OU Law School
May 03, 2018
Joe Harroz
OU Law School

Dean Joseph Harroz, Jr. is Dean and Director of the University of Oklahoma College of Law, University Vice President, and the Fenelon Boesche Chair of Law. He earned a B.A. in Economics with a minor in Zoology from the University of Oklahoma, graduating Phi Beta Kappa. He earned his Juris Doctorate from Georgetown University Law Center.

Harroz served as Legislative Director and Legal Counsel to then U.S. Senator David L. Boren and later joined the law firm of Crowe and Dunlevy, working in the area of commercial litigation. In 1994, he came to OU as Vice President for Executive Affairs. He then served twelve years as General Counsel to the Board of Regents of the University of Oklahoma, the longest to serve in that role in the University’s history. Prior to becoming Dean, Harroz was president of a publicly traded healthcare company. For the past twenty years, he has taught at OU Law, primarily in the area of employment law.

Harroz was named Dean of OU Law in July of 2010. During his tenure, the OU College of Law has enjoyed a great deal of success and growth, including achieving the highest U.S. News & World Report ranking ever earned by an Oklahoma law school; being named a Best Value Law School each year; consistently leading the state in Bar Exam passage rates; being a Top 15 Competition Teams school for five consecutive years; doubling the size of its scholarship endowment; increasing its annual giving by more than five times; increasing the annual amount of scholarship money given to students to more than $1.5 million; creating joint degree and certificate programs to enhance the J.D.; and launching the nation’s first-ever law school Digital Initiative preparing students for success in the legal profession in the 21st century.