In an article (The Inclusive Dean Suite: Progress and Its Perils), my colleague Professor Afra Afsharipour considers the importance of diversity in law school administration. It may be of interest to TaxProf blog readers. The abstract of the article is below:

“Over the last two decades, the legal academy has witnessed a significant demographic transformation with women, people of color, and LGBTQ scholars increasingly stepping into dean and associate dean roles. This Essay chronicles these shifts, comparing them against the slower progress seen in leadership in other elite areas of the legal profession. This Essay also focuses on the critical but under-researched role of the associate deanship as a primary pipeline to the dean role and analyzes how intersecting identities shape the modern administrative experience. In response to the current backlash against diversity, equity and inclusion, this Essay argues that sustaining diverse leadership in the `dean suite’ is not merely a matter of demographic representation; it is a strategic necessity for navigating the complex academic, financial, and sociopolitical challenges of administering a modern law school.” (bold added).

There is lots of interest here. I am not sure that I have seen much scholarship on the role of the associate dean position as a pipeline to deanships. That is the path that I followed.