April M. Barton is dean and professor of law at the Thomas R. Kline School of Law of Duquesne University. Under her leadership, the law school has steadily increased enrollment while simultaneously raising the academic profile of the entering class. The Duquesne Kline School of Law also continues to excel in bar passage and post-graduation employment rates.

She serves on the Association of American Law Schools (AALS) deans' steering committee, as chair to the AALS leadership section, and as a board member of the Pittsburgh Legal Diversity & Inclusion Coalition.

She previously held various positions at the Villanova University Charles Widger School of Law, most recently as associate dean for academic affairs. Barton successfully launched initiatives on leadership development, including a student Lawyers as Leaders program and a new course, Leadership and Management Skills for Lawyers. At Villanova, Barton taught courses in administrative agency rulemaking, computer law, the First Amendment and regulation in cyberspace, and digital law. She previously served as the director of the juris doctor / master of business administration and juris doctor / master of public administration joint-degree programs.

In addition to authoring Best Practices for Building a High-Tech Law School: The Process of Designing Educational Spaces published by the American Bar Association's Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar, Barton's work has been published in law reviews including the Washington University Law Review, Baylor Law Review, and Minnesota Journal of Law, Science & Technology. She is a frequent speaker and has presented and moderated discussions on teaching leadership in law school, promoting diversity, innovations in law school teaching, distance learning, technology, and classrooms of the future. Barton also has testified before the US Congressional Commission on Online Child Protection as well as the European Commission for Democracy Through Law (Venice Commission) in Brussels. Barton served as an attorney with the Federal Trade Commission's Bureau of Consumer Protection in the Division of Marketing Practices, where she worked on policy and law enforcement issues related to internet fraud and deception.
Barton has a juris doctor from the Villanova University Charles Widger School of Law and a bachelor of science from Moravian University.