Rate My Professor Darby Dickerson

Darby Dickerson serves as President, Dean, and Professor of Law at Southwestern Law School since July 2021, where she was awarded tenure upon appointment. She holds a B.A. and M.A. in Government from The College of William & Mary and a J.D. from Vanderbilt University School of Law, where she was Senior Managing Editor of the Vanderbilt Law Review and a member of the Moot Court Board. After law school, Dickerson clerked for Judge Harry W. Wellford on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit and practiced as a litigation associate at Locke Purnell Rain Harrell in Dallas from 1989 to 1995. She began her academic career at Stetson University College of Law in 1995 as Assistant Professor, earning promotion to Associate Professor in 1997, tenure in 2000, and full Professor in 2001. At Stetson, she directed Legal Research and Writing from 1996 to 2004 and held progressive leadership roles including Associate Dean, Vice Dean, Interim Dean, and Dean/Vice President from 2004 to 2011. Subsequently, she was Dean and W. Frank Newton Professor of Law at Texas Tech University School of Law from 2011 to 2016, Dean at The John Marshall Law School from 2016 to 2019, leading its merger into the University of Illinois Chicago, and Inaugural Dean at University of Illinois Chicago School of Law from 2019 to 2021.

Dickerson's scholarship focuses on legal writing, drafting, and editing; legal education; higher education; and pretrial civil litigation practice. Key publications include ALWD Citation Manual: A Professional System of Citation (Aspen Publishers, 1st ed. 2000; 2d ed. 2003; 3d ed. 2006; 4th ed. 2010) and A Manual for Law Review Editors (co-edited with Brooke Bowman, Carolina Academic Press, 2022). Selected articles are "Facilitated Plagiarism: The Saga of Term-Paper Mills and the Failure of Legislation and Litigation to Control Them," 52 Vill. L. Rev. 21 (2007); "Communication Conundrums: Theories About and Tips for Effective Decanal Communication," 48 Tol. L. Rev. 211 (2017, with Marjorie M. Buckner); and "Finding the Goldilocks Zone: Negotiating Your First Employment Offer in Legal Academia," 69 J. Leg. Educ. 48 (2021). Her influence in legal education is marked by serving as President of the Association of American Law Schools in 2020, two terms on its Executive Committee, and leadership in Scribes—The American Society of Legal Writers as Immediate Past President. Awards include the AALS Section on Legal Writing, Reasoning & Research Lifetime Achievement Award (2018), National Jurist Most Influential Individuals in Legal Education (2016, 2024, 2026), and Stetson Law Hall of Fame induction (2025). She is an elected member of the American Law Institute and has presided over multiple Inns of Court.