Summer 1999 – Issue 55 - Stanford Lawyer - Stanford University

SLIMMR999Dawning of a New Dean'Palpable excitement' follows Sullivan's appointmentWhen Kathleen Sullivan was namedDean-designate three months ago thenews generated a media flurry typicallyreserved for the changing of the guardat a major corporation. The New York Times and"If she wereWall Streetlournal both ran lO-inch articles. The LosAngeles Times, in a piece titled "The New Sage ofa priest, sheStanford," reviewed Sullivan's ascendancy andreferred to her as "a star." As if to underscore thatwould make a characterization, celebrity photographer AnnieLeibovitz, unsolicited, traveled to Stanford to meetperfect pope." and shoot Sullivan.All ofthis attention must signify something.-Harmrd Law SchoolColleagues, friends, and Law School faculty saySullivan's selection is newsworthy because of its historicalprecedent-she is the first woman dean atProfessor LaurenceTribe reacting to any Stanford professional school and the first femaleto head a law school at Yale, Harvard, or Stanford;Kathleen Sullivan'sbecause her credentials are impeccable-she isappointment as dean widely regarded as one of the nation's sharpest legalminds, a constitutional law scholar virtually withoutof Stanford Lawpeer; and because her combination of intellectualSchool, in the San Jose firepower and personal charisma create a palpableMercury News excitement both inside and outside the Law School.Expectations are high that Sullivan possesses thequalities to move not just Stanford Law School butthe entire legal community to higher ground."Kathleen is a phenomenally articulatespokesperson for the Law School," said outgoingDean Paul Brest. "She hasOutgoing Dean Paul Brest will a natural ability to let theworld know about itsbecome president of the Williamachievements. And sheand Flora Hewlett Foundation has a vision for the Schoolnext year, following a one-semestersabbatical at the NYU Schoolthat connects it very closelywith the profession."Sullivan's appointmentof Law. See the Brest retrospectivebeginning on page 18.ofLaw and Dean at age 43CIS Richard E. Lang Professorfollows other accomplishmentsat an early age: she began teaching law atHarvard at 29; earned tenure at Harvard at 33; wasfirst mentioned in national legal publications as apotential future Supreme Court nominee at 36; andwas appointed the first Stanley Morrison Professorof Law at Stanford at 41."She is the most brilliant analyst and best teacherin the field," said Professor Emeritus Gerald Gunther.Gunther should know, since he literally wrotethe book-Constitutional Law, the leading casebookin the field for a generation. Sullivan, who had thebook as a text when she was a law student, is thecoauthor ofthe 13th and most recent edition, andwill edit future editions.Speaking to the Board ofVisitors this spring,Sullivan said her job is to nurture initiatives begunby Brest, and to sustain the momentum created bythe School's capital campaign. Beyond that, shesaid, she will work toward making the Law Schoolthe "best that it can be," both as a source of legaleducation and a center for legal scholarship.Sullivan, who has said that "teaching has alwaysbeen at the absolute center" ofher career, plans tocontinue teaching constitutional law.Q For a complete bibliography of print media coverage ofSullivan's appointment. see the website at http://lawschool.stanford.edu/newdean.shtml.