Dean and Charles Howard Candler Professor of Law
Richard D. Freer is dean of Emory University School of Law. He clerked for a federal district judge and a federal appellate judge before litigating with Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher in Los Angeles. Graduating classes at Emory Law have named him Most Outstanding Professor ten times. He is a recipient of the university’s highest teaching award as well as the university's Scholar/Teacher Award. He has served as a visiting professor at George Washington University, Central European University in Budapest, Moscow State University in Russia, the University of Warsaw in Poland, and Shanghai Jiao Tong University in China.
lawdean@emory.edu »
Faculty Profile »
404.727.6838
Vice Dean and Thomas Simmons Professor of Law
Joanna Shepherd is the Thomas Simmons Professor of Law at Emory University School of Law. She served as vice dean from 2020 to 2023 and again beginning in the summer of 2024. She teaches Torts, Analytical Methods for Lawyers, Law and Economics, and Judicial Behavior. Before joining Emory, Shepherd was an assistant professor of Economics at Clemson University and worked at the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta. In addition to her position at the law school, she currently serves as an adjunct professor in the Emory Department of Economics.
Shepherd is a nationally-recognized expert on judicial behavior, judicial elections, tort reform, and empirical legal studies.
jshepherd@law.emory.edu »
Faculty Profile »
404.727.8957
Associate Dean of Students and Academic Programs; Visiting Associate Professor of Practice; Faculty Director, LLM/MCL Programs
John Felipe Acevedo is visiting associate professor of practice at Emory University School of Law. Before joining Emory Law, Acevedo assistant professor in residence at the University of Alabama School of Law. He has also taught law at Washington and Lee University School of Law, the University of Southern California, Gould School of Law, University of La Verne College of Law, and Chicago-Kent College of Law.
Acevedo’s research focuses on the repeal of obscenity laws, which are often used to target minority groups. He is currently working on an essay for a peer reviewed volume on the way censorship in general and obscenity law, in particular, dismembers the bodies of models as well as the corpus of artists’ works by focusing exclusively on individual body parts. He has also examined the way that obscenity laws are used to silence the models appearing in the artworks as well as the artists who create the pieces.
jfacevedo@emory.edu »
(404) 727-9876
Associate Dean for Projects and Partnerships and Asa Griggs Candler Professor of Law
Ifeoma Ajunwa, JD, PhD, is an award-winning tenured law professor and author of the highly acclaimed book, The Quantified Worker, published by Cambridge University Press. At Emory, she is Asa Griggs Candler Professor of Law and founding director of the AI and the Future of Work Program at Emory Law. She is also the associate dean for projects and partnerships at Emory Law (starting January 2024). Ajunwa was recruited from the University of North Carolina School of Law where she was a tenured law professor and the founding director of the Artificial Intelligence Decision-Making Research (AI-DR) Program at UNC Law. Ajunwa is currently a visiting fellow at Yale Law School’s Information Society Project (ISP). She has been a faculty associate at the Berkman Klein Center at Harvard University since 2017. She was a 2019 recipient of the NSF CAREER Award and a 2018 recipient of the Derrick A. Bell Award from the Association of American Law Schools (AALS). She is an elected member of the American Law Institute and a Life Fellow of the American Bar Foundation. Ajunwa’s research interests are at the intersection of law and technology with a particular focus on the ethical governance, privacy, and discrimination issues associated with workplace AI and automated decision-making technologies. She also has an interest in law and literature and law and film.
iajunwa@emory.edu »
Senior Director of Registration
Katie Cox is an experienced higher education administrator with a demonstrated history of generating change in the industry. Prior to Emory, she worked at Yale Law School for four years and left with the title of senior associate registrar. Cox has a bachelor’s degree in music education from Furman University and a master’s degree in flute performance from The Hartt School at the University of Hartford. She is skilled in student records management, process creation, data analysis, and fostering collaborative and inclusive workplaces, and she is driven by a desire to lead, serve, and support others towards achieving their goals.
katie.cox@emory.edu »
Director of Library Services and Professor of Practice
Mark Engsberg is the library director and professor of practice at the MacMillan Law Library. Before coming to Emory Law, Mark Engsberg worked at the Lillian Goldman Law Library at Yale Law School for eight years, where he served as a reference librarian, as the international and foreign Law reference librarian and as head of reference. Engsberg is active in professional legal and law librarianship organizations. Since 2005, he has served as editor-in-chief of the
International Journal of Legal Information, published by the International Association of Law Libraries. Engsberg received his
master of science in library and information science degree, as well as a master's degree and a doctorate in English literature from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He also holds a JD from Willamette University College of Law in Salem, Oregon, and a bachelor's degree from Drury University in Springfield, Missouri.
mengsbe@emory.edu »
Faculty Profile »
Senior Director of Communication and Director of Inclusion and Community
A. Kenyatta Greer is senior director of communication for the school of law and director of community and inclusion.
She leads the marketing and communications office, including internal and external communication, social media and web, issues management, and academic journals. Over more than 25 years, she has developed her skills through careers in newspaper, magazine, public relations, and advertising environments.
Through education and experience, she has built expertise in change management, content development for various print and digital media, managing publication processes, crisis communications, social strategy, media relations, writing and editing compelling copy, and creating and nurturing safe spaces for others to be their favorite selves and to thrive professionally. She is an honors graduate of Gonzaga University, where she earned a master's degree in communication and organizational leadership, and Georgia State University, where she earned her bachelor's degree in print journalism.
kenyatta.greer@emory.edu »
404.727.4938
Associate Dean and Chief Business Officer
Erin Herting is the chief business officer for Emory University School of Law. She has over 25 years of experience in financial and operational management. During this time, she has led organizational change, mentored staff, and leveraged technology to streamline business processes. Prior to joining Emory Law, Herting was the assistant dean for Administration and Finance for the College of Arts and Sciences at Georgia State University and held positions in financial and business administration at the University of Iowa. Herting's educational background includes a bachelor’s degree in accounting from Arizona State University as well as a Master of Business Administration degree from the University of Iowa.erin.herting@emory.edu »
404.727.1511
Associate Dean of Faculty and Associate Professor of Law
Matthew B. Lawrence is associate professor of law and associate dean of faculty. Lawrence researches and publishes on health care finance, administrative law, and addictions. His scholarship is published or forthcoming in top journals including the Boston College Law Review, Columbia Law Review; Cornell Law Review, Duke Law Journal, Florida Law Review; Harvard Law and Policy Review; New York University Law Review; William & Mary Law Review; and Yale Law Journal. He has also published in peer reviewed publications including the Journal of Law, Medicine, & Ethics and Public Health Reports. In 2023, he was awarded the Provost’s Distinguished Teaching Award for Excellence in Graduate and Professional Education.matthew.lawrence@emory.edu »
404.727.6499
Assistant Dean for Career Development
Natasha Patel is assistant dean of the Career Center. She oversees the entire Career Center team, recruitment policies, and student professional development. She also advises students in their 3L year. She has more than 19 years of experience advising professionals and students. After working as an attorney at Morrison & Forester in Palo Alto, California, and Cravath, Swaine & Moore in New York, she transitioned to advising law students at Columbia Law School’s career development office, where she served as director and interim dean. She returned to her native Atlanta and joined Emory University School of Law in 2020. She holds a BA from the University of Georgia, JD from the University of California College of Law, San Francisco, and an MA in social-organizational psychology from Columbia University. She is licensed to practice in California, New York, and Georgia.
natasha.patel@emory.edu
Division Director of Human Resources
Marshall Sampson is the division director of human resources. He has two decades of experience in human resources and non-profit management. Sampson began his career in Silicon Valley working in recruiting and employee relations for web hosting companies before transitioning to higher education. Prior to joining Emory Law in 2019, Sampson worked for a community college in Washington State where he was the vice president of human resources and legal affairs. He has a juris doctor from University of Miami School of Law and earned his bachelor of science in human resource management from the Whitman School of Management at Syracuse University.
marshall.sampson@emory.edu »
Associate Dean for Advancement and Alumni Relations
Brian Shupe has a successful and distinguished background in major gift fundraising in higher education. He has successfully managed multiple campaigns, events, and initiatives that have raised significant funding, enhancing the student experience. He secured the lead gifts for the Zeanah Engineering Complex and the Dwight Hutchins Engineering Diversity Program at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, and participated in raising more than $200,000,000 for the Tickle College of Engineering in his time there. He is passionate about legal education and research and is committed to making a positive impact on the law school and the community. He has excellent skills in community relations, fundraising, and philanthropy, and enjoys collaborating with diverse stakeholders and partners.brian.shupe@emory.edu »
Senior Director for Decision Support and Data Management
Chaun Stores serves as the senior director for Decision Support and Data Management at Emory University School of Law, where he is responsible for assessing business intelligence needs, translating those needs into deliverables, and conducting cross-functional analytical research and modeling to support the school’s goals and objectives. Before joining Emory, he served as the assistant vice president for Decision Support & Analysis at West Virginia University and before returning to his alma mater, he served as the Director of Assessment and Institutional Research at Washington and Jefferson College in Washington, Pennsylvania. As a presidential management fellow, W.E.B. Dubious Fellow, and an SREB Fellow, he earned his PhD in political science from West Virginia University. Currently, he serves on the Association for Behavior Analysis International (ABAI) Accreditation Board as a community representative, responsible for implementing the standards for the accreditation of education programs in behavior analysis. As a social scientist by training, Stores is passionate about exploring opportunities where the combination of different data types can help inform evidence-based decision-making.
chaun.stores@emory.edu
