Shirley Mays, Dean of the Phoenix School of Law

We reported earlier today, via Facebook, that the Phoenix School of Law had named its new Dean. From a few people, we’ve been told that Dean Shirley Mays started work yesterday.

(Here is our post: The Phoenix School of Law has named its new Dean: Shirley Mays, formerly an Associate Dean and Associate Professor at Capital University Law School in Columbus, Ohio.)

Officially, though, as of this morning all we had heard from the school was a Twitter post. Here’s what they posted on Monday, August 2, at 10:27:

phxlaw We welcome our new Dean, Shirley Mays!

I’m all for the New Media, but, as they say, “Trust but verify.” So I was heartened to see Dean Mays’ photo posted on the school’s Web page today. And then I spoke with Juliet Falevitch, the school’s marketing and communications manager, who confirmed that the new administrator is on the job.

Dean Mays earned her J.D. at Harvard Law School in 1987, and her B.A. (magna cum laude) at Central State University in 1976.

We expect we will interview the new Dean for an upcoming issue of Arizona Attorney Magazine. In the meantime, here is some more information we’ve been able to gather from her former school’s site.

Professor Mays serves as associate dean and faculty advisor to Capital’s Black Law Students Association. In addition, she teaches courses in Local Government Law, Sex-based Discrimination, and Business Associations. Prior to joining the Capital faculty in 1991, Professor Mays practiced law in the public/municipal finance department with the law firm of Squire, Sanders & Dempsey. She was formerly a judicial clerk for the Honorable Thomas J. Moyer, chief justice of the Ohio Supreme Court. She served as a visiting professor at the University of Kentucky in Fall 2001.

Law Review Articles

  • Maintaining Urban Greenspace, St. John’s Law Review (2000).
  • Privatization of Municipal Services: A Contagion in the Body Politic, 34 Duquesne Law Review 41 (1996).

As recently as this past February, Dean Mays was named to another term on the Ohio Ethics Commission:

The Ohio Ethics Commission is an independent state agency composed of three Democratic and three Republican members, appointed by the Governor, and subject to confirmation by the Ohio Senate. The Ethics Commission oversees the Ethics Law for all state and local public officials and employees, apart from those serving in the General Assembly and Judiciary, through advisory, education, financial disclosure, and investigative responsibilities. The Commission is 36 years old; created upon the enactment of the Ohio Ethics Law in 1973.

The full press release is here.