Donald J. Dunn, Dean of University of La Verne College of Law, Dies at 62
By Anonymous
Donald J. Dunn, dean and professor of law at Ontario-based University of La Verne College of Law died of complications related to cancer. He is survived by his wife, Cheryl, son, Kevin, daughter- in-law and two grandchildren. “Donald Dunn was an experienced administrator, dedicated educator and recognized scholar who had a profound and lasting effect on the University of La Verne College of Law. As dean, he provided keen leadership that helped carry our College of Law over the initial threshold of American Bar Association accreditation,” said University of La Verne President Stephen Morgan. “Having served on a number of ABA accreditation teams, including one that had previously visited our College of Law, Don brought with him a depth of knowledge and familiarity of the process that proved integral to attaining provisional accreditation.”
Morgan added, “Don devoted his professional career to legal education. He and his wife, Cheryl, endeared themselves to the university community very quickly. So his passing is a loss that will be felt throughout the entire ULV family.”
A nationally-recognized law librarian, Dean Dunn began his 38- year career at the University of Texas at Austin’s Tarlton Law Library in 1969. In 1972, he earned his master’s of library science from University of Texas at Austin and became supervising librarian in its Criminal Justice Reference Library.
In the summer of 1973, he joined Western New England College (WNEC) School of Law in Springfield, Mass. as law librarian and assistant professor of law. By 1996, Dunn had been promoted on the faculty three times and was named the law school’s interim dean. Two years later, he became dean of WNEC School of Law, making him one of two law librarians in history to also serve as a law school dean. In 2001, Dunn retired as dean and in 2002 became Western New England College School of Law’s associate dean for library and information resources while continuing as a professor of law.
While at Western New England College School of Law, Dean Dunn was an active member in the American Bar Association (ABA) and, in 1977, began serving as an ABA site evaluator for law schools seeking national accreditation. Cumulatively, he served on over 40 site evaluation teams, was the chair of five of those teams and was the sole evaluator for three summer abroad programs: Moscow, Beijing and Cape Town, South Africa.
In 2003, Donald Dunn and his wife, Cheryl, moved to Southern California, and Dunn joined the University of La Verne as dean and professor of law at the College of Law. While at ULV, the experienced ABA site evaluator worked with university administrators and the law school’s faculty to guide the California bar-accredited law school through the difficult process of applying for national accreditation. The attempt was successful and on Feb. 13, 2006, the American Bar Association granted ULV College of Law provisional ABA approval, allowing ULV’s graduates to begin receiving all the same rights and privileges as students graduating from fully ABA- approved law schools.
In 2006, Dean Donald J. Dunn and co-author Roy Mersky of the University of Texas were honored by the American Association of Law Libraries (AALS) for their fundamentals of legal research, voted one of the most influential texts in legal research over the last 50 years (1957-2006) by the AALS’ Academic Law Librarians Special Interest Section. Published in 2002 by Foundation Press, the 8th edition of Fundamentals of Legal Research contains 821 pages and over 200 illustrations in 24 chapters and eight appendices and is used in both first-year and advanced research courses in law schools and paralegal programs. The text covers almost all aspects of legal research, including court cases, state and federal legislation, administrative law, legal periodicals, international law, federal tax law and electronic research.
Dunn’s work has appeared or been cited in a variety of scholarly and trade publications, including Law Library Journal, Perspectives: Teaching Legal Research and Writing, Western New England Law Review, Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly, Trends in Law Library Management and Technology, the “Yale Biographical Dictionary of American Law,”"Magazines for Libraries” and publications by the American Association of Law Libraries, among others.
For more information about Dean Dunn’s lifetime achievements, visit http://law.ulv.edu/pdf/Donald Dunn-Resume.pdf.
Copyright Daily Planet Publishing Inc. Feb 2008
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