University of California, Irvine, named Austen Parrish as its third ever dean of its law school. He will assume the post on Aug. 3.Parrish is the dean at the Indiana University Maurer School of Law. A top 20 public law school, it was founded in 1842 as the first state university law school in the Midwest. It is the ninth-oldest law school in the United States.
“With his clear vision, proven leadership and stellar accomplishments, Austen Parrish is the right person to guide UCI Law to greater heights, and we are excited he will be joining UCI,” Chancellor Howard Gillman said in a statement.
Under Parrish’s leadership since 2014, the Maurer School of Law completed a $60 million capital campaign and grew its research centers, established new clinics and built pipeline programs with dozens of university partnerships.
“Former deans Erwin Chemerinsky and Song Richardson have set a very high bar for leadership at UCI Law, and to be selected to follow in their footsteps is an honor,” Parrish said.
Richardson announced in late 2020 that she would leave to take over as president of Colorado College in Colorado Springs, Colo.
Parrish, a native of Vancouver, is a first-generation college and law student, earning a bachelor’s degree in political science and economics at the University of Washington and a law degree at Columbia University. Before joining Indiana University, Parrish was an interim dean and professor at Southwestern Law School in Los Angeles. Prior to entering academia, he was a litigation attorney with O’Melveny & Myers in Los Angeles.
His wife, Leslie Parrish, a senior attorney at Indiana Legal Services’ low-income taxpayer clinic, previously served for many years as senior counsel with Public Counsel’s Children’s Rights Project in Los Angeles. They have two daughters.
UCI Law has 52 full-time faculty members and 477 students.
