University of Baltimore law dean to step down at end of school year

Listen to this article

Ronald Weich, the longtime dean of the University of Baltimore School of Law, will be stepping down after the 2023-24 academic year. 

Weich, who has served as dean since 2012, announced his decision Tuesday.

“I am proud of my long tenure as dean of this outstanding law school,” Weich said in a news release. “I have loved every minute of my deanship, but it is time for the school to enjoy a change in leadership while I pursue new professional opportunities.”

Weich said he remains committed “to keeping the law school strong and on track for its next chapter” in the coming months.

The University will conduct a national search for Weich’s successor with the goal of having a new dean in place by summer 2024, the school said.

Weich praised the law school’s faculty and staff for their ability to keep the school “running without interruption” during the COVID-19 pandemic. Weich said the school is in the process of designing online classes to provide more flexibility to students.

During his 11-year tenure, the University of Baltimore School of Law opened its $114.3 million, 192,000 square-foot John and Frances Angelos Law Center in 2013, which featured keynote speeches by then-Vice President Joseph Biden and Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan at its opening.

The school’s clinical law program also rose to a ranking of a tie for sixth in the nation for 2024 by U.S. News & World Report during Weich’s tenure. The National Jurist PreLaw Magazine noted the law school’s “reputation for excellent, skilled-based practical education, where it has been a pioneer in experiential learning for 30 years.”

University of Baltimore President Kurt Schmoke praised Weich’s ability to lead the law school and “thrive in the face of that constant need to improve the landscape.”

“The law is often subject to sweeping change, sometimes in the face of social disorder and systemic injustices,” Schmoke said in a statement. “Throughout his tenure, Ron Weich exhibited these qualities in abundance, and our students, professors, alumni, clients and friends were the beneficiaries.”

As dean of one of two law schools in Maryland, Weich helped oversee the University of Baltimore School of Law’s uptick in enrollment after the nationwide downturn in law school enrollments following the 2008 recession. In 2022, the law school enrolled 225 students from the applicant pool, according to the school’s standard 509 information report.

“Our school now enjoys stable enrollment, a sturdy budget and a healthy relationship with the central university,” Weich said.

Weich also noted the “very loyal alumni,” who, in part, help to establish new clinics and centers for the school, such as the Center for Criminal Justice Reform.

“Perhaps the best measure of our success is the extent to which School of Law graduates secure jobs and contribute to the civic life of Baltimore, the State of Maryland and beyond,” Weich said.

Prior to his tenure as dean, Weich had a lengthy career in government, serving as an assistant attorney general in the Department of Justice during the Obama administration and as chief counsel to U.S. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Sen. Edward M. Kennedy.

He began his legal career as an assistant district attorney in Manhattan. In 1987, he joined the staff of the U.S. Sentencing Commission, serving as its legislative liaison and representing the commission in federal courts throughout the country in litigation challenging the constitutionality of the Sentencing Reform Act.