Mitchell Hamline School of Law dean to step down next year

Mitchell Hamline School of Law Dean Anthony Niedwiecki has announced he will be leaving the position in June 2024.

Dean Niedwiecki says he won’t renew his contract when it ends next year but will return to teaching at Mitchell Hamline following a sabbatical.

A spokesperson for Mitchell Hamline said that a search for a replacement hasn’t formally begun, but the board is “currently working through those details.”

Niedwiecki said in a letter to alumni he’s choosing to focus on his own wellness, something that he has long encouraged other students to do.

His accomplishments listed in the letter include expanding the legal writing program, dramatically diversifying the student body, founding the first-ever center at a law school focused on the experiences of Black life and the law, enrolling the first currently incarcerated person into any law school in the country, and improving the campus HVAC and IT systems.

Dean Niedwiecki is also the first openly LGBTQ+ leader of the law school in its history, which spans more than 120 years.