A. Benjamin Spencer of UVA School of Law has been named the dean of William & Mary Law School, effective July 1. Professor Spencer will be William & Mary’s first African-American dean of any school at the university, including the law school. His selection follows a national search to succeed Davison M. Douglas, who will return to the faculty after serving as dean for more than 10 years. 

“William & Mary is thrilled to welcome Ben Spencer as our next dean of the law school,” said Willam & Mary President Katherine A. Rowe. “Since the beginning of the search process we sought a leader who values all three aspects of the law: the academy, the bar and the bench. Ben brings that broad view of legal practice, together with a deep appreciation of the ethos of the citizen lawyer that has inspired the oldest law school in the country since its founding. 

Professor Spencer has been a member of the UVA School of Law faculty since 2014 and recently completed a year as the Bennett Boskey Visiting Professor of Law at Harvard Law School. He currently serves as the Justice Thurgood Marshall Distinguished Professor of Law at UVA School of Law. His teaching and scholarship focus on civil procedure, federal civil litigation and military law. Before joining the UVA faculty, he served as Director of the Francis Lewis Law Center and associate dean for research at Washington and Lee University, where he established a reputation as a mentor for younger colleagues, students and early career faculty.  

Read the full announcement here.