UH Law alum Mitchel L. Winick (J.D. ’78) is retiring as president and dean of Monterey College of Law this month.
July 07, 2025 – After more than 20 years of service, University of Houston Law Center Alumnus Mitchel L. Winick (J.D. ’78) is retiring from his position as the president and dean of Monterey College of Law. He started at the school in 2005 and was promoted to president and dean in 2011.
Winick first discovered his love of teaching here at the UH Law Center. During his third year, the UH business law undergraduate program was offering an adjunct faculty position to an active member of the Student Bar Association.
“I had never considered teaching but was active in the SBA and was offered and accepted the position,” said Winick. “It turned out that I loved teaching law and continued as an adjunct for two years before regretfully having to give it up.”
Winick spent the next 10 years as a business management consultant, but he always wanted to return to academia. He became the Assistant Dean of Texas Tech School of Law in 2009 and was later selected as the dean of Monterey College of Law as a result of a national search.
“The position turned out to be a perfect fit for my business and academic experience and provided a unique opportunity to apply a more entrepreneurial strategy to legal education,” he said.
Over the course of 20 years, Winick achieved a lot at Monterey. He grew the one-campus school into a four-campus school. He established a policy guaranteeing fixed tuition rates and developed one of the first accredited hybrid online J.D. programs.
“One of the most important outcomes was providing a more equitable pathway to the legal profession for working adults and nontraditional students who otherwise would have been denied the opportunity to attend law school,” Winick said.
Winick does not plan to slow down after retirement. “I am active on a number of boards and committees. [They] address future challenges related to community health, workforce housing, and the impact of AI on campaign advertising,” he said. “I anticipate continuing these volunteer activities.”
Alongside volunteering, Winick also plans to continue co-hosting his successful podcast titled “Sidebar.” Hosted by the Legal Talk Network, “Sidebar” features accredited legal professionals discussing modern-day threats to constitutional and civil rights.
Winick’s story highlights the versatility of a law degree and that legal training can lead to impactful careers beyond the courtroom.
“There are many, many interesting and rewarding things to do with a law degree, and only one of them is practicing law,” said Winick. “My professional journey is a perfect example of the variety of interesting and rewarding opportunities that can be accomplished with a law degree. If [students] are as fortunate as I have been, they will discover a career path that is personally, intellectually, and professionally rewarding.”
How did UHLC prepare you to be a law dean?
MW: Although I did not know it at the time, the quality and dedication of the UHLC law faculty provided professional role models for my future academic career. Law professors such as Yale and Irene Rosenberg, Newell Blakeley, Sidney Buchanan, Jim Hippard, Ira Shephard, and Raymond Nimmer, each found their way to engage students and bring the law to life. Their commitment to both the content and the purpose of the law made a lasting impression on me that was later reflected in my role as a law professor and then as a law dean.
What are the biggest lessons you learned throughout your legal career?
MW: It is not an overstatement to say that the rule of law is an essential foundation of our democracy, our communities, and our personal freedom. In my lifetime, I have experienced the lessons of the Vietnam War, the Civil Rights Movement, Watergate, 9-11, the escalation of gun violence and school shootings, the January 6th attack on our Capitol, and the ongoing challenges to free and fair elections. Lawyers who believe in and support the Constitution and our judicial system continue to serve as the protection from authoritarianism and the denial of individual rights. The need for dedicated, ethical, and highly engaged lawyers has never been greater.
How has legal education changed since you became a dean, or even since you were in law school?
MW: The core curriculum for the J.D. degree has changed very little over the past decades. However, we have added a requirement for mediation certification as part of our J.D. program because we believe strongly that lawyers need to have the understanding and practice tools necessary to encourage less-costly, non-litigation resolution of conflicts. We were also a leading advocate here in California for the increase in required practical and clinical training as part of the J.D. program.
Both of these changes better prepare our graduates to be practice-ready and more employable immediately upon graduation. In response to the needs of our local communities, we also added a Master of Legal Studies degree program to expand legal education to those who are not interested in practicing law, but who would benefit in their existing careers from graduate school courses in law. One of the greatest challenges and changes to legal education is underway now, as we try to understand how to effectively and ethically integrate AI into the practice of law.
What inspired you to come to UHLC?
MW: I was raised in Galveston County and intended to practice in Houston, although not as an attorney. My career goal was to work as a business consultant and venture capitalist during the economic boom of the ‘70s and ‘80s in Houston. I decided that a J.D. had the potential to provide a flexible career path. I was not a traditional law student and pursued my UH law degree more as a graduate business degree than a law degree. I filled my course choices with the maximum number of research and writing projects and independent study courses slanted towards business and policy. Fortunately, my J.D. turned out to be a very effective "business degree" that allowed me to work successfully as a management consultant for almost twenty years.
What stands out most about your time at UHLC?
MW: I am not likely to be unique in saying that my classmates were the most valuable resource that I enjoyed during law school. Several of them remain close friends after almost 50 years. There is a unique bonding that happens when you survive the crucible of law school with a group of intelligent, thoughtful, creative, and ambitious peers. If I was addressing this year's 1L class at UHLC, I would encourage them to spend time developing and nurturing the friendships created during law school. These individuals will be your professional peers for the balance of your career and will have a more lasting impact than the content of any specific course.
