Brietta Clark will be the Fritz B. Burns Dean of LMU Loyola Law School, effective June 1, 2024, after serving one year as interim dean and senior vice president.
Clark, a nationally recognized expert in health law, has used her extensive experience to elevate the law school’s curriculum, guide students and alumni on their career paths, and influence the public discourse via her scholarship, public service, and media commentary. The 19th dean of Loyola Law School, Clark is a J. Rex Dibble Fellow and one of five authors on the ninth edition of “Health Law,” the leading health law casebook in American law schools. She has taught health law-related courses to law students, bioethics master’s students, and undergraduates.
Since joining the law school faculty in 2001, Clark has served in numerous leadership roles, including as Associate Dean for Faculty from 2015-20. She was recently awarded the 2023 David P. Leonard Faculty Service Award by the St. Thomas More Society. She has received recognition for her mentorship by the school’s Black Law Students Association, the Judge Stephen O’Neil Trial Advocacy Mentoring Program (“Young Lawyers Program”), and the Health Law & Bioethics Student Association. Additionally, she participated in the AJCU Ignatian Colleagues Program for leaders in Jesuit higher education.
Throughout her career, Clark’s research and public service has focused on inequity in the U.S. healthcare delivery and financing system – especially its effects on vulnerable populations. She has written and provided testimony about the role that law can play in shaping healthcare access and quality, exploring the causes of unequal access and treatment and offering potential solutions. She has assisted legal organizations working to preserve access to essential healthcare services that are at risk because of hospital mergers or closures in underserved communities, discriminatory coverage exclusions, or inadequate provider networks. She has also provided community education related to national health reform and health-related state initiatives. Clark currently serves as a member of the Children’s Hospital Los Angeles Foundation Board of Trustees and the Foundation Board’s Advocacy Committee.
Before joining the LLS community, Clark worked in the Los Angeles office of Sidley, Austin, Brown & Wood, specializing in health care transactions and regulatory compliance. As a law student, Clark volunteered with the National Health Law Program, which nurtured her interest in Medicaid access and protecting safety-net hospitals in underserved communities. Clark earned her B.A. from the University of Chicago and her J.D. from the USC Law School, where she was also a post-graduate research fellow.
In addition to her connections with the law school and university communities, the activities that spark the greatest joy for Dean Clark include spending time with family, dancing, traveling, nature walks, and getting lost in a good story.