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 Cecil C. Humphreys University of Memphis 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.