1995 - 1996: Howard N. Fenton III

Fenton was born in Toledo, Ohio, in 1950. He earned both his B.S., with honors, from the University of Texas at Austin in 1971, and his J.D., with honors, from the University of Texas School of Law in 1975. He is admitted to practice in the District of Columbia, Texas, and Ohio, and is a member of the Ohio State Bar Association, the American Bar Association and American Society of International Law. He chaired the International Law Committee of the Ohio State Bar Association from 2002-2006.

Fenton was in private law practice in Washington D.C. before serving in the International Trade Administration in the U.S. Department of Commerce from 1979-84. Beginning 1996 he served as a consultant on administrative law reform to the governments of Georgia, Ukraine, Armenia, Uzbekistan, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Burundi. He is considered an authority on comparative administrative law and the author of many professional articles on Ohio, United States, and foreign administrative law. .

In 1984, Fenton served as a lecturer on International Trade Law at the Columbus School of Law at Catholic University in Washington D.C. From 1984-1988, he was a professor at the Mississippi College School of Law in Jackson, Mississippi, where he was twice voted as “Outstanding Freshman Professor,” and served as the Chair of the Admissions Committee.

Fenton joined the College of Law at Ohio Northern in 1988 as Professor of Law and Associate Dean for Academic Affairs, a position he served in until 1993. He has taught Contracts, Administrative Law, International Law and International Business Transactions. He has also coached the successful Administrative Law and the Jessup International Law Moot Court teams.

He was an Associate Dean for Academic Affairs from 1988-93, and then served as Interim Dean from 1995-96. During his term as Dean he oversaw the planning for the expansion of the law school building that took place in 1996 and 1997 and began his and the law faculty’s involvement in the legal reforms of the former Soviet Union and other former communist states. Following his year as dean he served as Chair of the Building Committee, overseeing the renovation and construction at the law school. In 2003 he began the planning process for the Democratic Governance and Rule of Law LL.M. program and continues to serve as the Director of the LL.M. Program, as well as Professor of Law.

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