FROM THE DEAN

Dear UMKC Law alumni and friends,

It is my privilege to serve as your new dean of the University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Law as of July 2023. Before we turn to what’s ahead for our law school in this edition of Res Ipsa, I wish to thank Dean Barbara Glesner Fines. She led our law school with dedication, skill and devotion for seven years. In that time, the law school navigated COVID-19, instructed hundreds of amazing students, recruited top professors, raised millions of dollars and so much more. Thank you, Dean Glesner Fines, for all you have done and continue to do for UMKC School of Law. We look forward to your contributions as an esteemed faculty member going forward. I also wish to thank the faculty, staff, students and alumni for the warm welcome I have received these past months.

Indeed, I have had an opportunity to meet many of our alumni in person at our events. You are an impressive and inspiring group I am humbled to consider new friends. For those of you I have not had the privilege to meet yet, let me introduce myself. I’m a Kansas City metro native raised by blue-collar parents. I went to law school in my late 20s and returned home to practice. Before teaching, I served as a judicial clerk to then-Chief Judge Deanell Reece Tacha on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit, worked as an associate for Polsinelli in KC and had my own two-person firm. I began teaching full time in 2006 at the University of Michigan.

We returned to the area in 2010, when I took a position on the University of Kansas School of Law faculty and taught civil procedure and that family of courses. There, I served in a variety of leadership roles, from running the bar-passage project to serving as associate dean to working as the vice provost for faculty for the entire university. During that time, I published over 75 works, including five book projects. I also consulted frequently on complex procedural matters.

Much more important to me, I recently celebrated my 22nd wedding anniversary with my wife, Emily Mulligan. She is a freelance writer and marketer — and a huge fan of all KC-area sports teams. We have two outstanding daughters, a college freshman and a high school junior. They are involved in a host of activities, including band, music, art, dance and more that keep us busy. I would be remiss if I did not also mention that we have a rescue dog as a member of our family, Virginia Woof. She answers to Ginny for informal occasions. When not busy with work and family, you’re likely to find me walking, hiking, playing guitar or reading history.

Here at the law school, we are full steam ahead to achieve our vision to be a premier, best-value law school. In this edition, you’ll be introduced to our six new faculty who joined me at the school this summer as we work toward this goal. We are excited to announce the launch of our new bar-prep program, which lays a renewed foundation for student outcome success. And, we are pleased to highlight our new Center for Law, Entrepreneurship and Innovation. As you can see, it’s a great time to be actively involved in the UMKC law community. Thank you for welcoming me into it.

Wishing you the very best,

Lou Mulligan Dean and Professor of Law