Dean Smith with former Board Chair Murray L. Galinson (left) and current Chair Kenneth L. Greenman '71 (right)

The year was 1996 and California Western was at a crossroads. Dean Michael Dessent was retiring after a highly successful decade in which one of his key contributions was turning around the school financially. Who would be given the reins to take the school into the 21st Century?

More than 300 names were given to a search firm, and at the end of an exhaustive process it became clear that Steven R. Smith, dean and president of Cleveland-Marshal Law School, was the perfect choice. Not only was Smith a prominent and published legal scholar, he had also been responsible for overseeing the operational end of Cleveland-Marshall - and he was respected at the national level through his service on various committees of the ABA and Association of American Law Schools.

Sixteen years later, as Smith steps down, the school could not have made a better choice, says Roy M. Bell '74, a California Western trustee who headed the search committee for the new dean.

"Our expectations for Dean Smith were extremely high, but he far exceeded all of them," Bell says. "Thanks to Steve's brilliance, his vision of what a law school should be, and his tremendous people skills, he has been the remarkably steady hand on the rudder through myriad challenges and opportunities. His legacy is that he raised us to a much higher level academically while maintaining and enhancing the school’s financial integrity."

No one has had a better view of Smith's accomplishments than Kenneth L. Greenman '71, who worked with the dean the past 12 years as trustee chair.

"Dean Smith was the right person at the right time," Greenman says. "He knows more about running a law school than anyone I've ever met. His energy, integrity, and ability to focus on the big picture are unmatched. The innovative programs he created, the scholarship and academic excellence he inspired, and his commitment to faculty and student excellence and achievement have significantly boosted California Western's reputation nationally. We are deeply appreciative of his many contributions, and I know I speak for everyone when I say Dean Smith will truly be missed."

BOB ROSS // RES IPSA ONLINE