UF names Levin College of Law dean

April 27, 2015

The University of Florida today announced the appointment of Laura Ann Rosenbury as dean of the Levin College of Law. The appointment becomes effective July 1.

A professor at Washington University Law School in St. Louis, Mo., since 2002, Rosenbury served as vice dean for research and faculty development from 2010-12. She was the John S. Lehmann Research Professor in 2013-14 and has been a member of the Association of American Law Schools Membership Review Committee since 2014.

“Laura Rosenbury’s outstanding scholarship and breadth of experience in administration made her the ideal candidate to lead the Levin College of Law,” said Provost Joe Glover, UF’s senior vice president for academic affairs. “We have great confidence in the college’s future under her leadership.”

A committee of faculty, students and administrators chose 10 candidates to interview for the dean position following a nationwide search. Four finalists selected from the candidate pool interviewed with UF President Kent Fuchs, Glover and law school faculty and attended a series of forums for law students.

“I am excited to collaborate with faculty, students, staff and the college’s loyal alumni network to maximize UF’s potential,” Rosenbury said. “Building upon the faculty’s recent strategic planning process, we will make UF the leader in developing innovative responses to the changing legal services market.”

Rosenbury earned a law degree in 1997 from Harvard Law School, where she was primary editor for the Harvard Law Review. She earned a bachelor’s degree in women’s studies in 1992 from Harvard-Radcliffe College.

In addition to teaching at Washington University, Rosenbury has been a visiting professor of law at Harvard Law School, University of Chicago Law School and Stanford Law School. She also has taught short courses at University of Illinois College of Law and University of California, Los Angeles School of Law.

Rosenbury’s research and teaching focus on feminist legal theory, family law, employment discrimination, property and trusts and estates. A recipient of Washington University’s David M. Becker Professor of the Law Award, Rosenbury has served on the advisory board of the law school’s Center for the Interdisciplinary Study of Work and Social Capital and holds an appointment as an affiliated faculty member with Washington University’s Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies Program in Arts & Sciences.

Before embarking on her academic career, Rosenbury clerked for two federal judges and practiced law at Davis Polk & Wardwell in New York City. While at Davis Polk she also taught classes as an adjunct associate professor of law at Fordham University School of Law.

Rosenbury succeeds Robert Jerry, who stepped down as dean in June after serving in that position for 11 years. UF law professor George Dawson currently serves as interim dean.