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 predecessors, or to the Twin Cities.
Curtis received his law degree from the University of Chicago. Admitted to the bar in 1916, he practiced briefly in Chicago before entering the U.S. Army for service in World War I. He returned to civilian life in 1919 and settled in Colorado, practicing in Denver and Colorado Springs for 18 years. He then came back to Chicago, where he taught part time at John Marshall Law School. In 1948 he left private practice to work full time at John Marshall as a law professor and assistant dean.
In 1955 Curtis became dean of Ohio Northern University College of Law. Three years later he came to William Mitchell College of Law, where he oversaw the college’s move to 2100 Summit Ave. in St. Paul. During his six years with the college, Curtis set a tone and established policies that shaped the school for the next decade. He hired full-time faculty and a librarian, and he encouraged students to create a student bar association and publish a newspaper.