New Deans on the Block

By John Weaver

This article was prepared by using a sort of electronic interview. Those of you who have met either or both deans know that there is much more to them than can be distilled into about twelve hundred words. This is an introduction. I know that we will be seeing much more of both Dean Varona and Dean Lawson in Tacoma and the South Sound and when they are here I urge you to get out and meet and talk with them. - John Weaver

Miami to Seattle is the longest road trip in major league baseball, but that’s how far the two newest law school deans in the Pacific Northwest had to travel. Tony Varona was professor and Dean Emeritus at the University of Miami before he became the 9th Dean of Seattle University School of Law in July 2022. Tamara Lawson was Dean at the University of St. Thomas School of Law in Miami before becoming Dean at the University of Washington School of Law that August.

They had differing routes to their new deanships, but there were some common threads.

Tamara Lawson began life as a ‘California Girl’ and moved with her family to Nevada when she was three. No one asked her opinion and Nevada had no beaches or Toys-R-Us. But a pink phone in her new house sold her on Nevada. After high school she went to Claremont McKenna College and then to the University of San Francisco Law School.

She’d wanted to be a lawyer since 7th grade when she discovered that most legislators were lawyers; she wanted to work in government and set policy.

Tony Varona is a ‘Jersey Boy’ who was born in Cuba and moved with his family to Newark at age 3. He went to Boston College undergraduate and then law school. As a first-generation immigrant child he translated for his parents and other relatives in their dealings with governmental and other agencies. This translation became advocacy, which he enjoyed and which grew into his interest in law.

After law school Dean Varona practiced communication law and eventually became general counsel and legal director for the Human Rights Campaign. He was an adjunct professor at Georgetown Law Center while in practice and started full- time teaching law at Pace University in New York. He then moved to American University in Washington D.C. He says that “being a law school professor is the best job in the world.

You get to teach students the fundamentals of our republic and prepare the advocates and counselors who will lead us into the future.”

Dean Lawson passed the California bar, but on a visit with her family in Nevada (who wanted her back) she met Judge Johnnie Rawlinson (now of the 9th Circuit), then a Chief Deputy Attorney, who suggested she apply with that office. She got the job and began work with the Clark County (Nevada) Prosecutor’s office. While there she taught at UNLV and Clark County Community College. She was recruited to St.Thomas University by its then Dean and headed across the country for the first time.

Each followed the route of administrative tasks as a professor, then as an academic dean (Varona at American, Lawson at St.Thomas). Finally they each made the decision to jump to full Deanship. This is what brought them together in Miami. Dean Lawson became interim and permanent dean at St. Thomas in 2018. Dean Varona was brought to Miami in 2019 (arriving just in time to deal with COVID shutdowns).

Openings in the Pacific Northwest attracted both of them, as Annette Clark at Seattle University and Mario Barnes at the UW stepped down.

Dean Lawson had visited Gates Hall in 2016 and knew former UW dean Kellye Testy (also a former SU dean) and Dean Barnes. At a small café in Parismin 2022 Dean Barnes suggested she apply for the UW deanship. She was inspired by her meeting with President Marie Cauce and Provost Mark Richards and by the opportunities at the University and in Seattle.

At her installation Dean Lawson shared her love of the works of Kobi Yamada which, in her words, “captivate children and inspire visionary leaders.” One of his books is “What Do You Do With A Chance?” His answer and hers is—"you take it.” She did and came to Seattle.

Dean Varona knew Seattle from frequent business and vacation trips. He understood the Jesuit mission of the Law School and the University from his time at Boston College and Georgetown. And it was nice to have a president, Eduardo Peñalvér, who had been a law school dean. Like Dean Lawson he was drawn by the opportunities presented by the students, the faculty, and the alumni community of the law school.

Living in a city with both human-made and natural skylines appeals to Dean Varona. He can “hike Mount Si in the morning, have lunch at a Vietnamese restaurant on First Hill and still get to the Yakima Valley for an evening function” (pass conditions permitting). As a communications lawyer he has an affinity with the tech community, and as a Cuban he has ‘coffee culture’ (if not just coffee) in his veins. He points out to his Miami friends that Seattle has less rain than Miami.

A self-described “city/metro person” Dean Lawson has lived in LA, San Francisco, Las Vegas, Miami, and now Seattle. Each city was multicultural and is eclectic in its own way; in Seattle she feels energized to engage and make an impact. Seattle seems a natural place for Dean Lawson since she is a fashion historian and collector, and a ‘double black diamond’ alpine skier. So, both indoors and outdoors she has found plenty to do in the Northwest.

Both Deans speak highly of their students and the richness and diversity of their student bodies (both schools are in the top 40 law schools ranked by diversity). Dean Varona says “our students are nothing short of extraordinary” and Dean Lawson says that “students inspire me daily.” Those are the kind of things that students should be hearing from Deans.

Dean Lawson wants to make more connections with the South Sound, saying that it needs a bigger seat at the table. Dean Varona has visited us a number of times and notes that the legal community down here is “tightknit, diverse, and community minded.” Both deans have ideas for further initiatives in the South Sound to link students to the legal and broader communities.

These deans knew each other in Miami. They worked together there and plan to collaborate on important issues. We can expect to see exciting things coming out of both law schools.

 

John Weaver is a retired professor of law from Seattle University School of Law. He began teaching at UPS School of Law in 1972. He is a resident of Tacoma and serves as the law school liaison to the Tacoma-Pierce County Bar Association.