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John Calvin Jeffries

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This article is about the legal academic. For the American physician, see John Jeffries.
John Calvin Jeffries, Jr.
John C. Jeffries, Jr.
Born1948 (age 76–77)
NationalityAmerican
EducationYale University (BA)
University of Virginia (JD)
EmployerUniversity of Virginia
Known forConstitutional law, criminal law, federal courts, civil rights litigation
TitleDavid and Mary Harrison Distinguished Professor of Law, Counselor to the UVA President, Former Dean of the University of Virginia School of Law

John Calvin Jeffries, Jr. (born ca. 1948) is a prominent law professor and was dean of the University of Virginia School of Law from 2001 to 2008.

Biography

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Jeffries is the David and Mary Harrison Distinguished Professor of Law and Counselor to the President at the University of Virginia. He is best known for his work in criminal law, constitutional law, and constitutional torts.[1] He is also a co-author of one of the foremost criminal law textbooks, Criminal Law with Professors Richard J. Bonnie, Anne M. Coughlin, and Peter W. Low.[2] Jeffries has authored or co-authored a total of ten textbooks, primarily on civil rights and criminal law. Jeffries also wrote a biography of Justice Powell titled Justice Lewis F. Powell Jr. (New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1994). ISBN 0-8232-2110-5 and co-authored a book on the trial of John Hinckley.

Jeffries graduated summa cum laude from Yale University in 1970 and the University of Virginia School of Law in 1973. During law school, Jeffries served as editor-in-chief of the Virginia Law Review. He received the Z Award for the highest academic average and the Woods Prize for the outstanding graduate. Immediately after graduation, he became a law clerk to U.S. Supreme Court Justice Lewis F. Powell, Jr. before serving briefly in the U.S. Army as a second lieutenant.

As dean at Virginia Law, Jeffries had significant achievements.[3] He put the Law School on a new financial foundation by renouncing dwindling state funds and relying on increased tuition. To soften the impact of higher tuition, he initiated an extremely generous loan-forgiveness program for graduates engaged in public service. He also created the Law & Business Program,[4] a curricular innovation designed to give law students the accounting and finance skills required to communicate effectively in the business world. Jeffries also oversaw the creation of the Center for the Study of Race and Law in 2003.[5] In 2006 the law school received close to $10 million in donations (then a record for the school) and contributions from more than 50% of its living alumni, setting up a 14-year run with more than half of graduates giving.[6]

In late summer of 2007, Jeffries announced he would step down in July 2008 as dean to return to teaching. In 2017 he received the Thomas Jefferson Award for excellence in scholarship, the highest honor given to members of the University community.[7] From 2018-2021 he served as senior vice president for advancement at the University of Virginia.[8] After stepping down from that position, he retained a part-time appointment as counselor to UVA President Jim Ryan while continuing to serve on the law School faculty. Currently, he is Co-Reporter (with Pamela S. Karlan of Stanford) of the American Law Institute’s forthcoming Restatement of the Law, Constitutional Torts[9] and continues to teach Civil Rights and Federal Courts.

Jeffries is highly regarded for his teaching: Ryan has described Jeffries as "simply the best classroom teacher I've ever seen."[10]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Jeffries Looks Back Fondly on Years as Dean". June 15, 2008.
  2. ^ "Faculty - University of Virginia School of Law". Law.virginia.edu. July 22, 2016. Archived from the original on June 26, 2015. Retrieved February 3, 2020.
  3. ^ "Jeffries Looks Back Fondly on Years as Dean". June 15, 2008.
  4. ^ "John W. Glynn, Jr. Law & Business Program". March 29, 2017.
  5. ^ "Center for the Study of Race and Law". May 24, 2017.
  6. ^ "U.Va. Law School Posts Record Annual Gifts, Donors in 2006-2007 Campa…". Archived from the original on August 5, 2012.
  7. ^ "John Jeffries Wins UVA's Thomas Jefferson Award for Scholarship". November 3, 2017.
  8. ^ Wood, Mary (March 13, 2018). "UVA Law School Professor, Former Dean John Jeffries '73 to Lead UVA Advancement Team". University of Virginia School of Law. Retrieved December 4, 2022.
  9. ^ https://www.law.virginia.edu/news/202210/professor-co-leads-ali-project-examining-constitutional-torts#:~:text=The%20ALI%20approved%20the%20project%2C%20Restatement%20of%20the,reporters.%20Karlan%20is%20a%20former%20UVA%20Law%20professor.
  10. ^ "Questions for Dean Ryan: Most personally impactful teacher". Harvard Graduate School of Education. Archived from the original on December 21, 2021. Retrieved July 27, 2014.
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