MU Announces Appointment of New Law School Dean
April 9th, 2012
COLUMBIA, Mo. – Gary Myers, associate dean for research and professor of law at the University of Mississippi School of Law, has been named dean of the University of Missouri School of Law, Provost Brian Foster announced. Myers will officially begin serving as dean on Aug. 15.
“Gary Myers comes to MU with extensive experience in legal education and administration,” MU Provost Brian Foster, said. “His expertise in intellectual property law is extremely appropriate at this time in connection with MU’s strong emphasis on entrepreneurship. He will provide strong leadership for the School of Law following Larry Dessem’s 10-year term as dean. We are delighted to welcome him and his wife, Bridget, to MU.”
Myers graduated with honors from Duke University School of Law and graduated summa cum laude with a bachelor’s degree in economics from New York University. In addition to his time at the University of Mississippi School of Law, Myers was an associate with Powell, Goldstein, Frazer & Murphy in Atlanta and served as a law clerk on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit in Jacksonville, FL. He is an elected member of the American Law Institute, a member of the American Law and Economics Association, and a member of the American Bar Association.
“Gary has a keen vision and ideal experience which positions him perfectly to take the law school to the next level,” said Joan Gabel, dean of the Trulaske College of Business and co-chair of the search committee for the law school dean. “I’m delighted to have him as a colleague and a neighbor on campus.”
Myers also served as Distinguished Visiting Professor of Law at the Loyola University School of Law in 2008, Visiting Professor of Law at the Tulane University School of Law in 2001 and Visiting Associate Professor of Law at the College of William and Mary School of Law in 1999. He has had many books published including, “Entertainment, Media & the Law: Cases & Materials,” “Intellectual Property Principles,” and “The Intersection of Antitrust & Intellectual Property: Cases & Materials.” In addition, Myers has had more than a dozen articles published in journals such as the Journal of Intellectual Property Law and the Minnesota Law Review.
“I am honored to have been selected as the next dean of the MU School of Law,” Myers said. “I want to thank Provost Brian Foster, the search committee, and the faculty for their confidence in me. MU has a great law school with a strong faculty, a collegial environment, and an impressive student body. I look forward to building on the work of prior deans so that the law school can have continued success in training outstanding lawyers, producing excellent legal scholarship, and providing public service to the community.”
Myers replaces R. Lawrence Dessem, who served for the past 10 years as dean. Dessem will be on sabbatical in the fall and will teach in MU’s London Law Consortium in the spring of 2013.