Martha Minow named dean of Harvard Law School

By Globe Staff

Martha Minow, a noted human rights scholar and veteran professor, has been named dean of the Harvard Law School.

Martha Minow

Minow will fill a vacancy left by Elena Kagan, who served as dean for six years until she was nominated earlier this year to her current post as US solicitor general in the Obama administration.

In marking the announcement, Harvard University President Drew Faust praised Minow today as a "scholar of remarkable intelligence, imagination, and scope, with a passion for legal education."

"She has played an important and influential role in the institutional life of the Law School and the University over the years," Faust said in a statement, "and I am delighted that she has agreed to serve as dean during a critical time in the long and storied history of the School."

Minow said in the written announcement that she was "deeply honored and humbled."

"I am eager to help the remarkable community of people at the Harvard Law School … continue to pursue the promise of the rule of law, the ideal of justice, the practical solution of problems, and ever deeper understandings of legal institutions and commitments," Minow said.