Judge may be next law school dean

ALBANY -- As the dean of Albany Law School serves his final day in office Thursday, the school is eyeing a high-ranking federal judge in Manhattan to be his replacement.

In what would be considered a major coup for the 160-year-old law school, officials were in negotiations to make Judge Richard C. Wesley of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit the school's next president and dean, according to people with knowledge of the situation.

The judge would replace Thomas F. Guernsey, dean and president of Albany Law School for the last nine years, atop the institution, the fourth-oldest law school in America and the nation's oldest independent law school.

"It would be spectacular -- he's widely respected," said one person with knowledge of the school's interest in Wesley, a western New York native who graduated from the University at Albany in 1971 before earning his law degree from Cornell Law School in 1974. "It would be wonderful if (Wesley) and the law school would come together on this thing."

Wesley, 61, a Republican from Livonia in Livingston County, worked as assistant counsel to the Assembly GOP minority, then served two two-year terms in the state Assembly from 1983 to 1987. He represented Livingston, Allegany and Ontario counties.

In 1987, he began a 14-year elected term as state Supreme Court judge within the state's 7th Judicial District, which includes Monroe, Cayuga, Livingston, Ontario, Seneca, Steuben, Wayne and Yates counties. He was appointedby Gov. Mario Cuomo to the Appellate Division in 1994.

In 1997, Gov. George E. Pataki, his one-time colleague in the Republican Assembly minority, appointed Wesley an associate judge to the Court of Appeals, the state's highest court.

Wesley was appointed to the 2nd Circuit in 2003 by President George W. Bush.

David Singer, a spokesman for Albany Law School, declined comment Wednesday when asked about Wesley.

People with knowledge of the negotiations said the hiring of Wesley, should it be finalized, would be a major accomplishment for what is considered a third-tier law school. At the 2nd Circuit, Wesley served alongside current U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice Sonia Sotomayor.

Albany Law School alumni include Gov. Andrew Cuomo; Tom Vilsack, U.S. Agriculture Secretary and former governor of Iowa; and former Time Warner chief executive Richard Parsons, who now chairs financial services giant Citigroup.

Guernsey, 59, the former dean at Southern Illinois University School of Law, started at Albany Law School in September 2002, replacing Thomas H. Sponsler, who retired after seven years at the helm.

The Times Union reported in March that Guernsey and school officials will lower the school's enrollment by 10 students to 240 starting this fall -- and projects lowering that figure to 220 students in as little as three years. At the same time, the school will raise tuition by $1,600, increasing the annual cost to $41,570. Guernsey had noted that, in 2003, the school lowered enrollment from 310 to 250 students and the school's rate of passing scores for the bar exam increased.

"It's always been sort of the vision of the place, since I've been here, that we don't want it any bigger than it has to be," Guernsey said in March, "because we know the smaller it is, the higher quality program that we're going to be able to provide."

U.S. News and World Report ranked Albany Law the nation's 112th-best law school in its most recent ranking of America's top law schools.

Reach Robert Gavin at 434-2403 or rgavin@timesunion.com.