The search for the dean who will lead the Law School through what professors describe as a crucial transition period took a quiet step forward yesterday.

Meeting for the second time since Harvard Law School (HLS) Dean Robert C. Clark announced his resignation in November, an advisory committee charged with assisting University President Lawrence H. Summers in the search convened behind closed doors.

Members of the search committee declined to discuss the meeting’s agenda or specific details of the search process.

No names of specific candidates were discussed at the first meeting but the committee plan did to delve into specifics at yesterday’s meeting, said committee member Theda Skocpol, a professor of government and psychology.

“It is a bit premature for names—we’re still discussing how the search will be structured,” Skocpol said.

But speculation about who will fill Clark’s shoes is already percolating among HLS professors.

Caspersen Professor Howell E. Jackson, Professor Elena Kagan, Story Professor Daniel J. Meltzer, Williston Professor Robert H. Mnookin and Dean of the J.D. Program Todd D. Rakoff are consistently mentioned as potential internal candidates.

Jackson said yesterday that he was “not interested in doing any more administrative work.”

The other likely candidates declined to comment.

Possible external candidates include American Law Institute President Lance Leibman and Stanford Law School Dean Kathleen M. Sullivan—both of whom were once HLS professors.

Leibman was dean of Columbia Law School, while Sullivan was a contender for the Harvard presidency.

Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court Chief Justice and former Harvard General Counsel Margaret H. Marshall made headlines last week when she said she was not interested in the Harvard post, one week after a Boston Globe article named her as a leading external candidate.

Outside the Yard

Most professors point to their own colleagues as more likely contenders. Attracting external candidates may prove to be more difficult, they said, particularly in light of increased national competition from other universities that are also conducting law school dean searches—including New York University, University of California at Berkeley, University of Michigan, and Georgetown University.

And the external candidates who are most qualified often aren’t interested in the job, professors said.