Boston College Hires New Law School Dean

Boston College has named Odette Lienau, a professor of law at Cornell University Law School, as the new inaugural Marianne D. Short, Esq., Dean of Boston College Law School. Lienau, who also served as the former associate dean for faculty research and intellectual life at Cornell Law, will begin her new dean position at Boston College Law in January 2023.

“The search committee was pleased to see that our deanship generated strong interest from an impressive cohort of legal educators from leading law schools across the country,” David Quigley, Provost and Dean of Faculties at Boston College, says in a press release. “Odette Lienau stood out as an accomplished scholar and educator who offered up a compelling vision for the future of Boston College Law School. I am excited to welcome her to campus next academic year and to work together to educate the kinds of lawyers our society needs.”

A STRONG BACKGROUND IN SOVEREIGN DEBT ISSUES

Lienau is an internationally renowned expert on sovereign debt issues, with a special focus on developing and transitional countries. Her research has covered international economic law, debtor-creditor relations, international politics, and political and legal theory. Prior to Boston College, she has served as a consultant and expert for the United Nations, the International Monetary Fund, and the World Bank, and offered Congressional testimony on the international debt architecture before the United States House Financial Services Subcommittee on National Security.

Lienau’s first book, Rethinking Sovereign Debt: Politics, Reputation, and Legitimacy in Modern Finance, won an American Society of International Law Book Award in 2016. In her book, Lienau challenges the conventional wisdom that all states—including those emerging from a major regime change—must repay debt or suffer reputational consequences in a functioning international capital market.

“Odette Lienau is an absolutely outstanding choice for our next dean,” Vlad Perju, a law professor and search committee member at Boston College Law, says. “With erudition and skill, she has shown how law can be used in the area of international finance and beyond as an instrument of emancipation and justice rather than a tool for oppression and domination. We simply could not have hoped for a better dean.”

Sources: Boston College, Cornell University