After 11 years of serving as Dean of Saint Louis University School of Law, Jeffrey E. Lewis stepped down to return to teaching full-time at SLU LAW. This academic year, Professor Lewis will teach Remedies and Evidence — both of which he taught while serving as dean.

Under Lewis’ leadership, the School of Law experienced exceptional advancement over the last decade — investment in the law school grew; the law school built an even stronger network of faculty, staff, students and alumni; and the School’s of Law’s Centers of Excellence continued to enjoy national recognition.

During his deanship, the School of Law embarked on a vastly expanded effort to increase the size of the tenure-track faculty and dramatically increased resources for faculty scholarship. Since his tenure began in 1999, the number of full-time faculty more than doubled — increasing from 35 to 68 in 2010. The unprecedented growth of SLU LAW’s nationally renowned faculty has improved the student-to-faculty ratio from 23:1 to 17:1, and is expected to hit 15.5:1 this academic year. Student scholarship has always been a primary focus for Lewis. During the 2009-2010 academic year, 49 percent of full-time students received scholarship assistance and more than 30 students received full-tuition scholarships. In addition, Dean Lewis created the 1843 Scholars, a program that awards full-tuition scholarships to deserving students.

While Lewis was dean, the size of the Legal Clinics tripled, by devoting resources to fund a state-of-the-art building expansion and adding more full-time clinical faculty to offer more students practical experience. Now, the Legal Clinics provide nearly 300 students annually invaluable legal training while providing valuable services to the community.

Professor Lewis earned both a bachelor’s degree in 1966 and a law degree in 1969 from Duke University. He began his academic career as an assistant professor of law in 1970 at the University of Akron College of Law in Ohio.

Two years later, he took a position as an assistant professor of law at the University of Florida College of Law in Gainesville. In 1977, he was promoted to professor of law and named the school’s Outstanding Professor. He was then named associate dean in 1982. Lewis was named dean of the University of Florida College of Law in 1988 and led the law school for eight years. He joined the faculty at SLU LAW in 1999 to serve as dean.

Over the years, Professor’s Lewis has served as the chair and as a member of dozens of American Bar Association (ABA) and Association of American Law School site evaluation teams, He also served on the ABA’s Accreditation Consistency Committee, the Council on Legal Education and Admission to the Bar and the ABA’s Accreditation Committee, serving as its chair from 1996 to 1999.

Lewis is also a fellow of the American Bar Association Foundation and served as a Master of the Bench of the Chester Bedell Inn of Court in Jacksonville, Fla. He has also received numerous awards for outstanding teaching and exceptional academic leadership.