Harvard Law School Is Looking for a New Dean. Here’s What You Need To Know.
As Harvard prepares to choose a new dean of the Law School, HLS faculty expressed support for a wide range of candidates, including interim Dean John C. P. Goldberg. But they all agreed on one thing: the next dean should come from within their own ranks.
In one of his first actions as Harvard’s 31st president, Alan M. Garber ’76 permanently appointed longtime Harvard Law School Dean John F. Manning ’82 to serve as the University’s provost — creating a vacancy at the helm of HLS for the first time in seven years.
Garber and Manning will officially launch the search for the Law School’s 14th dean this month, with Manning expected to be heavily involved in picking his successor at the helm of one of Harvard’s most powerful graduate schools.
In interviews with The Crimson, HLS affiliates expressed support for a wide range of candidates, including interim Dean John C. P. Goldberg and the school’s deputy deans. But all of the Law School’s faculty members agreed on one thing: the next dean should come from within their own ranks.
If Garber and Manning decide to fill the vacancy with an external hire, it would break with a century of precedent at the Law School. Only one dean at HLS did not have at least a brief stint on the school’s faculty before ascending to the deanship.
“It would be unusual to have an external candidate,” said HLS professor Holger Spamann.
‘A Clear Front Runner’
When Manning informed his faculty in March that he was taking a leave of absence from the Law School to serve as the University’s interim provost, he announced that Goldberg — formerly a deputy dean under Manning — would serve in the role on an interim basis.
Now that Manning will permanently remain in Massachusetts Hall, Goldberg has emerged as a leading contender to become the Law School’s 14th dean, according to several professors.
“The obvious choice is the current interim Dean, John Goldberg,” HLS professor Oren Bar-Gill wrote in a statement to The Crimson.
“I would be surprised and disappointed if he is not appointed Dean,” he added.
HLS spokesperson Jeff Neal declined to comment on whether Goldberg would seek the position.
Goldberg, a professor of tort law and political philosophy, served as Manning’s deputy dean from 2017 to 2022 — a top administrative role at the Law School.
And his appointment as interim dean over the school’s current deputy deans demonstrated that University leadership had a high level of confidence in Goldberg’s ability to lead the school. Spamann described the relationship between Manning and Goldberg as “very close.”
Last spring, HLS faculty widely praised Goldberg’s appointment. And after five months on the job, many faculty members would like to see Goldberg remain in his role.
While HLS professors Howell E. Jackson and Randall L. Kennedy both said that there are a number of faculty members who are strong candidates to serve as dean, they specifically praised Goldberg.
HLS professor Michael J. Klarman called Goldberg “a clear front runner,” saying that he was “universally liked and admired.”
“I have never heard anyone say an unkind word about him — only expressions of fondness and admiration,” Klarman wrote in an email. “He is warm and generous and easy to talk to; students and alumni will love him.”
‘A Deep and Diverse Bench’
While Goldberg may have an advantage as the school’s interim leader, several HLS professors said that there are a number of current deans and vice deans who may also be top contenders for the role.
The deputy deans and vice deans have historically served as a waiting room for professors vying for the top job at the school. Prior to becoming dean in 2017, Manning served as deputy dean under his predecessor, former HLS Dean Martha L. Minow.
“There are several associate deans now at the Law School who have significant administrative responsibilities,” Klarman said. “And I think some of them might be interested.”
I. Glenn Cohen and Maureen E. “Molly” Brady ’08 both served as deputy deans under Manning. Cohen joined the school’s leadership in 2020 and Brady has served in her role since 2023. Cohen and Brady declined to comment for this article.
Gabriella Blum, Jonathan L. Zittrain, and David B. Wilkins ’77, who currently serve as the Law School’s three vice deans, were also suggested by faculty members as candidates for the top job.
Blum, Zittrain, and Wilkins all declined to comment on whether they were interested in succeeding Manning.
But of those five, Cohen — a leading expert on bioethics and health law — received the most support from faculty members as a potential candidate for the deanship.
When Cohen joined the HLS faculty in 2008, he became the youngest professor at the school. He is also affiliated with the Harvard Medical School Center for Bioethics.
Klarman described Cohen as a “brilliant guy.”
“He’s a big institutional contributor,” Klarman added. “He would be a plausible candidate.”
Wilkins has emerged as a top contender to serve as dean during past searches at the Law School. He was a finalist in the 2009 search that landed on Minow.
In 2017, during the search that ended with Manning’s appointment, 10 student affinity groups endorsed Wilkins for the deanship. If appointed, Wilkins would become the first Black person to serve as dean of the Law School.
Jackson wrote in a statement that the Law School “has a deep and diverse bench of faculty members who have the right temperaments and skills to serve as the next HLS dean.”
“There are lots of good internal options if Alan Garber chooses to go in that direction,” he added.
Kennedy also said that University leadership does not need to look far to find the Law School’s next leader.
“There are an array of members of the HLS faculty who would be excellent candidates,” Kennedy said.
Shaping the Search
As Garber and Manning plan to launch the search, they will likely consider stakeholders beyond just the Law School’s faculty.
The next HLS dean will likely be Garber’s third dean appointment. He tapped Stanford political scientist Jeremy M. Weinstein to lead the Harvard Kennedy School in April, and is currently considering candidates to succeed Bridget Terry Long as dean of the Harvard Graduate School of Education.
HLS student leaders have already indicated that they are hoping for a more active role in the dean search.
Felipe Lobo Koerich, co-president of HLS Lambda — the school’s LGBTQ+ student organization, wrote in a statement that the group’s members “urge the administration to meaningfully incorporate students and affinity groups into the process of selecting a new dean.”
Student involvement in administrative appointments has been a longstanding demand at HLS, where students also sought more involvement in the 2017 process.
At the time, the Law School’s student government leadership asked the University’s leadership to hold student forums, create a position for a student on the search committee, and allow students to interview candidates.
While students were not offered a direct role in the search, former Harvard President Drew Gilpin Faust organized a series of panels to hear about what students wanted to see in the next dean. Faust also created an open email account for students to send input on the dean search.
There appears to be no widespread endorsement of any particular faculty member yet, but affinity group leaders told The Crimson that they want the administration to seek their input.
Laura Kern and Laura Muñoz, co-presidents of HLS’s Women’s Law Association, wrote that they “look forward to working closely with interim Dean Goldberg during the search for our next dean — whom we hope will reflect and represent our members and the wider HLS community.”
—Staff writer S. Mac Healey can be reached at mac.healey@thecrimson.com. Follow him on X @MacHealey.
—Staff writer Saketh Sundar can be reached at saketh.sundar@thecrimson.com. Follow him on X @saketh_sundar.