Elena Langan will become the dean of Touro College Jacob D. Fuchsberg Law Center on Aug.1. 

Elena Langan will be the next dean of the Touro College Jacob D. Fuchsberg Law Center.

University officials announced June 18 that they have selected Langan to succeed outgoing dean Harry Ballan, after his three-year stint at the helm of the school.

Langan has been the dean of Concordia University Law School, in Boise, Idaho, since 2017. Prior to that, she was an interim dean at Fort Lauderdale, Florida's Nova Southeastern University's Shepard Broad College of Law, where she also served as an associate dean. She spent a decade on the faculty at Southeastern.

“Dean Langan brings an impressive record of academic leadership experience to Touro Law Center that is student-focused, strategic and engaging of all constituencies,” said Touro president Alan Kadish in an announcement of the appointment.

Langan is a more traditional choice for dean than Ballan, given her background in legal education. Ballan came from practice and was a partner and senior counsel at Davis Polk & Wardwell before making the move into the academy. Ballan is leaving the law school faculty and plans to return to private practice, according to a spokeswoman for the law school. She said Ballan in February announced his intention to step down internally, and the school launched its search for a new dean the following month.

“I am honored to be selected to serve as the next dean of Touro Law Center,” Langan said in a prepared statement—she was unavailable for comment Wednesday. “It is exciting to join a school with such a strong commitment to providing a quality legal education that allows students to develop effective, practical lawyering skills while providing pro bono legal services to underserved populations.”

Langan's new job won't be without its challenges. Touro made headlines last fall when fewer than half of the graduates who sat for the July 2018 New York bar exam—48.6%—passed. That was the lowest pass rate among New York's 15 American Bar Association-accredited law schools and more than 16 percentage points lower than the previous year. Ballan wrote that the results were “not acceptable” in an October letter to alumni and said curricular and culture changes at the law school should result in improved pass rates in the future.

Langan has extensive experience in non-J.D. programs. While at Nova, she led an effort to expand enrollment in the school's online masters programs, which more than doubled the number of such students. She also worked on bar pass, fundraising and experiential curriculum initiatives there. At Concordia, she also developed new non-J.D, programs and launched a law and social justice program.

Langan's scholarship centers on family law, as well as law school admissions and pedagogy. Prior to joining the legal academy, she practiced law in Maryland and Florida.

“Dean Langan has the vision, experience and leadership style that will continue to build upon Touro Law Center's mission,” said Touro Provost Patricia Salkin, herself a former dean of the law school. “Her ability to engage both students and external stakeholders will enable the school to reach new heights benefitting students, alumni and the community at large.”