Pusey Will Name Casner Acting Law School Dean

A. James Casner, associate dean of the Law School, will be named acting dean by President Pusey when Dean Erwin N. Griswold retires to become United States Solicitor General.

Griswold said yesterday that he will leave the Law School in "not more than two weeks," although he does not yet know when the Senate will confirm his appointment. Since the 63 year-old Griswold is retiring, rather than taking a leave of absence, he will become dean emeritus. He will also retire as Langdell Professor of Law.

The procedure for picking a new permanent dean has not been chosen. President Pusey refused comment yesterday saying that he will discuss procedure with the Law School faculty before deciding.

That discussion may come this afternoon at a special faculty meeting called after the announcement of Griswold's appointment. Whatever procedure is chosen, Casner estimates that the search will take almost a year.

A new dean was last chosen in 1946, when Dean James McC. Landis resigned. At that time, President Conant appointed a Law School faculty committee--including Casner--to make recommendations to him for the post. The committee recommended Griswold.

Casner has been associate dean since 1961, when the post was created upon the suggestion of a committee studying legal education at the school. A full professor at Harvard since 1938, he was admitted to the Illinois bar in 1929, at the age of 22. He is the author of a two volume work, Estate Planning, and co-author of Cases and Text on Property. He teacher a course on estate planning.