look forward to having her back in the Wake Forest community at that time.

Dean Aiken led the Wake Forest School of Law during a tumultuous time for legal education. With her expert guidance, the School of Law successfully adapted to continuing changes in the industry and changes to the law school experience forced by the pandemic. During Dean Aiken’s tenure, the School of Law realized enhanced enrollment, job placement, bar passage, rankings, philanthropic support and a more prominent place in the University. Among the highlights of her deanship:

• U.S. News currently ranks Wake Forest Law No. 37, up four spots from 2021. When focusing on student success, Wake Forest Law ranked 21st (Above the Law, rank of top 50 schools).
• Wake Law’s entering JD class this fall is anticipated to be one of the most highly credentialed in the School’s history, setting new standards for average LSAT scores and undergraduate GPA.
• Dean Aiken has led a highly successful philanthropic effort for the School, securing more than $18 million over the past three years in commitments for scholarships, faculty support, and innovative academic programs. This year she broke all previous fundraising records for Wake Law.
• The American Bar Association (ABA) recently released the law school employment results for 2021 graduates from law schools across the U.S. Wake Forest Law ranked No. 3 out of 196 law schools in the number of graduates employed in full-time, long-term positions requiring a bar license or for which the JD is an advantage. As of March 2022, 96.5% of Wake Law’s 2021 graduates are employed in these “gold standard” jobs.
• During her deanship, Dean Aiken hired eleven excellent teacher-scholars, enhanced the Intellectual Property program, and created two new clinics: an intellectual property clinic and a medical-legal partnership.
• This year, Lawyers of Color (lawyersofcolor.org) ranked Wake Forest Law as 25th among top law schools for Black students.

We are immensely grateful for Dean Aiken’s service to Wake Forest and our broader community.

In 2020-21, Dean Aiken chaired the academic subcommittee of our COVID scenario-planning team, which was instrumental to Wake Forest’s ability to navigate the pandemic. As a key member of the Reynolda Cabinet and the Deans’ Council, Dean Aiken also helped shape Wake Forest’s academic evolution over the past three years, with a particular emphasis on cross-school, interdisciplinary programs and research collaborations.

During her research leave, in addition to her reproductive rights work, Dean Aiken will finish her current book project, Motherhood and the Law: Enforcing Selflessness.

We are pleased to announce that Nell Jessup Newton, Professor of Law at the University of Notre Dame Law School, has accepted our invitation to serve as interim Dean of the Wake Forest School of Law, effective August 1.

Professor Newton is a distinguished lawyer, legal scholar, and educator with more than 20 years of leadership experience in legal education. She served as Notre Dame Law School’s 10th dean from July 2009 until July 2019, building the School’s curricular strengths in business, international law, and intellectual property. During her tenure as Dean, Notre Dame launched eight new programs of study, as well as clinics for low-income taxpayers, community development, intellectual property, and entrepreneurship. She also led initiatives to expand international education opportunities for Notre Dame Law in Italy, China, Chile, Ireland, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom.

Professor Newton is a prominent scholar of Native American Law and the editor-in-chief of Cohen’s Handbook of Federal Indian Law. During the 2021-22 academic year, she served with distinction as interim dean of the University of Miami School of Law.

Newton is well equipped to lead during this important time of assessment and transition for the law school, and we look forward to welcoming her to our community. She has held numerous national positions in the legal education community, including the NALP (National Association for Law Placement) Foundation for Law Career Research and Education, the American Bar Association, the Association of American Law Schools, and the Law School Admission Council.

Please join us in thanking Dean Aiken for her leadership and service to Wake Forest, and in welcoming interim Dean Newton to the University.

Sincerely,

Susan R. Wente
President

Michele Gillespie
Provost