Dean Andrew Perlman Named to Most-Influential List

National Jurist honors Dean Perlman among top-20 leaders "shaping legal education"
Dean Perlman at Law School
Dean Andrew Perlman

Suffolk University Law School Dean Andrew Perlman has been named among National Jurist's “Most Influential People in Legal Education (2024).” The publication's top-20 list honors leaders "shaping legal education.”

Perlman is known nationally for his pioneering approach to educating law students. Both before and during his deanship, he has helped to create one of the most prominent and impactful legal innovation and technology (LIT) programs in the country. Prior to becoming dean, Perlman created Suffolk Law’s LIT Concentration, which was the first of its kind and was recently named a “Top 10 Innovator (2023)” by Bloomberg Law.

As dean, he deepened the Law School’s investment in LIT programs by establishing the nationally leading LIT Lab. Under the direction of Practitioners-in-Residence David Colarusso and Quinten Steenhuis, the LIT Lab has achieved international recognition for its work to automate commonly used legal forms and improve access to justice.

In 2023, Suffolk Law became the first law school in the nation to launch a multi-state smart system for electronic filing of court documents. The LIT Lab’s smart court form mobile apps regularly earn national media coverage.

For these and related efforts, Suffolk Law has received more than $1 million in grants from major foundations, two international innovation awards, and recognition as the No. 1 law school for legal technology by National Jurist on two consecutive occasions.

The Law School’s LIT programs also have helped recent graduates make a national impact. Examples include a legal tech company founder who earned venture capital on Shark Tank, an innovation consultant at the National Center for State Courts, and the director of a prominent law firm’s legal innovation lab.

Perlman also has led or contributed to national initiatives focused on legal innovation, including serving as:

  • an Advisory Council member of the American Bar Association Task Force on the Law and Artificial Intelligence;
  • inaugural chair of the governing council of the ABA’s Center for Innovation;
  • vice chair of the ABA Commission on the Future of Legal Services;
  • chief reporter of the ABA Commission on Ethics 20/20 (the commission updated the ABA Model Rules of Professional Conduct to reflect changes in technology and increased globalization).

His influential scholarship includes a recent article on generative AI and the delivery of legal services that was mentioned on CNN and was among the most-downloaded articles on the Social Science Research Network last year.

Perlman’s service includes other national and local reform efforts, ranging from police practices and access to justice to developing alternate paths to law school and bar admission. For example, he has served as:

  • a founding dean for the ABA-Legal Education Police Practices Consortium;
  • a member of the Law School Admission Council’s Legal Education Program Advisory Committee, developing an alternate pathway to law school admission;
  • a member of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences, Access to Justice Advisory Committee;
  • a co-chair of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court Subcommittee on Alternative Paths to Licensure;
  • a member of the Content Scope Committee of the National Conference of Bar Examiners (NCBE), helping to identify content for the next generation of the bar exam.

The nomination process

National Jurist’s editors received nominations from law schools around the country, after which deans voted on the nominees. The publication released its “Most Influential People in Legal Education” list on January 5, 2024.