Don Polden, Esq.
Santa Clara University School of Law https://law.scu.edu/faculty/profile/polden-donald/
About The Lecturer
Don Polden is Dean Emeritus and Professor of Law at Santa Clara University Law School. He is a leading authority on leadership education and the development of lawyers and law students in the United States. He also is a demonstrated leader, serving as Dean of two major law schools from 1993 to 2013 and leading an American Bar Association legal education committee for several years. Following service as dean, Don has been engaged in teaching, consulting and scholarship, especially in the areas of leadership development, professional identity formation of law students and new lawyers, and lawyering skills and competencies. He also consults with law firms on leadership development of lawyers.
Polden graduated from the George Washington University and Indiana University School of Law. During law school, he wrote for the Indiana Law Review and, following graduation, served as a judicial law clerk on both a state appellate and federal trial courts. He practiced antitrust law, including 5 federal jury trials and appellate litigation in the U.S. Courts of Appeal and the United States Supreme Court.
Don has been teaching leadership for lawyers classes for more than a decade and is a frequent speaker on leadership and the legal profession. He is the author of law review articles on lawyer leadership that have been published in the Baylor Law Review, Santa Clara Law Review, the Hofstra Law Review, the Tennessee Law Review and the Tennessee Journal of Law and Policy. He was instrumental in launching the new Section on Leadership for the Association of American Law Schools, and in 2020-21 served as Chair of the Section. He has also co-authored books on leadership in sports organizations and leading the compliance functions in major corporate legal departments. His book Leading in Law: Leadership Development for Law Students (co-authored with Barry Posner of “The Leadership Challenge”) was published in 2022; he and Posner have a new book on leadership development for lawyers and judges to be published by ABA Publications.
Don created and leads Santa Clara’s Institute for Lawyer Leadership Education which conducts national conferences and workshops on educating lawyers and students in leadership in the legal profession.
Practice Area(s)
Law Practice Management
Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion
Antitrust
Publications
Leading in Law: Leadership Development for Law Students
Education
J.D., cum laude, Indiana University School of Law, Indianapolis, 1975
B.B.A., George Washington University, 1970
