List of deans of Yale Law School

Dean of Yale Law School
Dean of Yale Law School
	Incumbent; Cristina M. Rodríguez; since 2026
Seat	Yale University
Appointer	Yale Corporation;
Formation	1873
First holder	Francis Wayland III
Website	Office of the Dean

Yale Law School is the law school of Yale University, a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. The school traces its origins to a proprietary law school that developed in the office of a New Haven lawyer in the early 19th century and gradually became affiliated with Yale during the 1820s.^[1]^: 17 The dean of Yale Law School is the executive officer of the school and chairs meetings of both its faculty and its Board of Permanent Officers.^[2] The deanship has been endowed since 2004 by the Sol Goldman Charitable Trust and the Lillian Goldman Charitable Trust, and the sitting dean holds the title of Sol and Lillian Goldman Dean and Professor of Law.^[3]

Under the university's bylaws, the dean is appointed for a term of no more than five years by the Yale Corporation upon the recommendation of the university president, following consultation with the law school's Board of Permanent Officers.^[2] The board, which includes the dean together with the school's professors on permanent appointment and the president and provost ex officiis, is the governing board of the school and is entrusted with matters relating to its educational policy and governance.^[2] In addition to chairing meetings of the board and faculty, the dean presents an annual budget for the law school to the president or provost.^[2]

The office dates back to 1873, when Francis Wayland was appointed as the first dean of Yale Law School, two years after becoming its first full-time professor.^[4] Wayland served until 1903 and oversaw a period in which the school established a philanthropic base, organized its modern law library, founded the Yale Law Journal, and began developing graduate programs in law.^[5] In 1939, after the resignation of Charles Edward Clark, professor William O. Douglas was offered the deanship and accepted, only to be appointed a few days later by President Franklin D. Roosevelt to the U.S. Supreme Court.^[6]^: 111 In 2017, Heather K. Gerken became the school's seventeenth dean and the first woman to hold the office.^[7] Following Gerken's departure in 2025, Yair Listokin served as interim dean from August 1, 2025, to January 30, 2026.^[8] Cristina M. Rodríguez assumed office on February 1, 2026, becoming Yale Law School's eighteenth dean.^[9]

Deans

Deans
No.	Name	Class	Term start	Term end	Ref.
1	Francis Wayland III	–	1873	1903	^[10]^[11]
2	Henry Wade Rogers	–	1903	1916	^[10]^[11]
3	Thomas Walter Swan	–	1916	1927	^[10]^[11]
4	Robert Maynard Hutchins	1925	1927	1929	^[10]^[11]
5	Charles Edward Clark	1913	1929	1939	^[10]^[11]
6	Ashbel Green Gulliver	1922	1940	1946	^[10]^[11]
7	Wesley Alba Sturges	1923	1946	1954	^[10]^[11]
8	Harry Shulman	–	1954	1955	^[10]^[11]
9	Eugene V. Rostow	1937	1955	1965	^[10]^[11]
10	Louis Heilprin Pollak	1948	1965	1970	^[10]^[11]
11	Abraham Samuel Goldstein	1949	1970	1975	^[10]^[11]
12	Harry Hillel Wellington	–	1975	1985	^[10]^[11]
13	Guido Calabresi	1958	1985	1994	^[10]^[11]
14	Anthony T. Kronman	1975	1994	2004	^[10]^[11]^[12]
15	Harold Hongju Koh	–	2004	2009	^[10]^[11]
16	Robert C. Post	1977	2009	2017	^[10]^[11]
17	Heather K. Gerken	–	July 1, 2017	July 31, 2025	^[10]^[13]^[14]
interim	Yair Listokin	2005	August 1, 2025	January 30, 2026	^[15]^[16]
18	Cristina M. Rodríguez	2000	February 1, 2026	present	^[10]^[17]