Phone: (206) 543-2586
Email: lawdean@uw.edu
LL.M. 2003, Georgetown University Law Center J.D. 1995, University of San Francisco School of Law B.A. 1992, Claremont McKenna College
See the full list under the Publications tab below.
Tamara F. Lawson is the Toni Rembe Dean and Professor of Law at the University of Washington School of Law in Seattle. She is a nationally recognized legal scholar and educator with expertise in criminal law and justice, advocacy and the intersection of law and society.
As dean at UW Law, she has focused on fortifying the faculty-student relationship and transforming the student experience. Her leadership has led to increased resources for bar prep support, opened new doors to admittance and strengthened interdisciplinary opportunities. In stewardship of one of the largest estate gifts in UW history — to the Barer Institute for Leadership in Law & Global Development — she is amplifying the global impact of the school.
Dean Lawson received the AALS Clyde Ferguson Award (2023) for excellence in public service, teaching and scholarship, and the Lutie A. Lytle Outstanding Scholar Award (2021) for trail-blazing, leadership, commitment, and dedication to legal-education, scholarship, and professional development. She was twice awarded Professor of the Year by law students for her criminal law and criminal procedure courses.
She currently serves on several leadership boards related to higher education and the legal profession: Association of American Law Schools (AALS) Women in Legal Education (WILE) Executive Committee; Society of American Law Teachers’ Board of Governors; and National Bar Association’s (NBA) Board of Governors and Chair of the NBA’s Law Professors’ Division. Dean Lawson has previously served as the Chair of three sections of the AALS: Women-in-Legal Education, Evidence Law, and Law and Humanities. She has also served on the Law School Admissions Council Board of Trustees.
She is regularly invited to speak on issues of criminal justice and race, as well as belonging, wellness, rankings and ABA standards — with a passion for educating student and practitioner audiences domestically and internationally. She has numerous publications that are frequently cited, including casebook materials on criminal procedure and evidence and policy materials.
Lawson has asked the dean of admissions to run data from their existing student body as if the new loan policies were in place now. “What would our class look like? How many less students would we have? How would that cut across demographics of students?” she says. “We want to put some tangible data around this.”
Tamara Lawson, dean of University of Washington School of Law, said interdisciplinary collaboration is essential to train the next generation of leaders to solve some of the most complex societal problems. “Innovation requires building consequential connections that span disciplines,” Lawson said. Elizabeth Pendo, senior associate dean for academic affairs and director of the program, said putting the power of the law into action to solve problems will provide policy solutions to support health science and population health ecosystems.
In an unusually large gift to a law school, the University of Washington School of Law announced this week that it had received a $45 million bequest to expand a program that trains mid-career lawyers from developing countries.
The UW School of Law hosted a lecture Oct. 22 explaining “Presidential Power,” connecting it to the upcoming 2024 United States presidential election. This lecture focused on the power and authority that presidents have in the U.S., how power is balanced throughout the government, and how this affects U.S. citizens.
“Most law graduates fail the bar within a small mark, usually less than five points,” says Tamara F. Lawson, dean of the University of Washington School of Law. “That’s leaving very competent graduates on the sidelines.”
In March, the Washington Supreme Court approved, in concept, additional pathways to the bar involving supervised practice. No implementation dates have been finalized. “It is strange that the legal profession allows you to go to school, take a bunch of tests while in school and after school and never talk to a client—and that’s our current model,” says Tamara F. Lawson, dean of the University of Washington School of Law. Supervised practice “is more closely linked to competence than any 100 multiple-choice questions will ever be.”
Torres connected with the law school deans at the state’s three law schools — Gonzaga University, Seattle University and the University of Washington — and they were all supportive. They started to meet in early 2021, and the Law School Admissions Council (LSAC) created a Prelaw Undergraduate Scholars (PLUS) program, which tries to attract diverse students toward the law.
In early December, the University of Washington School of Law became one of a growing number of U.S. law schools that have decided to end their participation in the U.S. News & World Report ranking methodology.
Higher education is facing a pivotal moment as leaders reckon with U.S. News & World Report’s rankings and the outsize role they play in setting the agenda.
In early December, the University of Washington School of Law became one of a growing number of U.S. law schools that have decided to end their participation in the U.S. News and World Report rankings process. Dean Lawson is quoted.
To kick off the first session, Dean Lawson called out the “outdated ranking systems” for not “doing anything to measure schools that do more with less.” Dean Lawson went on to highlight the American Bar Association’s 509 disclosure reports as a valuable resource for prospective law students as well as a range of other sources of important information. She critiqued U.S. News for disregarding this readily available, regulated, and consistent source of data.
The former dean of Washburn University School of Law who now is a professor at the University of Oklahoma College of Law, Pratt is also on the council of the ABA’s Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar. She and other founding members of the Law Deans Antiracist Clearinghouse Project credit Tamara Lawson, who was the law dean at Florida St. Thomas University and is now the dean of the University of Washington School of Law, with planning the Crump naming rights.
Tamara Lawson, dean of the University of Washington law school, says she’s quitting the rankings game. In an announcement made earlier this week, Lawson said the school would no longer participate in the U.S. News and World Report rankings. This is despite the fact that the law school is ranked #1 in the Pacific Northwest.
Axios spotlights Dean Lawson's decision to no longer participate in the US News & World Report Rankings and links to the Washington Post story on the subject.
Eleven law schools, most recently at the University of Pennsylvania and the University of Washington, have announced that they will stay out of the rankings.
The University of Washington School of Law will no longer participate in the U.S. News & World Report rankings process, the dean of the school said in an online announcement. UW, the highest-ranking law school in the Pacific Northwest and No. 49 overall, joins four Ivy League schools, four University of California law schools and several other big names in legal education in their decision to no longer participate in the annual list. Tamara Lawson, dean and professor of law at the UW, is quoted.
On Friday, the University of Washington law school, ranked 49th, and the University of Pennsylvania’s, ranked sixth, became the latest to join the rebellion.
The University of Washington's law school will no longer participate in the U.S. News & World Report ranking system. Tamara Lawson, dean and professor of law at the UW, is quoted.
In an official announcement, UW Provost Mark Richards lauded Lawson for her deep and rich experience in “enrollment and student success, financial management, fundraising, and diversity and inclusion in the field of law, as well as impressive scholarship in criminal law.” Lawson started her new role as UW’s Toni Rembe Endowed Dean this month.
The University of Washington School of Law announced that Tamara F. Lawson has been selected as the next Toni Rembe Endowed Dean.
The University of Washington School of Law proudly honors 353 graduates as they prepare for what’s ahead and for the good that they will do.
Join Dean Lawson on May 1 for Law Day as the Honorable Richard A. Jones readministers the professional oath to lawyers, emphasizing our duty to uphold the Constitution.
On Feb. 28, 2025, Dean Lawson joined hundreds of law leaders in a powerful statement with specific calls to all three branches of the federal government to maintain the rule of law and enforce the Constitution of the United States.
After 125 years, there's still room for growth in the UW School of Law. (By Dean Lawson for University of Washington Magazine. Illustration by Anthony Russo.)
A UW Law classroom became a live courtroom on Nov. 20 when the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit heard oral arguments on three cases.
Dean Tamara F. Lawson and the UW School of Law hosted “Presidential Power,” part of the Provost's "Democracy in Focus" lecture series leading up the 2024 Presidential Election.
A cohort of 65 high school students visited UW Law in August to learn about pathways and opportunities in the legal field.
UW Law Dean Tamara F. Lawson tells the ABA Journal that supervised practice "is more closely linked to competence than any 100 multiple-choice questions will ever be."
UW Law hosts the annual event in conjunction with Seattle University Law, Gonzaga Law and the Washington State Minority and Justice Commission. The awards honor law students who exemplify Justice Charles Z. Smith’s legacy of demonstrated leadership for justice, equality and public service.
ACLU President Deborah Archer joins UW Law Dean Tamara Lawson on May 8 to discuss defending democracy, civil liberties, and civil rights in a divided nation.
