College Welcomes New Interim Dean James C. Duff

University of Kentucky Provost Robert DiPaola recently announced James C. Duff as interim dean of the UK J. David Rosenberg College of Law, effective July 1, 2025.

 

Duff brings to UK extensive managerial and practical experience in both public service and the private practice of law, as well as in legal education. He served as counselor to Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist from 1996 to 2000 and as the director of the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts by appointment of Chief Justice John Roberts, first from 2006 to 2011 and then from 2015 to 2021.

 

He taught constitutional law at Georgetown University for 16 years as an adjunct faculty member in the Walter Giles Endowed Department Seminar in Constitutional Law and Civil Liberties and as the Peter Mullin Distinguished Visiting Professor in the Department of Government. He also served as the managing partner of Baker Donelson in Washington, D.C., from 2000 to 2006.

 

Duff currently serves as the executive director of the Supreme Court Historical Society, an organization dedicated to preserving the history of and increasing public education about the U.S. Supreme Court. He began that role in 2021 and has expanded its outreach to students across the country.