ASU law dean appoints 3 associate deans

Dean Douglas Sylvester has promoted three faculty members at the Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law at Arizona State University to associate deans, effective July 1, to help advance the law school’s upward trajectory in teaching, scholarship, research and new projects.

“I am extraordinarily grateful for the willingness of these faculty members to take on these tasks to make the law school stronger,” said Sylvester, who was named Dean in March. “Each of them has the energy, creativity and problem-solving skills needed to take advantage of the opportunities available to the law school. In addition, each will be crucial in helping us take on the challenges we face. I know that, with this team in place, we will continue to move this school to the forefront of legal research and education.”

Professor Mary Sigler will become Associate Dean for Faculty, a new position that entails assisting the administration in directing faculty research grants, conference planning and travel requests. Sigler, who joined the College of Law in 2003, teaches criminal law, jurisprudence and topics in moral and political theory, and her interests lie at the intersection of legal, moral and political philosophy.

Professor Zachary Kramer will be the Associate Dean for Intellectual Life. In this role, Kramer, who joined the faculty in 2010, will oversee junior faculty mentoring, institutional conferences, retreats and media. His teaching and research are concentrated on employment law, antidiscrimination law, law and sexuality and work/family issues. After beginning his teaching career as the inaugural Charles R. Williams Teaching Fellow at UCLA School of Law, Kramer taught at Penn State and at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, before coming to ASU.

Professor Adam Chodorow was appointed Associate Dean for Innovative Ventures, a position focused on the launch of new programs at the law school. Initially, Chodorow will concentrate on establishing a law-school affiliated, nonprofit law firm, modeled loosely on medical residency programs. The firm will train recent graduates in the practical aspects of lawyering while providing low-cost, high quality legal services to those who may not otherwise be able to afford legal representation.

Chodorow has been on the faculty since 2004, and is the faculty editor of Jurimetrics, The  Journal of Law, Science, and Technology, and a Faculty Fellow in the College of Law’s Center for Law, Science & Innovation. His teaching and research interests lie in tax, business and regulatory law. He chairs the Teaching Tax Committee of the ABA’s Tax Section.

Professor Judy Stinson will continue as Associate Dean for Academic Affairs. Stinson, whose research and teaching focus on legal method and writing, appellate advocacy and sexual orientation and the law, is the author of The Tao of Legal Writing and co-author of Examples & Explanations: Legal Writing. Stinson began her teaching career at the University of Illinois in the Legal Research and Writing Program and the Law Minority Access Program. She also served as assistant dean at Illinois. Stinson joined ASU in 1997, and is a former director of the law school’s Legal Method and Writing and Academic Success programs. She is a past-president of the Association of Legal Writing Directors and a member of the Legal Writing Institute.