Professor Sue Liemer has been named associate dean for academic affairs, succeeding Professor Enrique Armijo, whose administrative term concludes this summer; Assistant Professor Caroleen Dineen will serve as interim director of the Legal Method & Communication Program.
Elon Law will have new members of its administrative team effective at the end of the 2021 Spring Trimester.
Dean Luke Bierman has named Professor Sue Liemer, director of the Legal Method & Communication Program since arriving at Elon Law in 2017, the law school’s next associate dean for academic affairs.
Liemer served from 1998-2000 as president of the Association of Legal Writing Directors and served a four-year term on the Board of Directors of the Legal Writing Institute. She also created and co-edited the Legal Writing Professors’ Blog, which has twice been listed in the ABA Journal’s top law blogs.
Her scholarship includes book chapters, law journal articles, and book reviews on legal writing education and the administration of legal writing programs. Liemer earned a Bachelor of Arts in comparative literature from Princeton University and a Juris Doctor from the University of Virginia School of Law. She has also written law journal articles on the legal rights of artists and occasionally teaches Art Law.
“Professor Liemer brings a wealth of experience to this role including service in leadership positions as a tenured member of the faculty at several law schools, which will serve us well as we begin to chart the next steps in the logical development of our ‘law school with a difference,’” Bierman said. “She chaired the committee that prepared for the ABA site team’s recent reaccreditation visit to Elon Law so she is fully knowledgeable about the wide range of student, faculty and staff issues that permeate our program of legal education. I look forward to her contributions as a member of the Elon Law administrative team.”
Liemer succeeds Professor Enrique Armijo, who is concluding five years of service as associate dean. In his work, Armijo guided the transition of Elon Law’s academic program to 2.5 years, welcomed several new faculty members to the law school, and ensured that the reaccreditation process moved forward with full explanation of Elon Law’s unique program of legal education.
Most recently, Armijo oversaw Elon Law’s success in ensuring that students remained on track for graduation throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. His achievements were concurrent with a promotion to full professor and an invitation to join the ranks of the American Law Institute while maintaining an ambitious record of teaching and scholarship.
“There has been no shortage of challenges and opportunities over the past five years as Elon Law completed its curricular transition, grew its national reputation for experiential learning, prepared for ABA reaccreditation and pivoted to new approaches to learning in the midst of a global pandemic,” Bierman said. “Our success in providing a superior legal education to students would not have been possible without Professor Armijo’s deft guidance. For this and all the other contributions he has made to our law school, the time is nigh for him to return to his own professional development and retreat to the faculty.”
With Liemer appointed to the administrative role of associate dean, Assistant Professor Caroleen Dineen will serve as interim director of the Legal Method & Communication Program. Dineen directed the legal writing program for first-year students at Florida A&M University College of Law before joining the Elon Law faculty in 2020.
Prior to entering legal education, she practiced law at Broad and Cassel in Florida and for Gordon Thomas Honeywell in the State of Washington, as well as serving as senior counsel for the State of Washington House of Representatives. Dineen earned her Juris Doctor and her MBA from the University of Washington, and her Bachelor of Arts in English and History from the University of Miami.
“I’m thankful for Professor Dineen’s ready acceptance of this challenge and pleased that she shares our ambition to have the LMC program ranked in the top 20 of all legal writing programs among ABA-accredited law schools,” Bierman said. “Indeed, I am so very proud of the growing recognition of the work by our LMC faculty as we all look forward to its continued growth in prominence.”