Dean's Advisory Committee on Strategic Planning
As William & Mary Law School begins a new era under Dean A. Benjamin Spencer, we look forward to our future. Our longstanding tradition of intellectual and professional excellence is unwavering, but we cannot rest on our laurels. We must constantly seek to improve our Law School community, the first-class education we provide to our students, and the realization of justice both here and abroad. Dean Spencer thus formed an Advisory Committee on Strategic Planning at the start of the 2020–2021 academic year to guide him on strategies to achieve these goals over the next several years.
The Dean’s first charge to the Committee was to develop vision, mission, and values statements for the Law School that both recognized what has contributed to the Law School’s past success and charted a course for its continued excellence. The Law School’s new statements can be found here.
In developing these statements, the Committee conducted research into similar statements at law schools across the country as well as existing Law School narratives. It sought input from across the Law School community, including students, alumni, faculty, staff, and administrators, both at the outset of the process and as drafts were developed. The collective input provided by the community was invaluable in ensuring that these statements reflect not only the Law School’s present but also its future.
The statements now provide the framework for the overall strategic planning effort that is taking place during this academic year. The Committee’s work focuses on several key areas at the Law School, including:
- building an inclusive community
- ensuring a resilient and sustainable curriculum
- supporting impactful research and scholarship
- developing new educational initiatives beyond the current J.D. and LL.M. programs
- creating a robust communications framework to ensure that all members of the Law School and other communities are informed and engaged.
The Committee will continue its work throughout the Spring 2021 semester, with the goal of completing a draft of the plan for the Dean’s review by May 2021.
Questions or comments about the work of the Committee may be directed to [[w|laheym, Laura Heymann]], chair of the Committee.
Members of the Law School community who would like to submit information or suggestions to the Committee to guide it in its work are encouraged to use this form.
Members of the Dean’s Advisory Committee on Strategic Planning:
Elizabeth Andrews, Professor of the Practice of Law and Interim Director of Clinics
Latoya Asia, J.D. ’09 (Fall 2020)
Stephanie Rever Chu, J.D. ’92 (Spring 2021)
Mike Ende, Associate Dean for Career Services
Laura Heymann, Professor of Law (chair)
Victor Miller, J.D. ’93
Nate Oman, Professor of Law
Laura Shepherd, Associate Dean for Student and Academic Services and Chief Equity Officer
Leslie Street, Clinical Professor of Legal Research and Director of the Wolf Law Library
Sarah Wasserman Rajec, Professor of Law