Dean Nick Allard: Mythological Hero

He doesn't always run law schools, but when he does, he runs Brooklyn to new heights.  This faith-affirming article describes Dean Nick Allard as

a man who has, in a few short years, elevated Brooklyn Law School’s reputation dramatically in the view of many in the legal profession.

Remember a few years back, when among "many in the legal profession" Brooklyn was a wannabe 2nd-tier law school among the dozens of overpriced private law schools in American urban centers that may have once filled a useful function, but now are overpriced, questionable institutions with sub-optimal employment scores?  Remember how Allard's leadership brought Brooklyn to the level of NYU and Columbia with Herculean might and Chemerinskyan aplomb?

Me, too!  What fun days those were!

More journalistic excellence:

His innovative leadership has sent ripples through the national legal world and, many believe, he has almost single-handedly sent out the message that our existentially challenged profession can indeed be “saved” and prosper if only scholars and practitioners would embrace the dramatic changes thrust upon them by the onset of the Digital Age.

Indeed, I have no doubt these unnamed believers remember fondly the time Allard took his "embrace change!" message to attack the oligarchic test-makers at the NCBE, who were using antiquated psychometric science and unfairly causing bar examination results to decline.  The NCBE should have simply embraced the change brought on by the digital age and let anyone into the bar who could correctly navigate an ExamSoft prompt or two (which, to be fair, most older solo practitioners would fail at doing.

And what a grueling task to "single-handedly" send out reform messages starting in 2012; like Atlas holding up the Earth by his lonesome, Allard swooped it to hoist the Rock of Reform on his broad shoulders.  I only wish others in the profession had bothered to utter one word about reform and adopting to the digital age prior to then...or even now...

And in the speech actually being reported in the above article, Allard makes clear that Brooklyn is the place to be:

Today, we are known for producing extraordinary graduates, like you, who have that extra Brooklyn edge in public service, government and the private sector. [emphasis added to show the edge - it cut you like a switchblade, mothafucka]
...
These students will go on to excel in law school, pass the bar and get meaningful jobs.*

See?  And I would be remiss not quoting Allard on his inventive, unprecedented tuition plan:

We have turned the broken business model of legal education on its head. And we sparked a national conversation on an issue that affects us all.

When you think about the positive reforms that are happening in legal education - and particularly the part about law school becoming more affordable for the blue-collar masses - remember it all started when Brooklyn Law School courageously lowering its tuition in 2014.

Dean Nick Allard has not only filled the void left by the departures of Titans like Dean Hobbs, Dean Mitchell, and Dean Matasar, among others, he's building himself a legacy in his own right as a trailblazer among trailblazers, an Osiris-Dionysis figure taking the mantle of a noble cause and leading his own revolution.  This Rhodes Scholar should, frankly, have his own Colossus.

*disclaimer: puffery; not a warranty of any kind.