The deanship at Michigan Law comes with a fairly standard slate of responsibilities—presiding over the Law School’s curriculum and student body, supporting research and teaching, retaining the Law School’s outstanding faculty, and recruiting emerging legal scholars to make the Law Quad their intellectual home, to name a few.
But some tasks are harder to pin down, says May Liang, ’89, chair of the Law School’s Development and Alumni Relations Committee.
“There’s something special about the University of Michigan Law School, and continuing and expanding on that unique character is actually harder work, I think, than most people appreciate,” she says.
Liang, along with a group of more than 30 alumni and friends—many of whom are members of the Law School’s Development and Alumni Relations Committee or the Dean’s Advisory Council—recently established a $500,000 discretionary fund at Michigan Law to honor Mark West’s tenure as dean. West, the former David A. Breach Dean of Law who remains on the faculty as the Nippon Life Professor of Law, was at the helm for a 10-year span that included the pandemic—a challenging period for leaders worldwide. His term as dean concluded at the end of 2023.
May Liang, ’89This fund will not only honor Mark’s leadership and contributions to the Law School, it will also help future deans realize their vision for moving Michigan Law forward.
“Mark navigated the pandemic and the racial justice protests of 2020, among other difficulties, with thoughtfulness and deliberation, and I think it really showed his best leadership qualities in stewarding the Law School through both of those things,” Liang says. “By virtue of his personality and leadership, Mark really kept the Law School moving forward during that difficult time.”
The Mark D. West Dean’s Discretionary Fund will provide discretionary support for future Michigan Law deans. Liang says that access to flexible funds is a critical tool for effectively administering an organization like the Law School.
“There are a lot of important things that require financial support at a place like Michigan Law, which is why my philanthropic philosophy has always been to provide maximum flexibility for organizations that I believe in,” she says.
West became dean in September 2013, succeeding Evan Caminker (who also remains on the faculty as the Branch Rickey Professor of Law). Under West’s leadership, the Law School launched the Problem Solving Initiative, which brings students together from across U-M’s graduate programs to propose viable solutions to complex issues.
With Kyle Logue, the current interim dean, he also led a substantial reform of the Law School’s curriculum that focused on increased flexibility for students while also conforming with new ABA requirements for experiential education. West also worked to ensure that every Michigan Law student has the opportunity to participate in a legal clinic.
In addition, West worked with students, alumni, and donors to establish a program that guarantees summer funding for all first-year students—the most comprehensive program of its kind among top US law schools because it does not limit funding based on type of position. His tenure as dean saw a number of other marquee fundraising milestones—chief among them the Victors for Michigan campaign, which exceeded its goal and raised $210 million for Michigan Law, the majority of which was earmarked for student support.
Today, the Law School continues to evolve and adapt to serve students and the broader public long into the future.
“Every dean inherits a unique set of challenges and opportunities and is going to have a different set of priorities,” says Liang. “This fund will not only honor Mark’s leadership and contributions to the Law School, it will also help future deans realize their vision for moving Michigan Law forward.”
