Williamson steps in again to fill law dean gap at UNB

John Williamson is once again stepping up to fill in as dean of law at the University of New Brunswick, taking on a two-year term in the role.

According to a spokesperson for UNB, a search for the next dean will take place during the two-year term.

Past dean, Dr. Jeremy Levitt, resigned voluntarily in March. At the time the university said he was on “research leave” until the end of July, so as to allow him to “complete ongoing research activities and speaking engagement commitments on behalf of the university.”

Levitt, who was hired last summer and went on leave in January, left UNB “in order to return to, and help advance, his home institution in Florida following completion of those commitments.”

Williamson has been with UNB’s faculty of law for more than 40 years. He spent nearly 20 years in leadership roles in the faculty, including associate dean, acting dean, and interim dean. It’s his first time in the top job.

Prior to joining UNB in 1974, Williamson obtained a bachelor of business administration and law degrees at UNB and an LLM at Harvard University. His primary teaching and research areas are debtor-creditor law, bankruptcy and receivership and commercial law.

UNB joins several other law schools across the country that are currently looking for new deans, including the University of Windsor, University of Saskatchewan College of Law, and the Bora Laskin Faculty of Law at Lakehead University.

Williamson’s two-year term began July 1.