John R. Kramer
| John R. Kramer | |
|---|---|
| Born |
March 7, 1937 New York City |
| Died |
March 7, 2006 (aged 68) New Orleans, Louisiana |
| Citizenship | USA |
| Nationality |
 United States |
| Fields | Law |
| Institutions | Tulane University Law School, Georgetown University |
| Alma mater |
Harvard University Harvard Law School |
John R. Kramer (August 17, 1937 – March 7, 2006) served as the 19th dean of the Tulane University Law School from 1986 to 1996,[1] and previous to that was an associate dean at Georgetown University. At Tulane he started a law clinic to serve low-income people in New Orleans and made Tulane the first law school in the United States to require a specific number of community service hours for graduation.[1] Under his leadership, African American students came to constitute a greater percentage of the law school student body than in any other non-historically black law school.[1]
A cheerful and outspoken liberal,[1] he relished controversy.[1] He publicly defended the Tulane Environmental Law Clinic when it ran afoul of powerful chemical and oil companies in Louisiana.[1] He also defended the Tulane Appellate Advocacy Program's involvement in a Supreme Court suit against a local utility.[1] During his tenure, Tulane published the nation's first gay law journal.[1] He was succeeded by Tulane Law School Dean Edward F. Sherman.[2]
Education and early life
Mr. Kramer graduated magna cum laude from Harvard University in 1958.[1] He was a Fulbright Scholar at Cambridge University in 1958-59 and received his law degree from Harvard Law School in 1962.[1] He clerked at the NAACP Legal Defense Fund for Thurgood Marshall, who later became the first black justice on the U.S. Supreme Court.[1]
In 1965, he became counsel to U.S. Rep. Adam Clayton Powell Jr. (D-N.Y.) on the House Committee on Education and Labor, handling anti-poverty legislation and the first Higher Education Act.[1]
References
| Academic offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Paul R. Verkuil |
Tulane University Law School Dean 1986 – July 1996 |
Succeeded by Edward F. Sherman |
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