William Mitchell College of Law, Dean, 1958-1964

Stephen R. Curtis was only the second dean in the history of William Mitchell College of Law and its predecessor schools to have had administrative experience at another law school. (The first was Sigurd B. Severson, St. Paul College of Law’s first full-time dean.) Curtis was the first dean to take office with no prior connections to the college, its …

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William Mitchell College of Law, Dean, 1964-1975

Douglas R. Heidenreich was only the second dean of William Mitchell College of Law and its predecessor schools to be born in Minnesota. Born in St. Paul, he received his law degree from William Mitchell College of Law in 1961. He was the second alumnus to be dean of any of the colleges that made up William Mitchell. (The first …

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Hamline University School of Law, Founding Dean, 1973-1976

Criminal defense attorney Richard T. Oakes was the first dean of the Midwestern School of Law, which opened on January 2, 1973. Besides hiring new faculty and staff, Oakes scouted various locations for the law school, arranged for students to move furniture from one to another, coordinated library acquisitions, and assembled a Board of Directors that included the students.  Oakes …

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William Mitchell College of Law, Dean, 1975-1980

Bruce Burton received his Bachelor’s degree in 1961; after a stint as a schoolteacher, he entered the University of Minnesota Law School. After graduation in 1968, he joined Dorsey & Whitney, the region’s largest law firm. Four years later, Burton began teaching part-time at William Mitchell College of Law; in 1973 he left his position as general counsel for a …

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Hamline University School of Law, Dean, 1976-1981

Richard Allen was born in Swampscott, MA, and served in the Navy during World War II and the Army during the Korean War.  After law school, he taught at George Washington Law School before coming to Hamline as Dean.   Allen’s scholarly work during this period included Readings In Law and Psychiatry. Under his leadership, the law school achieved full accreditation …

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William Mitchell College of Law, President and Dean, 1980-1983

Geoffrey Peters holds a bachelor’s degree from Northwestern University and an M.A. and J.D. from the University of Denver. Soon after his graduation from law school he joined the faculty of Creighton University School of Law in Omaha, Nebraska. Four years later, he became deputy director of the National Center for State Courts. During his deanship at William Mitchell College …

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Hamline University School of Law, Dean, 1981-1987

A graduate of Harvard Law School, Stephen B. Young was named dean of Hamline University School of Law in 1980 after serving as Assistant Dean at Harvard Law School. From 1967-71, Young served as an Office of Civil Operations and Rural Support (CORDS) Deputy District Advisor and Chief, Village Government Branch in Vinh Long province, working on law reform efforts …

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William Mitchell College of Law, Acting Dean, 1983-1985

Melvin B. Goldberg received his J.D. and LL.M. degrees from the University of Chicago Law School, after getting a bachelor’s degree from the University of Minnesota. Following a six-year period of legal aid work in Chicago, he returned to his native Minnesota to join the clinical faculty at the University of Minnesota Law School, where he was an associate professor …

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William Mitchell College of Law, President and Dean, 1985-1995

James F. Hogg received his university and legal training in his native New Zealand. Following a period in practice there, he came to the United States, earning both an LL.M. and an S.J.D. from Harvard University Law School. In 1956, Hogg came to the University of Minnesota Law School where he taught until 1970; for part of that time, he …

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Hamline University School of Law, Acting Dean, 1987-1989

Thompson received his B.A. from DePauw University and his J.D. at the University of Michigan School of Law. He served as a clerk to United States District Judge Miles Lord and then taught at William Mitchell for three years before being named to the Hamline Law School faculty in 1976.  There, he taught trial evidence and civil procedure, criminal law, …

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Hamline University School of Law, Dean, 1990-1993

A New York native, George Latimer graduated from Saint Michael’s College and Columbia Law School.  He practiced labor law in Saint Paul from 1963 until he was elected mayor of Saint Paul in 1976.  As mayor, Latimer focused on the redevelopment of Saint Paul’s downtown core, welcomed Hmong immigration, and introduced home ownership and supportive housing projects for low-income families, …

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Hamline University School of Law, Dean, 1993-1994

Robert J. Sheran, born in Waseca Minnesota, graduated from St. Thomas College in Saint  Paul, where he was a national debate champion, in 1936.  He graduated from the University of Minnesota Law School in 1939.  Sheran was a special agent in the FBI from 1942-1945, guarding the secret Manhattan Project that produced the atomic bomb.  He practiced law with Farrish Johnson in Mankato from …

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Hamline University School of Law, Dean, 1994-1998

Raymond Krause earned his B.S. in 1973 and his J.D. in 1978, both from Georgetown University.  He was a legislative assistant for Senators William Armstrong and Peter H. Dominick (R, CO) and Representative Silvio Conte (R, MA), and Senator Howard Baker was a mentor.   He later worked in government relations for the National Association of Manufacturers, Pfizer Corporation and TRW, …

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William Mitchell School of Law, President and Dean, 1995-2004

A Southerner by birth and education, Harry J. Haynsworth came to William Mitchell College of Law with no ties to Minnesota. He received his bachelor’s and law degrees from Duke University in Durham, North Carolina. In 1971, after seven years in private practice, he joined the law faculty at the University of South Carolina School of Law in Columbia, South …

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Hamline University School of Law, Dean, 1998-2003

Professor Ed Butterfoss joined the Hamline University School of Law faculty from the Philadelphia law firm of Pepper, Hamilton and Scheetz, where he practiced in the areas of product liability, employment discrimination, and commercial law. He also handled pro bono cases involving prisoners’ rights and was a volunteer attorney for the Support Center for Child Advocacy. As a faculty member …

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