Pepperdine Selects Interim Dean to Head Law School

The interim dean of Pepperdine University’s School of Law, Richardson R. Lynn, has been permanently appointed to the post that school administrators once expected Independent Counsel Kenneth Starr to fill, officials said Tuesday.

Lynn becomes dean of the law school after serving as interim dean since May 1997, said Jeff Bliss, a spokesman for Pepperdine.

Starr announced last month he would not assume deanships at Pepperdine’s schools of law and public policy because his investigation of President Clinton was continuing past the time he had hoped to start work at the university.

In a statement released by the university, Lynn called Pepperdine “an excellent law school, on the brink of greatness.” He said he hopes to improve the school’s national reputation in the next few years.

Before being appointed interim dean, Lynn was associate dean for academics at the law school.