Dear alumni and friends:

It was such a pleasure to welcome 154 students to the J.D. Class of 2024 and 54 students to the LL.M. Class of 2022 during Orientation Week Aug. 9–13. Our faculty, students and staff returned to campus when classes began, excited to see each other and eager to meet our 1L and LL.M. classes. We continue to navigate the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic, but I am confident that the health and safety protocols Vanderbilt University has implemented will allow us to maintain our high standard for classroom instruction. We can also host many of the annual lecture series, panel discussions, Blackacre socials, and other extracurricular activities that introduce students to great lawyers and scholars and allow them to meet each other and form lifelong friendships.

Three faculty members received well-deserved appointments to endowed chairs this summer, including two to newly endowed chairs! Terry Maroney is the first holder of the Robert S. and Theresa L. Reder Chair in Law, endowed by Professor of the Practice of Law Bob Reder ’78, who teaches on our Law and Business faculty, and his wife, Terri Reder. Rob Mikos is the first holder of the LaRoche Family Chair in Law, endowed by the LaRoche Family Foundation in honor of three generations of LaRoche family members who attended Vanderbilt Law School, including foundation trustee Ted LaRoche ’70. Ganesh Sitaraman was appointed to the New York Alumni Chancellor’s Chair in Law, established in 1997 by a generous group of Vanderbilt Law alumni. A chair appointment recognizes faculty for their career accomplishments, and I invite you to read about their impactful work and teaching.

I am also pleased that Lisa Bressman, who holds a David Daniels Allen Distinguished Chair in Law, has returned to serve as associate dean for academic affairs for a second term. Lisa previously served in this position from 2010 to 2016, and I appreciate her willingness to serve again in this vital leadership role. She will provide invaluable support as we work together to navigate these challenging times.

Vanderbilt has made the difficult decision to postpone Reunion Weekend until 2022. Although we were looking forward to celebrating in October, COVID-19 made this change of plans necessary. While this is disappointing, the health and safety of our campus, alumni and guests remain a top priority. Thank you to all our volunteers for their leadership and fundraising efforts thus far. I look forward to the time when we can celebrate at the law school again.

I close with the sad news that Jim Cheek ’67, a nationally renowned expert in securities law and corporate governance, died Aug. 27. Jim started and ended his legal career here at VLS—he taught here from 1968 to 1970 after earning his LL.M. at Harvard Law and then returned to our Law and Business faculty as a professor of the practice of law in 2014, after retiring to part-time practice at Bass Berry & Sims, where he had a storied career. Jim was a dedicated alumnus who had a positive impact on VLS, his firm and the legal community throughout his career, and we miss him.

Sincerely yours, 

Dean and John Wade-Kent Syverud Professor of Law

In his paper, “A Gundy Revival in the Age of Public Health Crises,” Brinker argues for a more lenient interpretation of the nondelegation doctrine during public health emergencies such as the COVID-19 global pandemic.

Slobogin’s book, Just Algorithms: Using Science to Reduce Incarceration and Inform a Jurisprudence of Risk, was released by Cambridge University Press in July.