Melanie D. Wilson, Dean and Roy L. Steinheimer, Jr., Professor of Law at Washington and Lee University School of Law, has been named to the National Jurist’s 2024 list of the 20 Most Influential People in Legal Education. Wilson is number 14.
National Jurist describes the list of 20 people as those who “are major forces shaping legal education.” To compile its list, the legal publication requests nominations from every law school in the nation. Its editorial team then narrows the list down and asks several hundred people in legal education, including every law school dean, to rate each nominee based on how much they influenced them in the past 12 months.
For the last year, Wilson served as president-elect of the Association of American Law Schools (AALS). On January 6, she assumed the presidency of the flagship legal education association, kicking off her year in office with the launch of her theme, “Courage in Action.”
In her remarks accepting the presidency, Wilson said that lawyers have long had the role of embracing a steadfast commitment to justice, even in the face of unpopular views and controversy. Likewise, she explained that law professors more than ever before must model this same courage every day in classrooms that “reflect the tensions and schisms in society outside the walls of learning.”
“Today, as much as ever before, we need to infuse courage into the legal academy and in the lawyers and the leaders we are preparing and graduating,” said Wilson. “We need the courage to teach our students how to act civilly, even when they vehemently disagree with one another, and we need to teach students how to find common ground with those they oppose. We also must continue to graduate students who find the courage to defend democracy when self-interest or apathy would favor inaction.”
Wilson has served the AALS in numerous capacities during her academic career, including membership on its Executive Committee since 2020.
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