Changes at Baylor Law

Dean Brad Toben with Newly Appointed Associate Dean Patricia Wilson (Center) 
and Senior Assistant Dean Angela Cruseturner (Right), July 2021
 

WACO

Changes are underway at Baylor Law as the Law School prepares to welcome a highly credentialed fall entering class. Dean Leah Teague (JD ’85) has announced that she is stepping away from her role as Associate Dean to return to a full-time faculty position. Dean Teague will hold the inaugural position of Director of Business Law Programs at Baylor Law. In this role, she will elevate and strengthen our business and transactional programs’ national profile. In addition, Baylor Law is at the vanguard of a national movement to incorporate leadership training into the law school experience, and Dean Teague will now focus additional time and resources on growing this national movement while at the same time continuing to serve on committees and in leadership roles at Baylor University.

“I am blessed beyond measure to be a member of the Baylor Law family! It has been my honor and my privilege to work alongside Dean Toben for almost 30 years in the role of associate dean. After much prayerful consideration, I decided to step down from that position to consider how I might best serve Baylor Law in the coming years,” stated Dean Teague in her official announcement. She added, “This transition will allow me more time to work on areas that are near and dear to my heart. I believe enhancing these areas is vitally important to the future of Baylor Law and the legal profession.” 

“I have been deeply privileged to serve with Leah over these past three decades,” stated Dean Toben. “We have been able to work together with our wonderful faculty and staff colleagues to advance Baylor Law’s profile in our advocacy, transactional, legal writing, and criminal law programming. Through everyone’s work, our students have the benefit of a significantly expanded faculty and staff team and a dynamic curriculum with many professional tracks. We have a wide array of opportunities in our many-award-winning pro bono and public service programs, and of course, our students have continued to make us proud in their bar exam performance and work in the profession alongside our Baylor Law alumni community.”

“I am confident that Leah will thrive in her work in our business law programming and in her work on the national level in leadership development studies. Leah and I have been a team for a long time, but change comes inevitably,” he added.

Baylor Law has been an outlier in legal education in having an associate dean who oversees three distinct constituency sectors - faculty, staff, and student affairs. Dean Teague has done this, remarkably, for her entire tenure. Dean Brad Toben has decided to divide these multi-faceted duties into two separate positions as of August 1, 2021.

Patricia Wilson, a member of Baylor Law’s faculty since 1993, has agreed to serve as Associate Dean, with responsibilities focusing on academic-related matters involving faculty and students. Upon announcing Dean Wilson’s new role, Dean Toben remarked, “Pat is a wonderfully effective and resourceful colleague who enjoys the respect of all her faculty and staff colleagues.” Dean Wilson currently serves as the Regional Representative for Region 10 for the National Association of Legal Advocacy Educators (NALAE), is actively involved in the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, is a trained mediator, and is actively involved in the Waco community and her church. She is the driving force behind Baylor Law’s successful annual community event, the People’s Law School, and is a former licensed foster parent who fostered 20 children over the course of a decade.

Angela Cruseturner (JD ’02), Baylor Law’s long-time Assistant Dean of Career Development, has been named as Senior Assistant Dean. She will take on additional administrative responsibilities and will lead on matters relating to staff and the student experience. Upon announcing Dean Cruseturner’s new role, Dean Toben noted, “Angela is tireless in her dedication to the success of our students and in her dedication to furthering the goals of Baylor Law. Our student employment outcomes have been enviable.” During the initial transition period, Dean Cruseturner will continue in her role in the CDO until a successful replacement can be found. We are currently searching for a new Assistant Dean of Career Development. Cruseturner was honored as the 2020 Young Baylor Lawyer of the Year and under her direction, Baylor Law’s Career Development Office has posted record employment statistics for recent graduates. The Professional Development Program she spearheaded has been recognized as one of the premier professional formation programs in the nation.

Baylor Law is deeply grateful to Deans Teague, Wilson, and Cruseturner for their service, past, and future, to Baylor Law.

MEDIA CONTACT: Ed Nelson, Director of Marketing & Communications
EMAIL: Ed_Nelson@Baylor.edu 
PHONE: 254-710-6681
 

ABOUT BAYLOR LAW 
Established in 1857, Baylor University School of Law was one of the first law schools in Texas and one of the first west of the Mississippi River. Today, the school has more than 7,800 living alumni. It is accredited by the American Bar Association and is a member of the Association of American Law Schools. Baylor Law has a record of producing outstanding lawyers, many of whom decide upon a career in public service. The Law School boasts two governors, members or former members of the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate, two former directors of the FBI, U.S. ambassadors, federal judges, justices of the Texas Supreme Court and members of the Texas Legislature, among its notable alumni. In its law specialties rankings, U.S. News & World Report ranked Baylor Law’s trial advocacy program as one of the top 5 in the nation. Baylor Law is also ranked in the top 50 in the magazine’s 2019 edition of "America’s Best Graduate Schools." The National Jurist ranks Baylor Law as one of the "Best School for Practical Training," and in the top 15 "Best Law School Facilities" in the country. The Business Insider places Baylor Law among the top 50 law schools in the nation. Baylor Law received the 2015 American Bar Association Pro Bono Publico Award, making it only the third law school in the nation to be honored with the award since the award's inception in 1984. Learn more at baylor.edu/law

ABOUT BAYLOR UNIVERSITY
Baylor University is a private Christian University and a nationally ranked research institution. The University provides a vibrant campus community for more than 17,000 students by blending interdisciplinary research with an international reputation for educational excellence and a faculty commitment to teaching and scholarship. Chartered in 1845 by the Republic of Texas through the efforts of Baptist pioneers, Baylor is the oldest continually operating University in Texas. Located in Waco, Baylor welcomes students from all 50 states and more than 80 countries to study a broad range of degrees among its 12 nationally recognized academic divisions. Learn more at baylor.edu