New faces in the Dean’s Suite

Members of the Dean’s Suite, from left: Deans Brian Gallini, Karen Sandrik, David Friedman, Melodye Mac Alpine and Jeffrey Dobbins.

After an eventful year, including the arrival of a new dean, Willamette Law welcomed new members to the Dean’s Suite, while others returned to the faculty.

Dean Karen Sandrik now serves as associate dean for faculty, and Dean David Friedman is associate dean for strategic initiatives, while Professor Laura Appleman returned to the full-time faculty as Van Winkle Melton Professor of Law F. Miller Photography and university research integrity officer. Professors Curtis Bridgeman, now the Roderick and Carol Wendt Chair in Business Law and dean emeritus, and Norman Williams, Ken and Claudia Peterson Professor of Law and director of the Center for Constitutional Government, also returned to the faculty.

Dean Karen Sandrik

Sandrik joined the faculty in 2012. Her research focuses on the intersection of commercial law and intellectual property law. She teaches contracts, secured transactions, sales, deals and other courses. She is also co-director of the Willamette Business Lawyering Institute and director of the Certificate Program in Law and Business. In her new role, she works to further develop the College of Law’s already robust scholarly culture alongside growing its intellectual life. She does so, in part, by supporting faculty across a broad range of initiatives, including promoting the law school’s faculty through national organizations, creative media and social media opportunities. “Willamette Law has an outstanding, scholarly faculty that cares deeply about our students. My new role as associate dean for faculty is simple: support the faculty,” Sandrik says. “One exciting part of this new role is helping ensure our community knows what individual faculty members are researching and writing about. From the role of the jury in society to the role of coinage in the U.S. national debt crisis — and everything in between — our faculty has a lot of important (and fun) research and ideas to share.”

Dean David Friedman

Friedman, who joined Willamette Law in 2008, teaches commercial law, business law, torts and consumer trade practices law. He publishes research on behavioral economics, contract theory, advertising law and public health. He received the university’s Robert L. Misner Award for Law Faculty Scholarship in 2019 and the Jerry E. Hudson Award for Excellence in Teaching in 2012. As associate dean for strategic initiatives, Friedman works to help the law school’s culture drive toward proactive and forward-thinking data-driven initiatives, while helping leverage strategic partnerships across the Willamette campus, the region and the nation. “From the outset, Dean Gallini has set a high bar for us as faculty to think about how Willamette can challenge conventional thinking and serve as a beacon of new thinking in legal education,” Friedman says. “It’s exciting to have a leadership role in that effort.”

Professor Laura Appleman

Appleman served as associate dean for faculty research for the past five years. In 2020, she was appointed associate dean for faculty, as well as university research integrity officer. Following a sabbatical, she continues in her positions as Van Winkle Melton Professor of Law and university research integrity officer. Appleman teaches and writes in the areas of criminal law, criminal procedure, family law and sentencing law and policy. She joined the Willamette Law faculty in 2006. “It was a great honor to be the inaugural associate dean for faculty,” Appleman says. “Helping guide the law school through not only a decanal transition but also the myriad challenges of pandemic learning was a difficult but deeply rewarding job. I look forward to continuing as part of the faculty and focusing on my scholarship.”

Professor Laura Appleman