UC-I to UC-B

Erwin Chemerinsky will be the next dean of the University of California, Berkeley School of Law. The school announced Wednesday that Chemerinsky, a preeminent constitutional law expert and founding dean of the University of California, Irvine School of Law, will assume the deanship on July 1 for a five-year term.

He replaced interim Dean Melissa Murray, who took that position in March 2016 after former dean Sujit Choudhry stepped down amid a sexual harassment scandal.

“I believe he will be a phenomenal leader for our law school, someone who will ensure that Berkeley Law remains not only a powerhouse of legal scholarship and training, but also a community built on mutual respect and inclusion,” said UC Berkeley Interim Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost Carol Christ in the announcement of Chemerinsky’s appointment. 

UC Irvine announced Tuesday that professor L. Song Richardson will be its interim dean.

Chemerinsky founded Irvine’s law school in 2009 with the ambition of being a top-tier law school. It made an impressive debut on U.S. News & World Report’s influential law school rankings, and currently sits at No. 28. Chemerinsky is among the nation’s top legal scholars, and is the author of 10 books and nearly 200 law review articles. He often publishes commentary on the nation’s top newspapers, dissecting the Supreme Court and major legal matters of the day.

Source: http://www.therecorder.com/id=1202786484056/Chemerinsky-Named-Law-Dean-at-UC-Berkeley