Alena Allen Named Dean of the Paul M. Hebert Law Center

LSU brings Louisiana-born Allen home from Association of American Law Schools and the University of Arkansas Fayetteville School of Law 

BATON ROUGE – LSU has named Alena Allen dean of the Paul M. Hebert Law Center. Allen, a Louisiana native, is currently deputy director for the Association of American Law Schools and professor of law at the University of Arkansas School of Law. Her exceptional combination of academic, professional and leadership experience distinguished her among the competitive pool of candidates. 

“We set out to find an exceptionally talented leader committed to legal education, scholarship and practice,” said William F. Tate IV, LSU President. “Ms. Allen’s experience has the depth and breadth we need to take the Paul M. Hebert Law Center to the next level of excellence.”

Allen will begin at LSU on July 17, pending approval by the LSU Board of Supervisors. 

“I am thrilled to welcome Professor Allen. As Dean, Professor Allen will lead the Law Center’s contributions to the legal community and LSU’s Scholarship First agenda, ensuring that our law graduates and excellent law faculty continue to secure, elevate and advance Louisiana,” said Executive Vice President and Provost Roy Haggerty. “Professor Allen is a champion of legal education and has worked her whole academic career to improve access to healthcare.” 

Allen’s scholarship focuses on health policy and tort law and it has been published in the North Carolina Law Review, the Fordham Law Review, the Ohio State Law Journal, the BYU Law Review and the Cardozo Law Review. She was named an American Society of Medicine, Law and Ethics Health Scholar at the Center for Health Law Studies, St. Louis University School of Law.

“At the core of the mission of the law center is a commitment to providing meaningful access to a rigorous legal education so that graduates are empowered to succeed at the highest levels,” Allen said. “I am thrilled to serve as dean, and I look forward to working with the staff, students, faculty and stakeholders to continue to advance the mission and to enhance the law school’s reputation nationally.”

At the University of Arkansas, Allen held several leadership positions, including associate dean for research and faculty development and interim dean. Prior to joining the University of Arkansas, Allen was a tenured associate professor at the Cecil C. Humphreys University of Memphis School of Law where she was awarded Professor of Year in 2013, the Farris Bobango Faculty Scholarship Award in 2019 and the MLK 50 Faculty Service Award in 2021. She also served as director of diversity, director of research and was elected to serve in the faculty senate. Allen taught courses in health law, health law finance, torts and family law.

Allen earned her bachelor’s degree, magna cum laude, from Loyola University New Orleans. She is a graduate of the Yale Law School, where she was the articles editor of the Yale Journal of Regulation. She was a law clerk for Judge Samuel H. Mays, U.S. District Court for the Western District of Tennessee, then for Judge Paulette J. Delk, U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Western District of Tennessee. She worked as an associate in the healthcare group at Arnold & Porter’s Washington, D.C. office and the employee benefits group at Baker Botts in Houston, Texas.  

LSU conducted a national search for the dean of the Paul M. Hebert Law Center and invited four candidates to campus for interviews and open forums with students, faculty and staff. Troy Blanchard, dean of the College of Humanities & Social Sciences, chaired the search committee. 

To learn more about the LSU Paul M. Hebert Law Center, please visit law.lsu.edu.