MD Law School Dean Honored Among Most Influential in Legal Education

The head of the the University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law in Baltimore has been named “one of the most influential people in legal education” by The National Jurist for the second consecutive year, according to a news release. 

Dean Phoebe A. Haddon was ranked ninth of the 25 individuals recognized on the list, published in the January 2014 issue. Haddon said she was pleased the school was recognized for its "commitment to excellence in legal education and its promise to provide students, especially those from diverse backgrounds, with the skills to achieve success in our field,”

According to a news release from the university, Haddon has grown increasingly concerned about what she calls “the mismatch” in law today. As she has said in recent presentations to academic and professional groups, “We have thousands of highly trained but unemployed young lawyers and millions of moderate and lower-income people who need legal counsel. Our challenge is to bring them together.”

Haddon is recognized for securing the largest gift in the law school’s history— the $30 million gift from the W.P. Carey Foundation—one of the top 10 largest gifts to any law school, and one of the largest in the University System of Maryland. Since becoming dean in 2009, Haddon has increased scholarships for students, worked to limit tuition increases, recruited top-notch professors to add to the faculty roster, and bolstered the school’s minority enrollment, which this year accounts for 37 percent of all new students, the school said.