Rate My Professor Richard Freer

Richard D. Freer is the Dean and Charles Howard Candler Professor of Law at Emory University School of Law, where he has been a faculty member for over 41 years. He earned a B.A. with highest honors from the University of California, San Diego in 1975 and a J.D. from UCLA School of Law in 1978, graduating fifth in his class, elected to the Order of the Coif, and serving as a member of the UCLA Law Review. After law school, Freer clerked for Chief Judge Edward J. Schwartz of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California from 1978 to 1979 and for Chief Judge Clement F. Haynsworth, Jr. of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit from 1979 to 1980. He practiced as an associate in the litigation department at Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher in Los Angeles from 1980 to 1983 before joining Emory Law as an assistant professor in 1983, advancing to associate professor in 1986, full professor in 1989, Robert Howell Hall Professor of Law from 1992 to 2017, and Charles Howard Candler Professor of Law since 2017. He assumed the role of Dean on July 1, 2024. Freer has held leadership positions including Emory Law Associate Dean of Faculty from 1999 to 2002 and University Associate Vice Provost for Academic Affairs. He has served as a visiting professor at George Washington University Law School, Central European University in Budapest, Moscow State University, the University of Warsaw, and Shanghai Jiao Tong University.