It was a case of time passing faster than anyone realized. Anyone, that is, except for Albert M. Sacks, who decided this summer that after a decade as dean of the Law School, it was time to step down.

In a letter of resignation to President Bok explaining his decision to resign, Sacks noted that he, Bok and members of the Law School faculty had agreed when Sacks took on the job in 1971 that ten years was a sufficient length of tenure.

"I have over the past year asked myself whether there were solid reasons for deviating from the time frame we initially set," Sacks wrote, adding "My conclusion is that, for this dean and this era in the school's history, we planned very well indeed."

Despite the decade-old agreement, Sacks' announcement caught many members of the Law School faculty and administration by surprise. "Time goes by so quickly people had forgotten it has been ten years," James Vorenberg '49, associate dean of the Law School and a possible Sacks' successor, said last July.

Because of the unexpectedness of Sacks' announcement, Law School faculty members were hard-pressed to suggest possible replacements.

By the end of the summer, though, the names of several high-level Law School administrators were being bandied about. Bok, who appoints all graduate school deans, will probably name a successor some time this fall.