Paul Caron—legal education's so-called Blog Emperor—took the reins at Pepperdine University School of Law in 2017, and his two years as dean have been a remarkable ride.

Things got off to a rough start in the spring of 2018 when the school was removed from the U.S. News & World Report rankings after Pepperdine discovered a mistake in the data it submitted that artificially increased its ranking and reported it to the publication. (Pepperdine returned to the ranking this year, moving up from its previous No. 72 to No. 51).

The challenges didn't end there. In November, a Pepperdine law student was present at a nearby music venue when an armed man opened fire, killing 12. The law student was unharmed but the massacre, in which a Pepperdine undergraduate died, shook the Malibu, California, campus. A day later, the so-called Woolsey Fire tore through the area and came close to leveling the campus. The law school was spared, but closed for more than two weeks in the aftermath.

Through it all, Caron maintained his role as the town crier of legal education with his TaxProf Blog, which aggregates news about tax law and law schools. The 15-year-old blog is a must-read for legal educators and has become an important tool to raise Pepperdine's profile and stature in the academy. Caron posts stories about events and initiatives at Pepperdine, not to mention plenty of photos of its seaside campus. Law.com caught up with Caron this week to discuss juggling the blog with his dean duties and why he hasn't given TaxProf Blog up. His answers have been edited for length and clarity.

I remember your telling me that some people suggested that you shutter TaxProf Blog when you became dean. How do you feel about that advice now? I respect the folks who made that suggestion. There were two parts to that. The one that has proven true is that the job of being dean of a law school is more than a full-time job. Part of their advice was that it would be impossible to do the job of dean and also all the work that's involved in the blog, and there wouldn't be enough hours in the day. That certainly has been a challenge. That advice was sound—I have a very hectic life. It's a lot of work to do both jobs well.

The second reason some folks said I should stop doing it is because they feared for me that the blog would be controversial and that if I covered things that were controversial, inevitably some folks would get upset and hold it against me and, by extension, Pepperdine. I thought long and hard about that. But what has proven to be the case is that I don't say controversial things on my blog. I point out news about legal education, and I do that in an objective way, I think. It hasn't been a problem in the way some people thought it might be.

What's the benefit of continuing to blog? I think it gives visibility to me and the school, in the sense that if people find the blog a valuable service, then hopefully they think I'm adding value as an individual and hopefully some of that goes to Pepperdine's benefit. When I go to academic conferences, I do get folks coming up to me from time to time thanking me for doing the blog.

How much of Pepperdine's recent rise in the U.S. News rankings do you think is tied to the blog and your ability to spotlight the school? There's no way to tell. It's hard to separate out because the school is doing a lot of things well. We've been very successful in fundraising, and there's a lot of good things happening at the law school, generally. But one thing I'd like to think the blog helps with is that this year the school had its highest peer-ranking score ever. That's a vote of law school deans and professors. I would like to think that's a platform where the blog helped a bit.

How much time do you spend on the blog, versus dean duties? I've tried to create systems where I primarily do the blog in the very early morning, and then again at night. So during my 8-to-5 day, I can focus on all the other things that come with the dean job. I try to take weekend time when I have it. The way technology is, I can schedule things to appear [on the blog] later. I'm a member of the 4 a.m. club—I get up really early and pound out some things. I also have some professors at other schools who help with content. And then I have folks [at Pepperdine] who help with some of the mechanics of posting and putting charts together.

Are there ever stories or articles that you would have put on the blog before you were dean that you have second thoughts about now? I've always been sensitive to that. I don't want to put gossipy things on the blog. I've always been wary of posting when something bad happens at a law school. But when things rise in legal education to where [Law.com] is writing about it and the ABA Journal is writing about it, people come to the blog to make sure that they're up to date on what's happening. I will then report on it. All I'm doing is curating content talking about the issues.

What has been the toughest part of being a law school dean thus far? I think it's just that legal education has been going through some hard times. There have been some challenges in getting resources from the university and friends, so the challenge is to have the school get on sound financial footing, which I think we have now with the smaller size of the class. The financial piece has been a challenge, without a doubt, but with every challenge there is an opportunity to rethink what's you're doing and reassess your priorities.

How has the fire changed Pepperdine? Is everything back to normal? What's sort of interesting is that after the fire we got heavy amounts of rain. That brought some initial challenges in the areas that burned because didn't have vegetation with roots. There was the potential for landslides. But after we got through that, all of that rain created a rejuvenated greenbelt around campus. There was a time it looked almost like we were in Ireland, everything was so green. It has been an interesting transition from November.