Aspen Leading Edge: A conversation with UC Dean Haider Ala Hamoudi

Dean Haider Ala Hamoudi spoke with Patty Roberts, a podcaster for Aspen Leading Edge, about his first year leading the University of Cincinnati College of Law. Roberts is also dean of St. Mary's School of Law in San Antonio, Texas.

Hamoudi, a graduate of Columbia Law School, came from the University of Pittsburgh where he served for 16 years as a professor and various administrative dean positions before coming to Cincinnati Law in August 2023.  He is the 27th dean since the founding of Cincinnati Law in 1833, which is the fourth oldest law school in the nation and the first in Ohio.

A native of Columbus, Ohio, Hamoudi told Aspen Leading Edge that when he learned of an opening for a new dean at Cincinnati Law it appealed to him for many reasons.

“Cincinnati Law enjoyed leadership from a university that was really dedicated to advancing and supporting it and an external community that was really committed to making sure the University of Cincinnati could take the next step forward,” explains Hamoudi.

“We have a faculty and staff that is very proud of its heritage, the fourth oldest law school in the United States. We are really student-centered and student-focused and married to a Research-1 institution and academic excellence at the highest level,” says Hamoudi. “Our faculty really put students first in making sure they are successful and that was the combination that I was really excited about and delighted that I have not been disappointed with.”

Hamoudi.says he received great feedback from a faculty-staff retreat that occurred just a couple weeks after his appointment that offered great direction for Cincinnati Law going forward.  Strengths, opportunities and areas to watch were identified and additional listening sessions with community stakeholders were held to gather other perspectives as well.

This led to identifying several key priorities for Cincinnati Law.

“The first of those is student success, that is making sure that students have the skills they need to not only pass the bar, but the skills they need to thrive in the legal profession. The second was a commitment to experiential learning. The University of Cincinnati is the home of cooperative education,” Hamoud told listeners.

He said Cincinnati Law has a vibrant externship program and a strong clinical program with more than 95% of law students participating in these programs. 

Hamoudi says a third priority is to bolster Cincinnati Law’s centers of excellence: the Urban Morgan Institute for Human Rights; Jones Center for Race, Gender and Social Justice; the Ohio Innocence Project; the Corporate Law Center; and the Cincinnati Center for the Practice of Global Law.

Focusing on international comparative law is also a priority and Cincinnati Law has a vibrant LLM program. It supports a city that has several mult-national corporations such as Procter & Gamble, Fifth Third Bank, Kroger, Duke Energy and others.

“There is a lot of desire to see us embrace the idea of a global legal education,” says Hamoudi. “We can take advantage of the resources of a large Research 1 institution that the University of Cincinnati offers.”

Hamoudi says Cincinnati Law is also dedicated to helping working professionals interested in legal education that is short of a JD. The law school has an MLS program and is in the process of creating standalone certificate programs. 

“There is a lot of interest within the community for legal education in areas such as corporate compliance, amateur sports law, IT and cyberspace technology,” says Hamoudi. “There is interest in professionals within those fields such as human resources management who are interested in a legal education. We want to really lean into that presence.”

Listen to Dean Hamoudi’s entire podcast discussion online.

Learn more about Hamoudi’s background online.

Featured top image of UC Law Dean Haider Ala Hamoudi. Photo by Andrew Higley/UC Marketing + Brand.