Professor. Higher-ed Leader. Legal Scholar. Albany Law School’s 19th President & Dean Cinnamon P. Carlarne

The journey for Albany Law School’s new President and Dean Cinnamon P. Carlarne began in Waco, TX where she grew up in a family driven by the power of education. She enrolled at Baylor University as a University Scholar. While at Baylor, Dean Carlarne developed a passion for law and public policy, particularly environmental law and policy. She further developed this focus at the UC Berkeley School of Law, where Dean Carlarne honed her belief in the rule of law as a tool for positive change and focused her legal research on International Environmental Law and Climate Change. Dean Carlarne has since produced an impressive array of publications, including dozens of law review articles and several books on the topic. Dean Carlarne continued her education as a prestigious Marshall Scholar at the University of Oxford, where she earned a Bachelor of Civil Law (BCL) and a master’s degree in environmental change and management. She later returned to Oxford as the Keeley Visiting Fellow at Wadham College. Prior to joining Albany Law School, Dean Carlarne served on the faculty at the Ohio State University Moritz College of Law between 2011-2023, where she ultimately rose to the position of Associate Dean for Faculty & Intellectual Life and was named as the Robert J. Lynn Chair in Law.
    After a comprehensive and highly competitive search for the next leader of Albany Law School, the board of trustees, the faculty, and our community chose Dean Carlarne to carry the law school forward.
    Dean Carlarne’s first official day as President and Dean was July 1, 2023. She jumped right in, getting to know staff, faculty, and community members immediately.
    “I have been struck by the depth and breadth of the  Albany Law community. Albany Law alumni can be found in leadership roles across the state and nation, from representation in the judiciary, the legislature, leading firms, state and local bar associations, and beyond. The Albany Law community is deeply rooted and very supportive of one another and our students,” she said.
    In mid-August, she joined first-year students for orientation and a new program called Lean Into Success, organized by the office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion for first generation and historically underrepresented groups.
   “I loved the Lean Into Success event and what it said about who we are as a community. We are creating intentional space in for students who come from historically underrepresented backgrounds or haven’t had access to legal education,” she said. “The Lean Into Success students entered Orientation with a strong sense of self and a firm foundation for success in legal education.   On top of this, our first-year orientation program is very intentionally designed to foster both community-building and educational success. It is a strong, positive indication of Albany Law’s commitment to student success and well-being.”

The new Strategic Plan
   Dean Carlarne arrived at Albany Law School at a  transformative moment in the school’s nearly 175-year  history. Invigorated by the successful We Rise Together capital campaign, the law school Board of Trustees approved a new strategic plan, “From Innovation to Opportunity,”  to propel the school forward.
The plan rests on three core goals:
•    transformational competencies
•    innovation across the curriculum
•    student-centered focus

Dean Carlarne has a vision for building upon Albany Law School’s existing successes and bringing in her own expertise and experience to help Albany Law School bring the plan to life.
 “So much thought and energy has been put into the strategic  plan. It is a rare moment when everyone comes together to think collectively about who we are and who we want to be.” she said.      
   “As a community, we are focused on infusing the curriculum with transformational competencies and  opportunities for experiential learning in ways that will  position our students to be effective advocates and leaders in a rapidly changing legal environment.” Dean Carlarne has presented a framework for implementation that centers around an Innovative Education, Institutional Resilience & Inclusive Community.
 

  As part of this process, Dean Carlarne has already identified major strengths of the law school, which include the  embedded and institutional flexibility inherent in being an independent law school, strong community partnerships, a commonality of purpose, a commitment to experiential learning and a caring and nurturing community. These strengths have allowed Albany Law School to be responsive to changes in the legal environment, as well as the changing needs of our students.
  “One of the strengths that drew me to Albany Law School is the nimbleness that institutional independence allows.
   It allows us to build community in intentional ways and respond to trends in legal education,” she said.

A Unique Position
   “The duality of the President and Dean role ties in nicely to my academic work in many ways. When we think about climate change and making progress in the climate arena, we think about both deep theoretical and practical questions, including what professionalism and ethics means as lawyers meet real-world demands. An immense amount of thinking on the academic side is grounded by thinking about policy applications and how people’s needs require real change and real progress. I think about the Dean and President role in that way. The approach has many facets and demands, and it spans both the process and depth of student learning and the reality of making sure that Albany Law School is strong and steady as an institution,” she said.
    “As President and Dean, one is involved in everything from student affairs, teaching, scholarship, the health and wellbeing of the institution, governance, and financial health,” she said. “A leadership approach that takes account of the holistic picture allows the law school to be more successful because it guards against fragmented decision making. That’s the advantage of combining these critical roles. Of course, it can be challenging, especially where different needs and demands may appear to require discrete thinking: questions about  curriculum questions coverage or hiring needs might not draw from the same data or knowledge as a capital campaign. But, in my view, these questions should not be thought of as separate. They are all part of the overall health and the functioning of the law school.”

Implementing the Plan
   Dean Carlarne will pursue six strategic priorities in the coming year. First, the school will to continue to strengthen the JD Program by infusing transformational competencies across the curriculum and emphasizing curricular innovation, experiential education, modernized assessment practices, and legal technology proficiency. This will include, for example, expanding capstone courses, reinvigorating a teaching  innovation workshop, integrating legal technology into  
the existing curriculum and developing new curricular  programming around legal technology and the changing nature of legal work.

 

  “We are continuing to adapt to the changing legal landscape, which creates tremendous opportunities to rethink our curricular commitments, hiring decisions, and even institutional building blocks such as the student honor code and exam administration. We can address big questions—not in a rushed manner, but in an intentional and responsive way that recognizes that the ongoing nature of the learning process,” she said.
   Second, Dean Carlarne will work with the leadership team to further institutionalize Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion across and beyond the law school with an emphasis on  systemic change, including through continuing efforts to  improve the admissions process and enrollment management, a commitment to improved hiring processes, expanded institutional advancement focus on all of our alumni constituencies, a commitment to engaged faculty and staff training, and a deepening of institutional forms of accountability.

   Third, Dean Carlarne will focus on strengthening and expanding Albany Law School’s already field-leading Graduate and Professional Legal Education Programs with an emphasis on intentional growth, maintaining the Albany Law School brand, increasing access to legal education, and expanding revenue opportunities.
    Albany Law is already at the forefront of responding to emerging opportunities in legal education.
    “This fall we announced a new Flex JD Program which will expand access to high quality legal education. We anticipate attracting new students, particularly ones unable to navigate the many hurdles that people often face when considering law school.”
 This hybrid program will allow for online, flexible participation, but will include of a residency requirement for courses that demand a residential learning context. The first class of Flex JD students will enroll for the Fall Semester of 2024.
    Fourth, Albany Law School will continue to focus on bar success and career opportunities: Here, the focus will be on improving students’ bar success through continued development of bar support programs, and continued deepening of the school’s already excellent career placement programs. As part of these efforts, Dean Carlarne will work with the leadership team to focus on expanding pipelines to practice and maximizing career and professional placement, including through institutional-wide preparation for NextGen Bar, expanding alternative career opportunities, creating new experiential education opportunities (such as, perhaps, a criminal justice clinic), and thickening curricular and  programmatic emphasis on personal identity formation.
   “In the area of career opportunities, we have already seen great success. Albany Law School takes enormous pride in a 91% job placement rate, which puts us near the top of law schools nationwide,” said Dean Carlarne.
    The Dean’s final two priorities focus on advancing institutional resiliency and excellence and improving the financial strength of the law school and the Albany Law brand and reputation. Through modernized data and IT systems, continued growth of a world class workforce, appropriate improvements to the physical plant, and continued thinking about creating functional and welcoming student spaces, the law school can make life on campus stronger. To that end, Dean Carlarne is reviewing the spaces that Albany students utilize from the law library to the cafeteria.
   “We need to make our space more welcoming and useable for our students so that our physical spaces reflect our commitment to community,” said Dean Carlarne, “It may mean that it is time for a true student center in the core of the 1928 building."

Prepared to Face Challenges
   Challenges are inevitable. Indeed, legal education has  navigated a variety of difficulties. Dean Carlarne intends to lead through listening and harnessing the collective wisdom of the Albany Law School community.
   “Serving in this leadership role is an honor and a privilege. In my view, as a leader the focus has to be on harnessing the strengths and collective energy of the community. I think of leadership as the convergence of a commitment to inclusivity, listening, and of course being willing to make tough decisions,” she said. “My priority has been on getting to know the community and identifying core areas where we have strengths that we can elevate and opportunities we can grasp. Albany Law School is a center of excellence underpinned by a community the strength of which is unrivaled. Our future is very bright.”