Leigh H. Taylor
(1941 - Present)
Dean 1977 - 1978
Leigh H. Taylor served as Dean of the Ohio Northern University College of Law from 1977-78.
After being honorably discharged from the United States Army in 1960, Taylor attended the University of Tulsa, where he received his B.A. in 1964 and his J.D. in 1966. Taylor received his LL.M. from the New York University School of Law in 1969. He then had a fellowship in Law and Economics at the University of Chicago Law School in 1975.
He was admitted to practice in Oklahoma and Illinois.
Taylor worked as a trial attorney in the Civil Rights Division for the U.S. Department of Justice from 1966-68. He began his teaching career at St. Mary’s University of San Antonio School of Law as a visiting professor in 1974-75. He then joined the faculty of DePaul University College of Law as an Assistant Professor in 1969. When he left DePaul University in 1977, he held the rank of Professor of Law and Associate Dean. He also had been the Director of the DePaul Law Clinic from 1975-76.
Taylor became the youngest law school dean in the country when he was named dean at Ohio Northern University Pettit College of Law in 1977.
From 1973-77 Taylor worked as a professor and reporter for the Illinois Judicial Conference. He lectured for various programs and published several papers throughout his career. Taylor was a member of the American Bar Association, Association of American Law Schools, Chicago Bar Association, Illinois State Bar Association, International Association of Penal Law and the Oklahoma Bar Association.
Taylor resigned as dean in 1978 to accept the deanship at Southwestern Law School in Los Angeles, Ca., a position he held for 27 years. Southwestern recognized his service by naming the law library for him in 2004.
