January 20, 2026

Southwestern Leaders Again Named Among Most Influential People in Legal Education

Southwestern Law School’s President and Dean Darby Dickerson and Meera E. Deo, J.D., Ph.D., The Honorable Vaino Spencer Chair and Professor of Law, have been named to The National Jurist’s 2026 list of the 25 “Most Influential People in Legal Education,” which was unveiled on January 7 at the AALS Annual Meeting in New Orleans. The recognition highlights their national impact in legal education and places two Southwestern leaders on the publication’s influential roster.

Selections are based on a nationwide voting process by law school deans, recognizing individuals for their significant contributions to legal education.

Both Dean Dickerson and Professor Deo were also named to The National Jurist’s prior “Most Influential” list in 2024. In addition, Dean Dickerson was recognized on the publication’s influential list in 2017—making this her third consecutive appearance on the list. Southwestern was the only law school with two individuals on the 2024 list and is the only law school with two individuals on the 2026 list. 

Dean Darby Dickerson is one of the longest-serving law deans in the United States, having led five institutions over more than two decades. She joined Southwestern Law School in July 2021, bringing with her a rich background in leadership, teaching, scholarship, and a strong commitment to community service and philanthropy.

At Southwestern, Dean Dickerson has been instrumental in launching an innovative Online J.D. program that offers both full- and part-time options. Under her leadership, Southwestern has become a leader in integrating generative AI into its curriculum. She has also implemented many student-centric programs, including two leadership academies, the nation’s first virtual Inn of Court chapter, a food pantry, a professional clothes closet, a student professional development fund to support off-campus activities, a student support and emergency team (SSET), expanded wellness and mental-health offerings, and a Distinguished Jurist-in-Residence program. Under her leadership, the school has also strengthened fundraising, governance, and academics. 

At her former law schools, her accomplishments were many and varied and include helping to create Chicago’s first public law school through the combination of The John Marshall Law School and the University of Illinois Chicago, opening the nation’s first ABA-approved satellite campus at Stetson University College of Law, and creating a unique full-time regional externship program at Texas Tech University School of Law.

In the broader legal education community, Dickerson has been a dynamic presence within the Association of American Law Schools (AALS), where she served as President in 2020. As president, she called on legal academia to abolish the academic caste system—continuing her decades-long quest to bring enhanced status, equity, and pay to non-tenure-track faculty positions. She has also chaired multiple AALS sections and committees. 

Dean Dickerson is an elected member of the American Law Institute, a member of the American Bar Foundation, and a Sustaining Life Fellow of the Texas Bar Foundation. She has participated in five American Inns of Court chapters, serving in leadership roles in all five. She is a current board member and the immediate past president of Scribes—The American Society of Legal Writers.

Dr. Meera E. Deo, The Honorable Vaino Spencer Chair and Professor of Law at Southwestern Law School, is a nationally recognized authority in legal education whose empirical scholarship examines equity, belonging, and institutional culture in the legal academy. 

As Director of the Law School Survey of Student Engagement (LSSSE) at Indiana University Bloomington, Dr. Deo helps lead one of the most significant national data efforts on law student experiences. Most recently, she co-authored and helped lead the 2025 LSSSE Annual Report, Disability in Law School, the first national, longitudinal empirical report focused specifically on law students with disabilities. 

Dr. Deo’s scholarship—grounded in mixed-method empirical research—has been widely published in law reviews and peer-reviewed journals and cited in amicus briefs filed with the U.S. Supreme Court. Her book, Unequal Profession: Race and Gender in Legal Academia (Stanford University Press 2019), helped reshape national conversations about race and gender bias in legal academia. Her more recent work has focused on how institutions can build belonging and promote success in the post–affirmative action landscape, and on how schools can respond to intensifying pressures around DEI with principled, legally sound decision-making. In recognition of her sustained contributions to empirical research on legal education, Dr. Deo received the inaugural AALS Judith Welch Wegner Award in 2025.

In December 2025, Dr. Deo was elected to the Board of Trustees of the Law and Society Association, one of the world’s leading organizations for law-and-society scholarship.

Dean Dickerson and Dr. Deo’s inclusion in The National Jurist’s “Most Influential People in Legal Education” list not only recognizes their exceptional contributions to Southwestern Law School but also demonstrates their profound impact on the broader landscape of legal education.