The Bay Area is home to several world-class law schools that produce terrific talent valuable to BASF and the legal community. In the last issue of San Francisco Attorney, we profiled Nell Jessup Newton, dean of UC Hastings College of the Law. We will continue our profiles of the deans of some of these law schools, featuring the great work they’re doing to train new attorneys

Gordon, Leslie A.

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Golden Gate University School of Law: Digital Commons

Golden Gate University School of LawGGU Law Digital Commons2004-2008: Frederick White Deans of the Law SchoolSummer 2007Golden Gate University School of Law - DeanFrederick WhiteLeslie A. GordonFollow this and additional works at: http://digitalcommons.law.ggu.edu/deanwhitePart of the Legal Education CommonsThis Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Deans of the Law School at GGU Law Digital Commons. It has been accepted forinclusion in 2004-2008: Frederick White by an authorized administrator of GGU Law Digital Commons. For more information, please contactjfischer@ggu.edu.Recommended CitationGordon, Leslie A., "Golden Gate University School of Law - Dean Frederick White" (2007). 2004-2008: Frederick White. Paper 3.http://digitalcommons.law.ggu.edu/deanwhite/354  SUMMER 2007Golden Gate University School of Law—Dean Frederic WhiteThe Bay Area  is  home to  severa l  world-c lass  law schoolsthat  produce  terr i f ic  ta lent  va luable  to  BASF and thelegal  community .  In  the  last  i ssue  of  San Francisco  Attorney,we prof i led  Nel l  Jessup Newton,  dean of  UC Hast ings  Col lege  of  the  Law.  We wi l l  cont inue  our  prof i les  of  the  deans  of  some of  these  law schools ,  featur ing the  great  workthey ’ re  doing to  tra in  new attorneys .Leslie A. GordonTHE BAR ASSOCIATION OF SAN FRANCISCO SAN FRANCISCO ATTORNEY 55Frederic White is a longtimetrailblazer. In the ’60s, he became the first person in hisfamily to graduate from a four-year university. Three decadeslater, when he agreed in 2004 tohead Golden Gate University’sSchool of  Law, White became the first African American deanof  an American Bar Association(ABA)–accredited law school in California. Raised in Cleveland, White wasa standout in high school, ex-celling in athletics, on the schoolnewspaper, and in class. While incollege at Columbia University, hebecame a political activist. NewYork City, White recalls, “was notparticularly welcoming. It was apretty cold place. I don’t regret [going to school there],but I didn’t have a great time.” Approaching graduation,White debated whether to enter journalism or to pursuea career in the law, eventually choosing law school at atime when Ivy League schools were just starting to recruitblack students. “I  didn’t want to be a starving writer,”White explains about his career choice. After graduation from Columbia’s School of  Law in1973, he practiced municipal finance law at Cleveland’sSquire, Sanders & Dempsey. “It wasfun,” he recalls. “There was a lot of  trav-eling, and it was satisfying to see whatthe money got—like building a school.But my grandma didn’t understand whata bond attorney was. She was concernedI’d have to carry a gun!”A few years later, White left lawpractice to teach property law, land-lord-tenant law, and wills and trustsat Cleveland-Marshall College ofLaw, where later he rose to associatedean. While working at Cleveland-Marshall, White served as grand juryforeman and donated significanttime to mentoring law students,some of  whom are now judges.“People don’t realize the poweradults have over young people,” he says. “Kids are listening; they’renot slackers.”White spent twenty-five years atCleveland-Marshall and had noplans to leave. But Golden Gate’sSchool of  Law was searching for anew dean and heavily courtedWhite. “I liked the mission, the en-thusiasm,” he explains about his attraction to GoldenGate’s law school, which was founded in 1901 as a YMCAnight school to provide a legal education to working peo-ple. “This school is private, but it acts like public school.And we have a great staff.”Now in his third year as dean, White’s agenda includesexpanding the school’s Honors Lawyering Program inwhich students work during the summer with real clientsin a student-run law firm. “One of  the drawbacks of  lawstudy is we stay theoretical way toolong, unlike medical school,” he ex-plains. “I want students to get in-volved in the life of  lawyering.”White also plans to continue to beefup Golden Gate’s niche in environ-mental law and is working toward“better recruiting of  African Ameri-“If everything’s a priority, nothing’s a priority.”Preceding page and above, Dean White at the Golden GateUniversity School of Law56  SUMMER 2007cans and other minorities.” He’s also hoping to teach hisown class on wills. “If  everything’s a priority, nothing’s apriority,” he says of  his goals.The best part of  serving as Golden Gate’s dean is that“the students are really hungry,” White says. “And I’mable to recruit new faculty. People will tell you the worstpart of  being dean is asking for money, but it’s not. It’sone of  the best parts. I love meeting alums. I visit themin other states, and they ask me, ‘What took you so long?’They tell me, ‘Golden Gate gave me a chance, and I’llhelp by giving back.’” He has met alumni as far away asThailand and Paris while visiting the law school’s interna-tional summer programs.White’s fundraising experience is one of  the reasonsthe school recruited him, according to retired Judge LeeBaxter, a Golden Gate alumna and a member of  the lawschool’s dean search committee. White “was known tobe quite effective” in raising money, she says.Baxter has gotten to know White by chairing the Dean’sAdvisory Council. “He’s very enthusiastic,” she says ofhis style. “He’s personable and approachable and veryeasy to work with.” One of  White’s biggest challenges,according to Baxter, is to improve the school’s bar pas-sage rate. Although White has been at the school only afew years, Baxter believes “he’s moving in the right di-rection in that regard.”Dean White in his offices at Golden Gate University School of LawTHE BAR ASSOCIATION OF SAN FRANCISCO SAN FRANCISCO ATTORNEY 57In his nonworkinghours, White spends timein his downtown SanFrancisco home with hiswife, a retired customerservice representativewhom he met when hewas twelve. They marriedthirty years later, afterthey had both been mar-ried before. Betweenthem, they have threesons, four grandsons, and one granddaughter,whom White affection-ately refers to as GladysKnight. “The rest arepips,” he quips.Other than the “jolt ofthe cost of  living,” the ca-reer move to the Bay Areahas been “a pretty goodexperience,” he says.White and his wife “stillact like tourists,” spend-ing time at Fisherman’sWharf  and at local muse-ums. They don’t have acar, so they often travelby ferry to Sausalito andTiburon or walk to theEmbarcadero for lunch.White’s approach tobeing dean—and tolife—is summed up, he says, in a quotationunder his photo on thesecond floor of  the lawschool: With compas-sion, thought fulness, dig-nity, and civility, say whatyou mean and meanwhat you say. “That’s my philoso-phy,” White explains.“Fifteen years ago, Iwouldn’t have said thefirst stuff. But I’ve mel-lowed. In the positionthat I’m in, people arelooking and you must re-flect something theywant to be.”Dean White and Mrs. White enjoying a stroll and sourdough bread neartheir downtown home along the EmbarcaderoDean White Photos by Jim Block

Golden Gate University School of Law - Dean Frederick White

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Golden Gate University School of Law - Dean Frederick White

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Golden Gate University School of Law: Digital Commons