Mitchel L. Winick

Mitchel L. Winick (born April 23, 1955) is an American law school dean, educator, and author. He is currently the president and dean of a nonprofit three-law school system in California that includes Monterey College of Law, San Luis Obispo College of Law, and Kern County College of Law. A graduate of the University of Houston Law Center, Winick previously served as the Assistant Dean of Texas Tech University School of Law and as an Assistant Attorney General of Texas. Winick writes and publishes frequently on the topic of the diverse impact that California's artificially high minimum bar exam score has had on access to justice and diversity of the California legal profession. 
== Early life and education ==
Raised in the only Jewish family in a small Texas town in Galveston County, Winick attended public school during the period of desegregation following the end of "separate-but-equal" public schools. Winick's early interest in politics and public service was influenced by his mother, Veta Winick, who started the first public library in Dickinson, Texas and was active in the League of Women Voters, serving as a local chapter president, state president, and on the National Board. She was elected to City Council in 1987 and as Mayor in 1990. Winick's father, Darvin Winick, is an industrial psychologist who served on the local bank board. Darvin Winick is a noted expert in the area of educational assessment for K-12 education and served as Chair of the National Assessment Governing Board from 2002 to September 2009.
Winick graduated from Dickinson High School in 1973 where he was president of the student council and active in tennis, debate, and drama. He attended Raymond College of the University of the Pacific, graduating with a B.A. in 1976 and the University of Houston Law Center where he received his J.D. in 1978.
== Professional Career ==
Winick began his academic career as an adjunct lecturer teaching undergraduate business law at the University of Houston during his final year of law school. He left college teaching to serve as an Assistant Attorney General of Texas in the Insurance, Banking, and Securities Division for two years (1980 through 1981) before joining his father in the family management consulting business, Winick & Associates, Inc. from 1981 to 1989. During this period, he took a one-year leave from the firm to serve as Vice President of Acquisitions and Planning for a local client, Houstonian, Inc. as it transitioned to a publicly traded health and wellness company. 
In 1990, Winick moved to Dallas, Texas and served four years as the director of strategic planning and business development for two large regional multi-office law firms, Jenkens & Gilchrist, L.L.P. and Gardere & Wynne, L.L.P.
From 1995 until 2006, Winick served as Education Director and briefly as Executive Director for the Texas Center for Legal Ethics and Professionalism. During this time he also rejoined academia, serving as an adjunct professor of law at University of New Mexico School of Law, University of Houston Law Center, Southern Methodist University School of Law, Texas Wesleyan University School of Law, and Texas Tech University School of Law.
Winick began his law school administration career in 2000 as as Assistant Dean at Texas Tech University and began his current tenure at Monterey College of Law in 2005 as its 11th dean. In 2011, the Board of Trustees named him president and dean. While at Monterey College of Law, he has also taught international law as an adjunct professor at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California and the United Nations University for Peace in Costa Rica.
During his tenure at Monterey College of Law, the school has expanded to include two additional campus locations, San Luis Obispo College of Law, and Kern County College of Law.
== Publications and Articles ==
==== BOOKS ====
Law Office Management: California Edition, Karen Kadushin and Mitchel Winick, 2017 course manuscript
Opening and Managing a Law Practice, Mitchel L. Winick, Alliance Press, 2005
A Guide to the Basics of Law Practice, Beryl Crowley and Mitchel Winick, Alliance Press, 2005
The Ethics Course, Beryl Crowley, Mitchel Winick, and Michael Quinn, Alliance Press, 2005
====STUDIES====
Project Director, Examining the California Cut Score: An Empirical Analysis of Minimum Competency, Public Protection, Disparate Impact, and National Standards, AccessLex Institute, Anticipated publication, September 15, 2020
====MEMOS/LETTER BRIEFS TO THE CALIFORNIA SUPREME COURT====
Co-author, Memorandum to the California Supreme Court, “Discussion of Current Administrative Challenges of the California State Bar, Minimum Passing Score for the California Bar Exam, Importance of Assessing Whether California Should Adopt the Uniform Bar Exam (UBE), and Possible Task Force on the Future of the California Bar Exam”, October 18, 2019
Lead Author, California Accredited Law School’s Second Letter Brief to the California Supreme Court, “The California Bar Exam – Adjustment to the Minimum Passing Score”, September 11, 2017
Lead Author, California Accredited Law School’s Letter Brief to the California Supreme Court, “The California Bar Exam – Adjusting the Minimum Competency Score”, February 24, 2017
====ARTICLES====
Supreme Court passes the test on bar exam changes, Daily Journal, July 21, 2020
Delayed bar exam creates missed opportunities for law graduates, Daily Journal, June. 19, 2020
... or perhaps the bar exam system is broken, Daily Journal, May 14, 2020
Highest Performers but Lowest Pass Rate, there is Something Seriously Wrong in California, Contra Costa Lawyer Magazine, February 2020
Transparency needed in California bar exam results, Daily Journal, January 15, 2020
California Bar Examination Fails Examinees, Res Ipsa Loquitur – Kern County Bar Association, September/October 2019
Bar exam oversight requires more than just watching, Daily Journal, July 9, 2019
Bar cut score fails diversity, Daily Journal, May 24, 2019
Revisiting the California Bar Exam, San Luis Obispo Bar Bulletin, May-June 2019
The faulty standard used for the California Bar Exam, Daily Journal, December 28, 2018
Pass score should be a valid minimum standard, Daily Journal, September 15, 2017
California’s bar pass score has a clear disparate impact, Daily Journal, September 6, 2017
There is no evidence to support a high cut score, Daily Journal, August 15, 2017
====POSTS====
“Beware the October 2020 Bar Exam”, TaxProf Blog, June 24, 2020
“Occam’s Razor: The Broken California Bar Exam”, TaxProf Blog, May 13, 2020
“Highest Performers but Lowest Pass Rate, there is Something Seriously Wrong in California”, TaxProf Blog, February 12, 2020
“California Supreme Court Fails Bar Examinees”, The Faculty Lounge, July 15, 2019,
“Revisiting the California Bar Exam Cut Score”, TaxProf Blog, January 11, 2019
====RELATED ARTICLES====
California Supreme Court makes changes to bar exam, An interview with Dean Mitchel Winick, by Tom Wright, Monterey Herald, July 22, 2020
State Bar says multiple factors caused race data issue, by Lyle Moran, Los Angeles Daily Journal, January 15, 2020
Monterey College of Law presses Supreme Court to lower state's bar exam scores, by Pam Marino, Monterey County Weekly, September 25, 2017
Bar exams passing score to get high court scrutiny, by Isha Salian, San Francisco Chronicle, September 7, 2017
== References ==
Category: American law school dean
Category: American educator
Category:Amereican author