Dean Emeritus and Distinguished Professor of Law
BA, 1974, West Chester University; JD, 1978, Washington & Lee University
Room 530 | Phone: 501-916-5410 | Email
Assistant: Jennifer Maxwell | Room 524 | Phone: 501-916-5440 |Email
John M. A. DiPippa graduated Order of the Coif from Washington & Lee in 1978. Upon graduation, he received a Reginald Heber Smith Community Lawyer Fellowship and practiced with the Legal Aid Society of Roanoke Valley, Va. In 1980, he became the managing attorney for the Lexington branch where he helped organize Washington & Lee’s first clinical program and taught in it for four years.
He joined the UALR faculty in 1983 and currently teaches Constitutional Law, Interviewing and Counseling, Legal Profession, First Amendment: Speech and Religion, and Public Service Law. In 1988, DiPippa left UALR to become Executive Director of Blue Ridge Legal Services in Harrisonburg, Va. He returned to UALR in 1989 and served as the Associate Dean from 1990 to 1993 and 2001 to 2008. DiPippa was appointed as Interim Dean July 1, 2008, and served in that capacity until his appointment as Dean on Feb. 13, 2009. He returned to the classroom July 1, 2012. He was appointed Interim Dean again on July 1, 2017, and returned to the classroom on July 1, 2018.
DiPippa is a co-author of The Counselor-at-law: A Collaborative Approach to Client Interviewing and Counseling (3rd ed. 2014) as well as articles in the areas of legal ethics and constitutional law. He is an Inaugural Professor of Public Service at the University of Arkansas Clinton School of Public Service and he teaches two core courses: The Foundations of Public Service and The Legal and Ethical Dimensions of Public Service.
He and his wife Karen were married in 1974 and are avid cyclists. They have four children and five grandchildren. He once had a ponytail and an earring and wants both again.
