By Sara Gold
Eastman IP
California Western School of Law recently welcomed its new dean and president, Sean M. Scott. Proudly African American, Dean Scott is one of the few women of color appointed as dean and president of an American law school.
Leading a Law School During a Pandemic
Dean Scott joined the faculty last August in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic. In response to the need for remote learning, California Western hired education technology specialists and created an Online Learning Taskforce of faculty and staff to identify best practices and create a library of resources.
When asked when students will be “going back” to school, her usual response is that we are “not going back, we are just going forward,” as she believes that the technologies that have arisen from the pandemic will continue to have benefits for law schools and the legal profession. “Progress tends to come in a crisis,” she said.
Dean Scott praises the California Western students for their resilience and flexibility in response to remote learning, and she commends the faculty for their quickness in adapting to Canvas, the school’s new uniform online platform.
While she acknowledges the hardship that remote learning has caused, Dean Scott also has received positive feedback from students who have benefitted from an eliminated commute, fewer distractions, or the ability to care for family members while also attending school from home.
She notes that the pandemic has not affected the size of California Western’s 1L class this year. Extracurriculars such as trial advocacy and Moot Court have been able to continue, and student organizations have been able to create a sense of community through online programming. Additionally, the school’s Student Services department has stepped up to provide mental health services supporting students through the challenging experience of being in law school during a pandemic. The school also created a Student Emergency Fund that, with the generous support of alumni and others, has been able to raise thousands of dollars to help students survive the challenges of the pandemic and acquire the technologies necessary for remote learning.
Diversity Within Academia and the Legal Profession
Although U.S. News ranked California Western as one of the most diverse law schools in the nation in 2020, Dean Scott has plans to further promote diversity amongst students, faculty, and staff. The school will begin its search for a Chief Diversity Officer this semester, and there are also plans to create anti-bias training and resources to help bring discussions of important issues into the classroom.
However, perhaps the most ineffable way of promoting diversity in the profession is by having diverse faculty members on law school campuses. As a legal educator of over 30 years, Dean Scott says her favorite part of her job is being able to relate to and inspire students who also come from minority backgrounds.
“Simply existing as an academic of color challenges many unspoken assumptions about what a law school dean or professor can or should look like,” she said. “It also provides the opportunity to stimulate students mentally and intellectually and engage in meaningful conversations. The best part of my job is receiving letters and emails from students, expressing gratitude for the way in which I changed their view of what is possible.”
After a few years working in corporate law right out of law school, Dean Scott began her career in academia as a professor at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles. When she first started teaching at Loyola Law School in 1989, she was the only woman of color on the faculty. Later she became the school’s first woman of color to acquire tenure. Eventually she served as Associate Dean of Faculty for Loyola Law School, and she helped pioneer the school’s Master of Legal Studies program as its first faculty director. During her 30 years at Loyola, she also received multiple campus awards for her excellence in teaching.
But despite her happiness in achieving these milestones, Dean Scott aspires to make diversity in legal academia the norm rather than the exception.
“Always being on the outside creates a sensitivity and desire not to be the only one,” Dean Scott said. “I am not exceptional; there were plenty of others before me who were qualified for these types of positions but simply did not have the opportunities. Education on the need for and the value of diversity in law school hiring is crucial for more diversity to be possible.”
She currently serves on the Board of Governors of the Society of American Law Teachers and previously was the Associate Director of the Association of American Law Schools, the largest legal academic society in the United States. Both of these organizations promote diversity within law school faculties.
Dean Scott notes that in order to achieve more diverse law school faculties, there must be a more diverse pool of lawyers in the profession. Citing affordability as a major obstacle for minority students interested in applying to law school, Dean Scott believes that greater education is needed on law school financing and the value of a law school education as an “investment in your career and yourself.”
Law schools must also play their part in committing themselves to adopting more inclusive hiring practices, she says. While she believes that law school faculties have grown more diverse over the past three decades, more effort is required to continue this trend.
“Although there is more diversity than there was in the past, there are still not many law school leaders who are people of color,” she said. “This type of change cannot simply be wished into existence. It requires an inclusive mentality combined with hard work and active steps, and California Western is willing to put in that hard work.”