Following up on Kevin’s post yesterday: ABA Journal, Florida International University Faculty Raise Red Flags as Trump Aide Moves to Interim Law Dean Post:

Faculty at Florida International University are raising red flags regarding the appointment of Daniel Z. Epstein as the interim dean of the law school, who started in the post last month.

Epstein, who worked as a special assistant and a senior associate counsel to President Donald Trump from 2017 to 2020, had been eliminated from consideration by a search committee to find a permanent law dean, Florida International University professors told Law.com.

But sources told Law.com that it was likely that Epstein would have become the dean of the Florida International University College of Law permanently. But in July, U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams of the Southern District of Florida issued sanctions against Epstein in an ongoing case between Trump and the IRS. …

When the deanship became open, the Florida International University search committee vetted more than 30 candidates, but Epstein did not make the first cut of 20 candidates, unnamed sources familiar with the decision told Law.com.

• Above the Law, FIU Installs Sanctioned Trump Attorney As Interim Law Dean, Overruling Its Own Search Committee
• Law.com, ‘At Best Bizarre’: FIU Faculty Balk at Former Trump Aide’s Appointment as Law Dean
• Miami Herald, ‘Unusual’: How a Trump Attorney Became Interim Dean of FIU’s Up-and-Coming Law School

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