WS Chronicle

In above photo: Suzanne Reynolds who was just named the new Dean of the School of Law (Submitted photo:
from Wake Forest law school)

Suzanne Reynolds will become the next Dean of the Wake Forest University School of Law, effective July 1. Reynolds, who joined the Wake Forest law faculty in 1981, has served as interim dean for the past year. She is the first woman to head the law school.

Widely respected for her scholarship, teaching and public service, Reynolds served as the executive associate dean for academic affairs from 2010 to 2014.

“I am especially happy to serve as the first woman dean, and I look forward to building on all that we have accomplished over the past year,” Reynolds said.

Reynolds who is known nationally for her expertise in family law was a principal drafter of statutes that modernized the laws regarding both alimony and adoption.  She authored a three-volume treatise on North Carolina family law that has become the authoritative source for law students, lawyers and judges.

“As executive associate dean and interim dean, Suzanne Reynolds has proven herself to be well qualified to lead Wake Forest School of Law,” said Wake Forest University President Nathan O. Hatch.

Reynolds earned the Joseph Branch Teaching Excellence Award in 1994 in recognition of her talent as a professor. In addition to family law, she teaches contracts and professional responsibility.

Her research has focused on outcomes in high-conflict custody disputes.

Committed to public service, she co-founded a domestic violence program that received national recognition by the American Bar Association for providing legal assistance to the poor.  She has served for the past four years on the Advisory Board for the Task Force on Domestic Violence for the N.C. Administrative Office of Courts.

She has previously held a number of leadership positions in the legal community.

Reynolds has earned many awards for her contributions to the legal profession and on June 19 she had received the H. Brent McKnight Renaissance Lawyer Award, which recognizes contributions to professionalism and the practice of law, from the North Carolina Bar Association.

Reynolds earned a Juris Doctor (J.D.) from Wake Forest, a Master of Arts (M.A.) from University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and a Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) from Meredith College.