1975 - 1977: Albert Alvin Baillis

Albert A. Baillis served as Dean of the Ohio Northern College of Law from 1975-77.

Baillis was born in 1924 in Cleveland, Ohio. He served as an artilleryman in five major battles in World War II. After the war, he received an A.B. in 1948 and a J.D. in 1950 from Western Reserve University (now Case Western Reserve University). Graduating from law school in the top 10% of his class, he earned Order of the Coif honors. He was a member of the American Bar Association, the Ohio State Bar Association and the American Arbitration Association.

After being admitted to the Ohio Bar after graduation, he worked for the Bureau of Code Revision in Columbus until 1952. For the following two years, Baillis was in the private practice of law in Cleveland, leaving it in 1954 to join the legal department of the New York Central Railroad.

A change in career plans came in 1956 when Baillis joined the law faculty of Youngstown University. He left Youngstown University and began teaching at Ohio Northern University in 1957. Then after three years of summer courses at New York University, Baillis received a LL.M. in 1961. Soon after, in 1962, he was promoted to Professor of Law. Baillis was later promoted to Acting Dean from 1975-77 in a time of crisis for the law school. Shortly after a tragedy involving two law professors, Dean Squillante resigned his position, which is when Baillis stepped in to calm the troubled waters. After his service as Dean, he returned to teaching until his retirement in 1991.

Baillis served Liberty and Marion Townships of Hardin County as part-time County Court Judge from 1975-79. He received two awards from the Supreme Court of Ohio recognizing his excellence in judicial office. Among other positions of leadership, he has served as President of the League of Ohio Law Schools, President of the Ada Kiwanis Club and Editor of the Real Property Section of the Newsletter of the Ohio State Bar Association. Participating on numerous university-wide and law committees, he has chaired several of the most important, including law’s Promotion-Retention Committee. Among various recognitions, Baillis received the University’s Faculty Award in 1982, and was elected by the law faculty as first holder of the Fisher Chair of Law in 1984-85.

During his tenure as dean, Baillis was successful in building the faculty by bringing Professors Eugene Hanson and Daniel Guy back and hiring William Evans.

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