University of Richmond law school dean stepping down next year

The University of Richmond announced Wednesday that Wendy Perdue, dean of the university’s School of Law, is stepping down as dean at the end of the 2025­-26 academic year.

Perdue has been the law school dean since 2011 and will remain on faculty as a professor of law following a sabbatical.

“Dean Perdue’s leadership, vision, and dedication have positively and permanently impacted our law school and the University of Richmond,” said Executive Vice President and Provost Joan Saab said in a statement. “I am grateful to Dean Perdue for her thoughtful and steadfast leadership, deep commitment to the Richmond School of Law, and dedication to our faculty, staff, and students. The law school has flourished under her direction, and she has built a strong foundation for continued success.”

According to the university, some of the significant accomplishments that occurred under Perdue’s tenure include building a first-year legal writing program, launching the professional identity program, establishing a post-graduate Bridge to Practice program to help graduates launch their careers and completing a renovation of the law school building. She also engaged alumni, the legal community and others in helping support the law school through fundraising.

During her time as dean, she also served as president of the Association of American Law Schools, was inducted into the Virginia Lawyers Hall of Fame and was named as a Virginia Lawyers Weekly 2025 Circle of Excellence honoree.

A graduate of Wellesley College and the Duke University School of Law, Perdue clerked for former Supreme Court Associate Justice Anthony Kennedy when he was a judge for the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. She was an associate at the Washington, D.C., firm Hogan & Hartson (now Hogan Lovells) before entering academia. She was part of the Georgetown University Law Center’s faculty before joining Richmond.

The university says it plans to launch a national search to find Perdue’s successor by the start of the next semester.

According to the law school’s 2024 standard 509 information report, the school of law has 131 faculty and 392 students enrolled.