James Duff named interim dean of the J. David Rosenberg College of Law

Dear Colleagues,

I am pleased to inform you that James C. Duff has agreed to serve as interim dean of the J. David Rosenberg College of Law, effective July 1, 2025.  

Jim 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.

Jim 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.

He is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate in the Honors Program of the University of Kentucky and earned his Juris Doctor degree from Georgetown University Law School.

With his extensive experience working in various areas of law, coupled with his familiarity in expanding law education to different populations, I am confident that he will continue carrying on the tradition of excellence in scholarship and service for which the Rosenberg College of Law is nationally known. Please join me in congratulating and thanking Jim as he joins UK. 

The search for a permanent dean of the Rosenberg College of Law will continue in the early fall. I will provide more information about the search closer to that time. 

Please also join me in thanking Paul Salamanca for his service as acting dean and thank you for all you do for UK and our Commonwealth.

Robert DiPaola 
Provost