Nikolai Morse '24
Editor-in-Chief
Pictured: Leslie Kendrick '06
Photo Credit: UVA Law
Professor Leslie Kendrick, law professor and Class of 2006 alumna, has been named the next dean of the School of Law. She sat down with the Law Weekly and discussed her gratitude at being selected as Dean, her hopes for the Law School, and her plans for strengthening its position as it progresses through its third century.
Professor Kendrick keeps a map in her office of where she grew up in eastern Kentucky, hung on the wall above the drafting table of her grandfather who was an architect. Kendrick studied classics and English at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and received her master’s and doctorate in English literature as a Rhodes Scholar at the University of Oxford. She described her decision to attend UVA Law after Oxford, as among the best in her life.
“In particular, I was won over by my visit. First, it was special that the Dean of admissions called me, an already admitted student, to invite me for a visit. And second, you could just tell how happy people were here and what a special community we have.”
During her time at the Law School, Kendrick served on the Virginia Law Review and received several awards. Following clerkships at the Fourth Circuit and United States Supreme Court, Kendrick returned to the Law School as a professor. Since then, she has taught various courses with particular focus on torts and freedom of expression. Kendrick is also the director of the Center for the First Amendment and serves as special advisor to Ian Baucom, executive vice president and provost, on free expression and inquiry. She also served as the Vice Dean for Academic Affairs from 2017 to 2021.
Pictured: Leslie Kendrick with her 1L small section
Photo Credit: Nikolai Morse '24
When asked what her primary responsibilities were as Vice Dean for Academic Affairs, Kendrick answered that on a daily basis they could vary, but she was generally focused on “supporting faculty scholarship, teaching, research, and inaugurated eleven centers related to different areas of the law.”
Additionally, Kendrick sat on the Appointments Committee. For those who remember (as this writer does), in the summer of 2021 the Law School hired a significant number of faculty,[1] which led to various Twitter posts joking that UVA Law was assembling its own set of Avengers. Kendrick remembered this fondly, saying, “The Avengers meme was my favorite! It was exciting to be part of such a noteworthy time in the Law School’s history.”
Kendrick’s selection followed a national search for the successor of the twelfth and current dean, Risa Goluboff. The search was led by a committee co-chaired by Baucom and John C. Jeffries Jr. ’73, Dean of the School of Law from 2001 to 2008.
Given her qualifications and time spent in the Law School administration, the choice of Kendrick makes perfect sense. But we wanted to know, why did Professor Kendrick want to serve as Dean? It does not seem like the easiest job in the world (to say the least).
Laughing, Kendrick answered that “This process began without my entirely realizing it, when I was a junior faculty member. I really love this place and love it to flourish. So anytime on a committee where I had an opportunity to improve the Law School, I was so excited.”
Kendrick pointed to her sense of service and an appreciation for the opportunity to steward the Law School as a primary motivating force. “For me the really meaningful thing that makes me excited about being Dean is continuing to try and build on all the strengths we already have and bring this institution into its third century of existence. I have the opportunity to steward the Law School event for a few short years, and I am really excited about it.”
Asked what challenges, as incoming Dean, she thought our Law School faces, Kendrick said “Writ large, the challenge for everyone is that we are living in a very dynamic environment. Things are moving very quickly and it is our job to adapt all of the Law School’s strengths to new conditions as they unfold.”
Specifically, Kendrick described the challenges presented by technology and the future of legal practice. She noted that the issue is twofold: understanding how the practice of the law is shaped by technology, and adapting our methods of teaching to appropriately utilize technological advances.
Kendrick was particularly emphatic in her view that the second challenge the Law School faces is to its sense of community, which she is determined to protect and nurture. “There are a lot of different forces that can pull against the sense of community and some of those forces can manifest in ways that polarize people. One of the huge strengths of this place is its community.” She hears this answer from her 1L Torts students over lunch. “I am amazed over the twenty years I have been at the Law School where a lot of things have changed, at how much that response is the same. It is the one I would have given as a student.”
Perhaps most significant in terms of what it portends for Kendrick’s tenure as Dean, is the apparently universal affection she inspires amongst her students. “As my Torts professor, Dean Kendrick was dedicated to ensuring that we understood the materials and how to apply it to real life concepts. She [made] me feel comfortable asking what I thought were sometimes ridiculous questions. She’s a great Professor and will be an amazing Dean,” said Amelia Isaacs ’26.
As if to prove this point, by a pleasant coincidence at the conclusion of Kendrick’s interview with the Law Weekly, her 1L small section from the fall surprised her outside her office with a gift of a framed record, Genius of Love.
Asked if there was anything she wanted to communicate directly to the students of the Law School, Kendrick replied, “this is a place that is characterized by excellence and empathy.” But she cautioned that this excellence might not always look as we expect. “I try to tell my 1Ls that you have been in a lot of situations where achievement is perfection. You get the grade or the perfect transcript, but you have to redefine success in law. Because there will not be trophies anymore; there will be the satisfaction of a job well done. It is going to be hard work, and it might look sweaty and ugly, and you will get in the ring, and you will do your best, and it will not be perfection, and it won’t be pretty, but it will be well-earned.”
Kendrick’s term as the thirteenth Dean of the School of Law will begin on July 1. The Law Weekly wishes her all the best and is sure her tenure will be well-earned.
---
cpg9jy@virginia.edu
[1] Specifically, the Law School “Avengers” were Payvand Ahdout, Rachel Bayefsky, Jay Butler, Naomi Cahn, Danielle Citron, Kristen Eichensehr, Thomas Frampton, Mitu Gulati, Cathy Hwang, Craig Konnoth, Kimberly Krawiec, David Law, Joy Milligan, Richard Re, Bertrall Ross, Lawrence Solum, and Megan Stevenson. Thanos, is of course, Harvard Law School.