Law school deans quit Baltimore inspector general oversight board

The deans of Baltimore’s two law schools stepped down from the board overseeing City Inspector General Isabel Mercedes Cumming, leaving the watchdog panel without two of its academic leaders as Mayor Brandon Scott’s dispute with the office deepened.

The resignations came amid a legal battle over the inspector general’s powers, including access to city records and legal files. A judge said Baltimore had “shut down” the inspector general’s powers, and the Scott administration later further limited Cumming’s access to records. Cumming has taken the records fight with the mayor to court.

The departures affect the University of Baltimore School of Law and the University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law, two institutions that have long given Baltimore an outside academic presence in city oversight. At the University of Baltimore, LaVonda N. Reed has been dean since July 1, 2024, after Ronald Weich held the job from July 1, 2012, to June 3, 2024.

That leaves the oversight board short of the law school leadership that had been tied to the inspector general structure. In a city where the office is meant to provide an independent check on City Hall, the resignations add another layer of strain to a process already being tested by court fights over records, legal files and authority.

Scott has also called for more Baltimore IG oversight and launched a MONSE probe, widening the conflict beyond one records dispute. Political analysts have said the fight has exposed tensions over oversight, independence and political loyalty inside Baltimore politics, with Cumming’s office and the mayor’s administration now locked in a battle that has reached both the courts and the city’s public institutions.