Announcing the Next Dean of Emory Law 

Dear Emory Law Community,   

It is with great excitement that we announce Richard D. Freer, Charles Howard Candler Professor of Law, as the next dean of Emory University School of Law. A deeply respected member of the Emory Law community and world-renowned expert on civil procedure, Rich is committed to outstanding legal education, inclusive leadership, excellent scholarship and enhancing the student experience through mentorship and alumni and community engagement. He will assume the deanship in July 2024 after Dean Mary Anne Bobinski concludes her term and returns to the Emory Law faculty as Asa Griggs Candler Professor of Law. 

Emory Law is a very special place—nationally recognized, in a dynamic and diverse city and valued highly at the great liberal arts research university that Emory is. We are committed to investing in the school and in Rich’s leadership to realize its highest potential in service to our students, society and the legal profession. We are confident that Emory Law’s success will help our entire institution achieve its bold ambition of being a university without peer.  

In many conversations with Emory Law students, faculty, staff and alumni during the search, we heard a desire for a leader with deep investment in the community who could rapidly accelerate the school’s progress toward its goals. Respected by our faculty and admired by our students, Rich is exactly that leader—enthusiastic, optimistic and ambitious for Emory Law.  

Rich brings to the role a strong commitment to supporting faculty eminence and the groundbreaking scholarship of both new and longstanding faculty. An exemplary scholar himself, Rich has 17 books to his credit and his articles have appeared in leading journals including NYU Law Review, Northwestern University Law Review, Duke Law Journal and the Texas Law Review. He is a life member of the American Law Institute and an academic fellow of the Pound Institute for Justice. 

In addition to his scholarly expertise, Rich’s strong administrative experience and connections with Emory students and alumni augur well for the impact he will make as dean. Through his service as Emory’s associate vice president for academic affairs (vice provost), associate dean of faculty at Emory Law, chair of the university’s Tenure and Promotion Advisory Committee and other roles, Rich understands the business of the university, the work of faculty success and the benefit of building cross-campus relationships.  

Voted as Emory Law’s Most Outstanding Professor ten times, a recipient of Emory’s highest teaching award, recognized five times as Professor of the Year by Emory’s Black Law Students Association, and a national lecturer for BARBRI who has helped more than 500,000 law graduates prepare for the bar exam, he plays a central role in producing new lawyers well-equipped to succeed in the practice of law. Under Rich’s leadership, Emory Law will focus on student flourishing in its fullest sense—fostering academic, professional and personal development through a strong campus community, ties to Atlanta’s outstanding legal community and the creation of mutually beneficial networks and career pathways. 

Following a bachelor’s degree with highest honors from the University of California, San Diego, Rich earned his JD at the University of California, Los Angeles School of Law. He clerked for the Honorable Edward J. Schwartz, Chief Judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of California in San Diego, and for the Honorable Clement F. Haynsworth Jr., Chief Judge of the United States Court of Appeals, Fourth Circuit in Greenville, South Carolina. He has been recognized by countless honors for his scholarship and pedagogy. 

I am grateful for the work of the Search Advisory Committee, including co-chair Joanna Shepherd, and to Mary Anne Bobinski for her steadfast devotion to Emory Law and the foundation she and others have built. As dean, Mary Anne has executed a strategic plan focused on enhancing student opportunities and outcomes, building upon the strength of the faculty, enriching the staff experience, and increasing alumni engagement—work which she and the law school community will continue to drive forward in the year ahead.    

During her tenure to date, Emory Law has recruited a dozen outstanding new junior and senior faculty who stand as the school’s next generation of academic leaders. In concert with Emory’s AI.Humanity initiative, the law school is also building a nation-leading cohort of faculty who combine traditional legal expertise with a focus on the legal aspects of AI technologies. Student outcomes reflect significant increases in bar passage rates and career success, with employment levels reaching record highs in recent years. Emory Law has also enjoyed increased alumni involvement in its programs and activities, as well as record-breaking fundraising, including its largest single-donor gift to establish the new Center for Civil Rights and Social Justice.   

I’m appreciative of Dean Bobinski’s continued leadership; the law school will be in an outstanding position to build upon and accelerate its progress when Rich Freer begins serving as dean in July.   

Please join me in congratulating Rich and thanking him for his fruitful, decades-long commitment to excellence at Emory Law and enthusiasm for leading Emory Law in the years to come. I am excited about his optimistic vision for its future as one of the nation’s preeminent law schools. You can learn more about Rich’s plans and achievements this week in Emory Report.

Ravi V. Bellamkonda 
Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs