Alena M. Allen

Biography

Alena Allen began her service as dean of the LSU Paul M. Hebert Law Center on July 1, 2023.

Allen, who also serves as a professor of law, previously served as deputy director for the Association of American Law Schools and as a professor of law at the University of Arkansas School of Law.

Allen’s scholarship focuses on health policy and tort law, and it has been published in the North Carolina Law Review, Fordham Law Review, Ohio State Law Journal, BYU Law Review, and Cardozo Law Review. She was named an American Society of Medicine, Law, and Ethics Health Scholar at the Center for Health Law Studies, St. Louis University School of Law.

Prior to joining LSU, Allen served as interim dean and professor of law at the University of Arkansas-Fayetteville.  She also served as associate dean for research and faculty development.  Allen began her academic career at the University of Memphis Cecil C. Humphreys School of Law, where she was awarded Professor of Year in 2013, the Farris Bobango Faculty Scholarship Award in 2019, and the MLK 50 Faculty Service Award in 2021. In addition to serving as an associate professor of law, she also served as director of diversity, director of research, and was elected to serve in the faculty senate. Allen taught courses in torts, health law, and family law.

Allen earned her bachelor’s degree, magna cum laude, from Loyola University New Orleans. She is a graduate of the Yale Law School, where she was the articles editor of the Yale Journal of Regulation. She served as a law clerk for Judge Samuel H. Mays, U.S. District Court for the Western District of Tennessee, and Judge Paulette J. Delk, U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Western District of Tennessee. Allen also previously worked as an associate in the healthcare group at Arnold & Porter’s Washington D.C. office, and in the employee benefits group at Baker Botts in Houston.

Selected Publications

Book chapters

Tort Norms in Context: Fostering Discussions about Gender and Racial Bias in Tort. In Integrating Doctrine and Diversity: Inclusion & Equity in the Law School Classroom (Nicole P. Dyszlewski et. al. eds.), Carolina Press (2021).

On Robinson v. Cutchin. In Feminist Judgements: Rewritten Tort Opinions (Martha Chamallas & Lucinda Finley eds.), Cambridge University Press (2020).

Drugs General Requirements. In Food and Drug Law Regulation (David Adams, Richard Cooper, and Martin Hahn, eds.), The Food and Drug Law Institute (2008)

Articles

The Emotional Woman, 99 N.C. LAW REVIEW 1021 (2021).

Rape Messaging, 87 FORDHAM L. REV. 1033 (2018).

Dense Women, 76 OHIO ST. L.J. 847 (2015).

Regulating Health and Wealth, 35 CARDOZO L. REV. 309 (2013).

State Mandated Disability Insurance as Salve to the Consumer Bankruptcy Imbroglio, 2011 BYU L. REV. 1327 (2011).

Essay

Reflections on Existence as a Threat, Conn. L. Rev (2022).

Honors & Awards

University of Memphis Cecil C. Humphreys MLK 50 Faculty Service Award (2021).

LeMoyne-Owen College Lady of Distinction Service Award (2019).

University of Memphis Cecil C. Humphreys Farris Bobango Scholarship Award (2019).

Maxine smith Higher Education Administration Fellowship (2015).

Cecil C. Humphreys University of Memphis School of Law Professor of Year (2013).

American Society of Medicine, Law & Ethics/St. Louis University Health Scholar (2013).