Dean Roscoe Jones, Jr.

Roscoe Jones is the Dean of the Drake Law School, the first Black dean in the history of Drake University.

Previously, he was a partner in the Washington, DC office of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher and co-chair of the firm’s Public Policy Group. He was a core member of the firm’s Congressional Investigations practice group. Recognized as one of Lawdragon’s “500 Leading Lawyers in America" and ChambersUSA ranked in government relations, Mr. Jones has extensive experience representing companies, nonprofits, and individuals in legislative and policy matters before the U.S. Congress and Executive Branch.

Prior to joining the firm, Mr. Jones served for almost a decade in senior-level roles on Capitol Hill, most recently as Chief of Staff to U.S. Representative Abigail Spanberger, as Legislative Director to U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein, as Senior Counsel to U.S. Senator Cory A. Booker, and as Counsel, and later Senior Counsel, on the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee for then-Chairman Patrick Leahy.

Mr. Jones served in several roles at the U.S. Department of Justice. He was an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the Western District of Washington’s Criminal Division, Special Assistant U.S. Attorney in the District of Columbia, and an attorney in the Appellate Section of the DOJ Civil Rights Division. He served as Special Counsel to then-Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Tom Perez, where he helped oversee the Civil Rights Division’s legislative initiatives and directed the Division’s response to congressional investigations.

Mr. Jones is an adjunct professor at the University of Chicago Law School and Yale Law School.  He has previously taught at the Harvard Kennedy School, University of Michigan Law School, Georgetown University Law Center, George Washington University Law School, University of Washington Law and Evans Schools. He teaches a course on criminal justice reform policy entitled "Mass Incarceration".

Mr. Jones serves on the executive committee for the boards of the American Constitution Society, Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, and the Medgar and Myrlie Evers Institute and serves on the boards of the Stanford Athletic Board, Stanford National Black Alumni Association, and President Lincoln's Cottage.  He also sits on the Advisory Council for the Center for Democracy and Technology.

Mr. Jones is a fellow at the American Bar Foundation and an elected member of the Council on Foreign Affairs and the American Law Institute.

Mr. Jones graduated with high honors from Stanford University, and received a J.D. from the University of Virginia Law School, where he was Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Social Policy & Law and co-founder of the Law School’s Center for Race & Law. Mr. Jones clerked for Judge Carl E. Stewart on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit and Judge Alexander Williams, Jr., on the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland. Early in his career, he served as a Murnaghan Fellow, Stennis Fellow, and Wasserstein Public Interest Fellow at Harvard Law School.