The University of Miami School of Law has created a new degree-seeking legal educational pathway, with a leader in the field, Associate Dean Beth L. Haas, at the helm.
A pioneer in online legal education, Haas comes to Miami Law from Drexel University's Thomas R. Kline School of Law, where she served for the past five years as associate dean of graduate studies and associate professor of law. She was one of the first legal educators in the online teaching space, building and teaching online J.D. courses more than a decade ago.
"I am excited to announce that we have created a new position of associate dean for online education to develop online degree and certificate programs," wrote David Yellen, dean and M. Minnette Massey Professor of Law, in the announcement. "I am also delighted to announce that we have hired Beth Haas to fill this role.
"Under Beth’s leadership, Drexel Kline became a leader among law schools in online learning programs. I can’t think of anyone better qualified than Beth to help us build our own set of online programs at Miami Law," Yellen said.
Haas created for Drexel Kline the largest home-grown online Master of Legal Studies program in the country and developed, from scratch, an innovative, rigorous, and highly engaging curriculum that their graduate students, including master's, post-bac certificate, and LL.M. students, report has helped them in their day-to-day work lives and to advance in their careers. She also created a first-of-its-kind Virtual Career Office to serve their online students and online alumni and a first-of-its-kind virtual faculty lounge to connect online faculty to each other and the law school.
"I'm looking forward to creating exceptional graduate online programs that take advantage of the many unique strengths of Miami Law," said Haas.
Before joining Drexel Kline, Haas was a partner at Blank Rome, LLP, in Philadelphia, where she maintained a nationally recognized aviation litigation practice. She holds a J.D. from Villanova Law School — where she was an associate editor of the "Villanova Law Review" — and a B.A. in psychology from the University of Pennsylvania.
A Philadelphia native, Haas is active in the nonprofit community, is a member of the prestigious Forum of Executive Women, and serves as an investigator for the Philadelphia Bar Association's Commission on Judicial Selection and Retention. She lives in the suburbs of Philadelphia with her husband, and her daughter is a proud 'Cane (class of 2024).
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