Roscoe Jones Jr., dean of the Drake University Law School in Des Moines, Iowa, has recently been appointed to new leadership posts with two national organizations in the legal profession.
First, Jones has been selected to serve as co-chair of the national board of the Lawyers’ Committee on Civil Rights Under Law, a nonpartisan nonprofit civil rights organization. The group was created in 1963 at the request of President John F. Kennedy. Today, the committee provides pro bono resources of the private bar to pursue civil rights.
Additionally, Jones has been named to the Association of American Law Schools Deans’ Steering Committee. Comprised of law school deans from across the United States, the group facilitates opportunities for deans to discuss emerging challenges to the legal profession, share insights, and recommend policy changes to the association’s executive committee.
Jones began his deanship at Drake University Law School on July 1, 2024, making him the first Black dean in the school’s 160-year history. Before his current role, he taught courses on mass incarceration, civil rights policy, and administrative law at Yale Law School, the University of Chicago, the University of Michigan, Georgetown University, George Washington University, the University of Washington, and Harvard Kennedy School. Prior to his career in academia, Jones was a practicing attorney and a legal advisor to various members of the U.S. Congress and federal agencies.
Jones holds a bachelor’s degree from Stanford University and a juris doctorate from the University of Virginia.
