New Leadership Appointments at Northwestern Pritzker Law

01.04.2022

Faculty
From left: Sarah Lawsky, Laura Pedraza-Fariña, Darnell Hines

Northwestern Pritzker Law recently made three new leadership appointments to advance its efforts at innovation for impact. Laura Pedraza-Fariña, professor of law, has been appointed as the inaugural Associate Dean for Innovation and Partnerships, a new position created by Dean Hari Osofsky to build partnerships across the University and with external stakeholders. Sarah Lawsky, Stanford Clinton Sr. and Zylpha Kilbride Clinton Research Professor of Law, has been promoted to Vice Dean, and Darnell Hines, Jr. has been promoted to Associate Dean for Alumni Relations and Development.

“At this moment of change, these appointments are all crucial steps in our efforts to build on our innovation tradition and make an impact.” said Osofsky. “I am very excited to have the opportunity to collaborate with these amazing leaders and other members of our leadership team to build our Law School’s next chapter.”

Northwestern Pritzker Law is one of the most interdisciplinary law schools in the country, with over 50% of its faculty holding PhDs, and Pedraza-Fariña’s leadership will help the Law School advance needed collaboration further. “Our society’s greatest challenges require interdisciplinary, multi-stakeholder solutions, and our Law School aims to create critically needed new approaches to research and teaching,” Osofsky said. “Dean Pedraza-Fariña is an ideal person for this new role because her cutting-edge research focuses on how legal and non-legal norms and institutions interact with each other to influence the direction of technological innovation, and she has already collaborated extensively across Northwestern.”

“I see my new role as a fulcrum to both strengthen existing collaborations and to facilitate new partnerships with the broader University community,” Pedraza-Fariña said. “In my academic research, I study the role of boundary-crossing collaborations in breakthrough innovation, seeking to understand institutional and social barriers to such collaborations. I hope to bring some of this research to bear on the design of our collaborations to build long-term, sustainable connections between law and other University departments.”

Lawsky’s promotion from Associate Dean of Academic Programs to Vice Dean allows her to provide strategic leadership across numerous areas of the Law School. “This promotion acknowledges Dean Lawsky’s tremendous work and the breadth of leadership that she has taken on this fall,” Osofsky said. “Her insights paired with the hard work needed to advance needed action are invaluable, and I am grateful for her leadership and our partnership.”

“I’m excited to continue the work that I’ve focused on previously, like curriculum and academic programs, and also for the opportunity to engage in new ways with the faculty, staff, and students, all of whom make Northwestern Pritzker Law the thriving community that it is,” Lawsky said. “I’m grateful to Dean Osofsky, and I am looking forward to working with her in my new role.”

Darnell Hines, Jr.’s promotion to Associate Dean for Alumni Relations and Development (ARD) recognizes his important leadership contributions and vision for the path forward for alumni engagement and philanthropy. “We are extremely lucky to have the impactful leadership of Associate Dean Hines, and I am very excited to collaborate with him and the ARD team moving forward,” Osofsky said. “We have wonderful opportunities to build new connections among our alumni and advance philanthropy to support our students and our next chapter of innovation that makes a difference.”

“It is a distinct honor to serve as the Law School’s Associate Dean of Alumni Relations and Development,” Hines said. “Over the course of the last seven years, I have worked and met with many of our 17,000 alumni around the world who care deeply about our students and community, many of whom themselves benefited from the generosity of alumni. As the Law School continues innovating for impact, I look forward to inviting our alumni and friends to demonstrate their values through philanthropy.”