Dean of the Law School


Andy Hessick joined the Carolina Law faculty in 2016 and serves as the Judge John J. Parker Distinguished Professor of Law and Associate Dean for Strategy and Planning. His teaching and research interests include federal courts, administrative law, and remedies. His work has appeared in, among other places, the University of Chicago Law Review, the Virginia Law Review, the California Law Review, the Cornell Law Review, and the Northwestern University Law Review. His work has been cited by the supreme courts of Alabama, Connecticut, Florida, Indiana, Iowa, Missouri, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Utah, and other states; various federal district and circuit courts; and the U.S. Supreme Court.

Hessick received his J.D. from Yale Law School, at which he was an editor of the Yale Law Journal. After law school, he clerked for Judge Reena Raggi on the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit and Judge A. Raymond Randolph on the United States Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. He then served as a Bristow Fellow in the U.S. Solicitor General’s office and practiced litigation at Kellogg Huber Hansen Todd Evans & Figel PLLC in Washington, D.C. He previously taught at the University of Utah and Arizona State University and was a visiting assistant professor at Boston University.

Leadership History

As Professor of Law

  • William Horn Battle, professor of law, 1845-1868 and 1877-1879
  • Kemp Plummer Battle, professor of law, 1879-1881
  • John Hall Manning, 1881-1899

As Dean of UNC School of Law

  • James Cameron MacRae, 1899-1909
  • Thomas Ruffin, acting dean, 1909
  • Lucius Polk McGehee, 1910-1923
  • Atwell Campbell McIntosh, acting dean, 1923-1924
  • Merton Leroy Ferson, 1924-1926
  • Atwell Campbell McIntosh, acting dean, 1926-1927
  • Abner Leon Green, 1926-1927 (absent on leave)
  • Charles Tilford McCormick, 1927-1931
  • Maurice Taylor Van Hecke, 1931-1941
  • Robert Hasley Wettach, 1941-1949
  • Henry Brandis Jr., 1949-1964
  • James Dickson Phillips Jr., 1964-1974
  • Robert Gray Byrd, 1974-1979
  • Kenneth S. Broun, 1979-1987
  • Ronald C. Link, acting dean, 1988-1989
  • Judith Welch Wegner, 1989-1999
  • Gene Nichol, 1999-2005
  • Gail Agrawal, interim dean, 2005-2006
  • Charles Daye, interim dean, 2006
  • John Charles Boger, 2006-2015
  • Martin H. Brinkley, 2015-2025