Martin H. Brinkley is the William Rand Kenan, Jr. Distinguished Professor at Carolina Law. He teaches  Property, Business Associations, and Legal History, as well as an introductory course on the legal profession for UNC Chapel Hill undergraduates.  The UNC Law Class of 2026 presented Professor Brinkley with the Frederick B. McCall Award for Teaching Excellence, the highest honor a faculty member can receive.

A native North Carolinian, Professor Brinkley received an A.B. degree summa cum laude in Classics from Harvard University and studied papyrology at the University of Cologne’s Institute for Ancient Studies before attending Carolina Law, where he was Executive Articles Editor of the North Carolina Law Review. He clerked for Chief Judge Sam J. Ervin, III of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit and practiced corporate law for 22 years in Raleigh, NC.

From 2015 to 2025 he served as the law school’s 14th dean, the first person to lead the school directly from practice in its 175-year history.  Having retreated to the law faculty, Professor Brinkley has also returned to his roots in the field of classical studies:  In 2026, he became a candidate for the PhD degree in Classics (Philology) at UNC.

Professor Brinkley’s research and writing interests involve the roles played by law and lawyers in the development of public institutions; the influence of ancient Roman law and institutions, as well as English common law principles and institutions, on American law and government; the development of professional and personal identity in young lawyers; and various topics involving the interface between classical studies and law.

Professor Brinkley is committed to the legal profession, his church, and the civic life of his native state. He has served on the boards of or acted as pro bono legal counsel to many nonprofit institutions. He has been Senior Warden, Junior Warden and a member of the Vestry of his home parish, Christ Episcopal Church in Raleigh. He currently serves as Chancellor of the Episcopal Diocese of North Carolina and his third term on the Vestry at Christ Church.

Professor Brinkley is an elected member of the American Law Institute and an Honorary Master of the Bench of the Honourable Society of the Middle Temple. In 2011-12, he was President of the 17,000-member North Carolina Bar Association. In 2017, he received the Association’s H. Brent McKnight Renaissance Lawyer Award, which recognizes “those North Carolina attorneys whose trustworthiness, respectful and courteous treatment of all people, enthusiasm for intellectual achievement and commitment to excellence in work, and service to the profession and community during a multi-faceted, accomplished life, inspire others.” In 2023, he received the North Caroliniana Society Award in acknowledgement of his “long and distinguished service in the encouragement, production, enhancement, promotion, and preservation of North Caroliniana.”

In 2026, a group of donors endowed the Martin H. Brinkley Distinguished Professorship of Law at UNC Law School, with the intention of bringing outstanding scholars in the field of corporate law to Carolina.  Carolina Alumni, the alumni association of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, presented Professor Brinkley with its 2026 Faculty Service Award, which honors faculty who have performed outstanding service for UNC.