Two Women Appointed to Dean Positions at Law Schools in the United States

Sean Megan Scott was named the next president and dean of the California Western School of Law in San Diego. She will assume her new duties in August. Most recently Scott served as associate director of the Association of American Law Schools (AALS), the largest legal academic society in the United States. From 2008 to 2016, Scott served as a professor and senior associate dean and associate dean for faculty at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles, where she established the school’s master of science in legal studies program.

“In my new role as president and dean of Cal Western, I expect to continue my commitment to promoting academic excellence, advocating for diversity in the academy and legal profession, innovating in the classroom and emphasizing the critical role law schools play in maintaining the pillars of our democracy,” says Scott. “California Western is in an excellent position to expand opportunities for students and faculty by taking advantage of San Diego’s strong and varied economy and legal community.”

Professor Smith is a graduate of Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts, where she majored in American studies. She earned her law degree at New York University.

Camille M. Davidson, a former professor and associate dean for academic affairs and faculty development at Charlotte School of Law, will become the next dean of the Southern Illinois University School of Law. Professor Davidson will become dean on July 1.

Most recently, Davidson was a judicial hearing officer in Mecklenburg County for the North Carolina Judicial Branch. Before that, Davidson was an instructor at the Wake Forest University School of Law, where she developed and taught an online business of healthcare course for the master of studies in law program. She was on the faculty at the Charlotte School of Law from 2007 to 2017. She also taught at Davidson College in North Carolina as an adjunct professor from 2004 to 2006.

In accepting the appointment, Davidson stated that the “SIU School of Law is doing a lot of great things, and I look forward to working with this amazing group of people to continue to build a world-class law school that graduates students who are equipped to practice law in the 21st century, who are ethical and want to give back to the community, and who are happy and enjoy what they do.”

Davidson is a graduate of Millsap College in Jackson, Mississippi, where she majored in business administration. She earned her law degree at the Georgetown University Law Center.