“It’s a little bit like a marriage.”

Inside Higher Ed reports.

Why universities hire two deans to lead their law schools

At first, it was a short-term solution: the law school needed a new dean, and Michael Scharf and Jessica Berg would fill the role together.

Both were leaders in different academic divisions of Case Western Reserve University’s law school. Neither wanted to give up their roles — and if they ran the law school together, they wouldn’t have to.

They started as acting deans, an appointment that could have lasted only weeks or months. Two years later, their titles became permanent. “We came to the conclusion that neither one of us would want to do this solo,” Scharf said. “The provost came around to that line of thinking as well.”