Jones named new president of Charleston School of Law
November 13, 2014
Effective today, she will serve as top executive at school
CHARLESTON, SC – Highly-respected legal educator Maryann Jones is the new president of the Charleston School of Law, school leaders announced today.
While Dean Andy Abrams will continue to serve as the school’s top academic officer, Jones takes over today as the school’s top executive following a unanimous vote by the school’s board of directors.
“This is a thrilling opportunity to join a respected school as it matures,” said Jones, who has served as dean emerita of Western State University College of Law in Fullerton, Calif., since June 2009. That year, she began service as an independent educational consultant with the Charleston School of Law to provide guidance on accreditation, assessment and programmatic issues.
“We are indeed fortunate to have an individual with the experience and expertise of Maryann Jones assuming a leadership position here at the Charleston School of Law,” Abrams said today. “Having previously played a significant role in our initial American Bar Association accreditation efforts and later in the establishment of our J.D./M.B.A. dual degree with the College of Charleston, her knowledge of legal education, in general, and the Charleston School of Law, in particular, will be invaluable at this pivotal time in the life of our law school.”
Jones served in various roles at the California school, including dean and president from 2004 to 2009. She first joined the school as a professor in 1990. She taught civil procedure, administrative law and legal writing as well as performed a wide range of academic leadership duties.
Jones, who has a bachelor’s degree from Trinity College in Connecticut, earned her law degree and graduated with honors from Chicago-Kent College of Law in 1982. After military service in the Judge Advocate General’s Corps from 1983 to 1986, she entered private practice, continuing duty in the Army Reserves until 1989.
Jones has been admitted to the bar to practice before the Supreme Court of Illinois, Northern District of Illinois, Army Court of Military Review, Supreme Court of California and Central District of California. She has broad service in legal education and community organizations.
About the Charleston School of Law
The Charleston School of Law offers students the unique opportunity to study the time-honored practice of law amid the beauty and grace of one of the South’s most historic cities. Students at the Charleston School of Law study law as a profession and find a faculty focused on using the law as a calling in the public interest.
