By Luke Lattanzi | Staff Writer
After serving as a faculty member for more than 20 years, Jeremy Counseller, the Abner V. McCall Chair of Evidence Law, is preparing for his start date as dean of Baylor Law School.
Since 1991, Baylor Law School has been under the leadership of Dean — now Dean Emeritus — Brad Toben. After 31 years in the role, Toben announced his decision to return to the law school faculty, and as announced in November, Counseller will succeed Toben effective July 1.
Counseller graduated from Baylor Law School in 2000 and served as a law clerk under Judge Reynaldo G. Garza of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals until 2001. After working in a private practice, he returned to Baylor Law School as a faculty member in 2003 and has remained there ever since.
“When I came on the faculty 21 years ago, I felt so incredibly fortunate to be teaching at Baylor,” Counseller said. “Honestly, there were some days I would just sort of pinch myself that I was actually able to do the job.”
Counseller said initially, after it was announced that a search had begun to replace Toben, he had no aspirations for the role. He said he was content with the opportunity to serve on the law school faculty, teaching students and pursuing research he was passionate about. However, after a lot of self-reflection, Counseller said he decided to apply for the job.
He paused to reflect, not just about what he wanted but also about what would be good for the law school as a whole. Sitting in one of the blue chairs in his office, he would ultimately turn to his faith and prayer to aid his reflections about a potential new chapter in his career.
“Is this something that I should do?” Counseller asked rhetorically. “And I think I also thought about how it’s always good to work for an institution you care about more than you care about your own career. I do place Baylor above myself and above my own ambitions, and so that, to me, seemed like a good fit.”
Counseller said he intends to build upon the progress that Toben brought to the law school by increasing the value of a Baylor Law degree.
“I’ve got a lot of ideas for how I think the law school can improve even further,” Counseller said. “That’s really important to me. I want to improve the value of a Baylor Law degree for our current students and our alums. And I want this to be a place that improves the quality of justice by training professionals to be excellent professionals but also by improving the quality of the law through high-quality scholarship and professional engagement.”
Counseller said he also wants to build on the law school’s effort to become more diverse in its faculty, staff and student body, ensuring the institution reflects the ever-diversifying legal profession. In 2022 and 2023, the American Bar Association found Baylor Law School to not be in compliance with the association’s diverse faculty requirements.
“I think that every student benefits from being educated in a diverse environment, because we’re all going to practice law, be legal professionals in not only a diverse environment, but an increasingly diverse environment,” Counseller said. “I think we all benefit from that, so we’ve made a lot of strides on that front, but there’s more to do.”
Another priority for Counseller as he transitions into the deanship is improving student outreach and ensuring students of the law school do not sacrifice healthy habits while handling their responsibilities. Specifically, Counseller said he wants to bolster opportunities for exercise.
“I’d like to see us have more robust intramural sports and to have faculty involvement in that, because that’s a way to get out and exercise and sweat and all that’s healthy while you have all of these new demands being placed on you,” Counseller said. “Another thing that’s important is that students don’t put aside their own faith lives.”
For the upcoming fall term, Counseller said he intends to start leading weekly voluntary faith devotionals, where all law students are welcome to take a break from their studies to prioritize their emotional, mental and spiritual health.
The law school has been in a state of transition as Interim Dean Patricia Wilson has been leading the institution during the transition between Toben’s tenure and Counseller’s tenure. Wilson joined the law school faculty in 1993 and began serving as associate dean in 2021. She said she is confident in Counseller’s ability to serve.
“He comes in with his own level of experience,” Wilson said. “He’s been on faculty, I think, 20 years, and obviously this will be the first time he’s been the dean, but I have full confidence in his ability. And I think that if I had any advice to give him, it would be, trust the people around you because we want to see you succeed. And I can’t say enough how good all the people in this building are and how committed they are to the mission of the law school.”
Toben also said Counseller is a great selection. He said if he had to give any advice to Counseller, it would be to recognize the true privilege of being able to lead Baylor Law School.
“Realize you’ve been given a great privilege to be the leader of a wonderful school,” Toben said. “And turn your heart every day to what you can do to position this school to more so than ever fulfill its mission to its students in the profession. He’s a wonderful selection, top-notch.”
