On Rich Freer’s desk sits a compass. It points north. True North. As the new dean of Emory University School of Law, he applies it metaphorically to all that he does and aspires to accomplish.
“Does this proposal lead to academic eminence?” he asks. “Does it lead to students flourishing?” With these guiding questions, Freer charts his vision for Emory Law, navigating the steps necessary to propel the school forward.
In his first 100 days as dean, Freer — who taught at the school for four decades — made his drive clear: a focus on Emory Law’s core mission of educating sophisticated, principled lawyers equipped to serve their clients and lead their communities.
To him, flourishing is more than legal success; it’s about personal growth and service, which he feels transports law from a mere profession to a personal calling.
“The law is a noble profession because it’s about service. You are dedicating your professional life to solving other people’s problems,” he says. “The clients are putting part of their lives, part of their businesses, in your hands, and that’s a huge responsibility.”
For more than a century, Emory Law has guided students on this path, training them to become lawyers grounded in integrity, empathy, fairness and accountability. Freer’s vision is to elevate Emory Law for the long term by focusing on student flourishing — academically, professionally, personally — and by fostering academic distinction among faculty, already nationally renowned for their scholarship.
With support from alumni and benefactors, cutting-edge scholarship and innovative teaching from the faculty, and student engagement, Freer is determined to lead Emory Law to new heights. Every decision is guided by the idea of true north and grounded in a rigorous focus on fundamentals and building professional skills that lead to self-confidence.
Inspiring game-changing support
Emory Law alumni are expressing enthusiasm and excitement for Freer and his vision. Since Freer took office in July, Emory Law has secured an unprecedented $18 million in investments. Inspired by his leadership, generous donors have come forward to establish endowments and distinguished professorships. They have contributed to scholarship funds and invested in centers and related programming, manifesting a shared commitment to Emory Law’s present and future successes. Through historic philanthropic support, these donors are investing in Emory Law today by supporting Freer and where he is bound to lead Emory Law.
Two Emory Law alumni, John Latham and Facundo Bacardi, have stepped forward with gifts that Freer says will pave the way for hiring top-notch legal scholars, particularly in civil litigation and business law.
Latham, a Dean’s Advisory Board member and Emory trustee emeritus, has — along with his wife Sheri — endowed a Distinguished Professorship in Civil Litigation. With this position, the Lathams aim to attract a great scholar and teacher.
“I trust the endowment to Dean Freer,” Latham says. “I know he’ll use it to bring in a scholar who can help lift the Law School’s ranking and concentrate on the basics: imparting in students a solid legal education with which they can pass the bar and obtain the jobs they seek.”
Similarly, Bacardi, who serves on Emory’s Board of Trustees, has committed to funding senior-level scholars and practitioners who will enhance Emory Law’s academic environment by offering specialized knowledge in business law, which is crucial for students wishing to enter corporate legal practice.
Bacardi established the William Augustus Lane Jr. Distinguished Professorship Endowment, which bears the name of his father-in-law — a principled lawyer and businessman who exemplified the very traits and ideals on which Freer centers his vision.
“Dean Freer’s commitment to educating principled, sophisticated lawyers is spot on,” Bacardi says. “His vision will shape both curriculum and teaching to produce students ready for the next steps in their lives.”
With new faculty members specializing in civil litigation and business law, students will have greater access to specialized courses and advanced legal training in these core areas. The new hires will build upon the excellence and academic rigor for which Emory Law has long been known.
Emory Law ranks #22 nationally in business and commercial law. This fact reflects the quality and scholarship of business law faculty members and the remarkable success of the school’s Center for Transactional Law and Practice, founded in 2007 by Professor William J. Carney, a cornerstone of Emory Law for more than three decades.
In 2015, Carney strengthened the center’s work with a $1 million matching gift. A decade later, he has stepped forward with an unprecedented $6 million gift to create the William and Jane Carney Center for Business and Transactional Law, of which the Center for Transactional Law and Practice will be a vital component. Carney’s investment is driven by a deep commitment to combining strong legal education with training in drafting, negotiations and other skills pivotal to business practice.
Carney has known Freer for 41 years and shares his vision for Emory Law.
“Dean Freer has good values, both academically and professionally,” he says. “He understands the practice of law and what students need, and I believe he will elevate the prominence of the school’s business law component.”
Central to Carney’s vision — and Freer’s — is melding legal education with practical skills training to allow Emory graduates to enter the profession practice-ready. His transformative investment will leverage the center’s place in Atlanta, one of the world’s most important business hubs.
Rooted in Emory, grounded in giving
Atlanta as a home of entrepreneurial activity and commercial success is something Emory alumna Ellen Agnor Bailey knows well.
A trustee emerita and the niece of beloved Emory Law professor William Agnor, she remembers visiting her uncle in the law building as a child. Her mother, daughter and two granddaughters are Emory alumni as well. Bailey is a successful businesswoman and consultant with deep connections to both the Emory and the Atlanta communities. Throughout her career, she has experienced and benefited from the value of good, ethical lawyers with whom she has enjoyed true working partnerships.
Those experiences inspired her to invest in Freer and Emory Law. Bailey has supported the university, financially and otherwise, for 56 consecutive years. Now, she has made a gift to fund a law faculty award and endow a professorship in memory of her late fiancé, Judge Hilton Monroe Fuller Jr., who served as a professor, litigator and DeKalb County Superior Court judge.
Bailey says her family has long valued education as a building block for the future. She counts as many as 14 Emory degrees among family members, and this connection adds remarkable depth to her giving. “Emory has been part of our family for as long as I can remember,” she says. “Emory isn’t just a school to us — it’s a place that shaped who we are.
“My family believes education is one of the most important gifts one can give, and that's why we felt strongly about supporting Emory Law in this way. Our hope is that by giving back to the law school, we're helping to shape the future of students who will make a difference in the world.”
With nearly 200 years of collective involvement with Emory Law — whether as students, professors, donors, or all three — these philanthropists are investing their treasure, time and talent in the school. They are confident that Freer will lead Emory Law into an exciting new era, as is Emory President Gregory L. Fenves.
“Rich Freer has been an extraordinary professor and a dedicated member of the Emory Law community for decades,” says President Gregory L. Fenves. “He has the vision, skill and commitment to elevate the School of Law in profound ways, and I see that demonstrated by the tremendous support Dean Freer's leadership has garnered in just his first 100 days.”
This support has allowed Emory Law to secure essential resources for recruiting leading faculty members, enhancing academic programs, and attracting talented students. These initiatives are only possible through the enduring generosity of benefactors like Carney, Latham, Bailey and Bacardi.
Looking to the future
As Freer considers the future, he will not stray from the questions that have guided his term to this point: will a proposal enhance both academic eminence and student flourishing?
Guided by those pillars, the Law School will deepen current partnerships with the university and beyond — and build new, strategic partnerships — to bolster Emory Law as a leader in legal education. The school needs to be nimble enough to adapt while remaining rooted in its defining values.
Through their generous giving, Freer says, donors are modeling service, sacrifice and leadership.
“Those investing in us could do a lot of other things with their wealth, support a lot of other causes,” he says. “That they are investing in Emory Law is at once humbling and energizing. They are saying they believe in us. They believe in where the school is going.”
And with Freer at the helm, that direction is decidedly True North.