Dean Jerry Dickinson has appointed Professor Jessie Allen as the University of Pittsburgh School of Law’s next Associate Dean of Research and Faculty Development, effective Sept. 1, 2026.
In this role, Allen will advance Pitt Law’s scholarly community by supporting faculty research and professional development, fostering opportunities for intellectual exchange and collaboration, and strengthening the visibility and impact of faculty scholarship.
“Professor Allen brings the intellectual curiosity, collaborative spirit, and deep commitment to scholarship that make her an exceptional choice for this role,” said Dean Jerry Dickinson. “She has long been an active and thoughtful participant in our scholarly community, and I am excited to see how her leadership will help us build an even more vibrant research and scholarly culture at Pitt Law.”
A member of the Pitt Law faculty since 2010, Allen teaches jurisprudence, legal ethics, and property. Her scholarship explores how traditional legal forms and practices can be reimagined to contribute to a socially progressive rule of law. Recent work examines judges’ use of AI to interpret legal text, mainstream property’s accommodation of more-than-human personhood, and doctrinal reasoning as a performance technique. She is currently at work on a book exploring how Sir William Blackstone’s eighteenth-century Commentaries on the Laws of England can illuminate contemporary law and culture.
As Associate Dean, Allen will work closely with faculty and law school leadership to encourage scholarly engagement, develop research programming and workshops, create opportunities for faculty to exchange ideas, and support faculty members throughout the research and publication process.
“I am delighted to have the opportunity to support the wide-ranging scholarship of my colleagues,” Allen said. “Pitt Law has an extraordinary intellectual community. I will be looking for new ways to bring faculty together to exchange ideas, to connect with other departments in the university, integrate students into the school’s intellectual life, and help our scholarship reach broader audiences.”
Allen’s scholarship and teaching draw on her experience as a litigator and civil rights advocate. Before joining Pitt Law, she worked for several national public interest organizations, including Advancement Project and the Brennan Center, where her work focused on voting rights. Allen earned her JSD from Columbia University School of Law, where she was a Heffernan Fellow, and her JD from Brooklyn Law School. She clerked for Judge Pierre N. Leval of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit and Edward R. Korman of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York and served as a Bristow Fellow in the Office of the Solicitor General at the U.S. Department of Justice. She holds a BFA in theater from New York University.