Canadian Lawyer

Canada's law schools have seen a high proportion of turnover in their administration, but the reasons for it aren't all that straightforward. W hen Lee Stuesser, Lakehead University's first law school dean, resigned last June after just two years on the job, he said resignations are "a personal matter" and declined to discuss his reasons. On his way out, the affable dean, who invited new students to his house for barbeques, would only say how grateful he was for the chance to cut the ribbon and open the doors of Lakehead law. Stuesser isn't the first inaugural dean to leave his post suddenly and with little explana- tion. When Thompson Rivers University's founding law dean Chris Axworthy resigned only two years after helping launch the school, and calling his job "a once-in-a-lifetime experience," students said the otherwise transparent administration was "extremely tight- lipped" about why the dean walked out. On at least one occasion, Axworthy had written to students about his frustrations with the administration and budgetary constraints. At the University of New Brunswick, the departure of former dean Jeremy Levitt last year after just six months of deanship made headlines. It didn't help that associate law dean Janet Austin also resigned her post in solidarity almost immediately after Levitt's exit. Although it conducted an inquiry into the deans' exits, UNB refused to discuss its findings with Cana- dian Lawyer. The law school has had three law deans in the last six years. "Law schools across Canada are finding challenges in the recruitment and retention of deans, and UNB has not been immune," Natasha Ashfield, communications officer at UNB, told us. The last year saw a number of Canadian law dean changeovers. Windsor University's Faculty of Law dean Camille Cameron moved to become dean of Dalhousie University's Schulich School of Law, and University of Saskatchewan College of Law's dean Sanjeev Anand resigned to become a provincial court judge. In the summer, the University of Brit- ish Columbia's Allard School of Law welcomed a new dean and the University of Manitoba was shopping for a new law dean at the end of 2015 as its current dean approached the end of her five-year term. KATY LEMAY Law dean Law dean Law dean Law dean Law dean Law dean Law dean Law dean Law dean Law dean Law dean Law dean Law dean Law dean Law dean Law dean Law dean Law dean Law dean Law dean Law dean Law dean Law dean Law dean Law dean Law dean Law dean challenge By Yamri Taddese w w w . C A N A D I A N L a w y e r m a g . c o m F E B R U A R Y 2 0 1 6 27

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