William J. Carney, the Emory Charles Howard Candler Professor Emeritus of Law
Retired Emory School of Law Professor William J. Carney and his wife, Jane Carney, have donated $1 million to the school’s Center for Transactional Law and Practice, the largest given to the University by a professor, according to Dean of the School of Law and Asa Griggs Candler Professor of Law Robert Schapiro.
When the School of Law matches these funds with its own fundraising, it will establish the William and Jane Carney Chair of Transactional Law and Practice, to be held by the center’s executive director, who is currently Sue Payne, Schapiro said.
“The excitement we feel to have a faculty member invest back into the school is a wonderful thing,” Schapiro said.
Transactional law refers to legal practices that deal with negotiating contracts between two or more parties, usually to facilitate business transactions.
“That’s an area many law schools have not focused on in years,” Schapiro said, stating his desire to expand Emory’s existing program.
Carney, the Charles Howard Candler Professor of Law Emeritus, oversaw the foundation of the Center for Transactional Law and Practice in 2007 and also helped hire its first director, according to a Jan. 29 University press release.
Since then, the program has grown with more than 200 students enrolled in the certificate program.
“Carney has been among the leading professors teaching corporate and securities law for decades,” School of Law Vice Dean Robert Ahdieh, who serves on the Center’s faculty, said in the press release. “But he has also always been committed to the idea that transactional lawyers need rigorous skills training.”
Schapiro said the reason Emory law students are particularly well-poised to pursue transactional law is because the City of Atlanta has sophisticated transactional law practitioners.
The $1 million grant will be used to expand its transactional law education, particularly with the hiring of an assistant director for the center, in addition to adjunct faculty members who practice transactional law in Atlanta, according to Schapiro.
According to the press release, there are now 13 full-time professors in the center and more than 40 practitioners as adjunct faculty.
“The Center for Transactional Law is a key priority for the law school,” Schapiro said, adding that the school emphasizes “experiential education.”
The grant will also go toward creating new courses related to transactional law, Schapiro said.
While a $1 million gift is unusual for Emory Law, the school receives around $43 million of Emory University’s total endowment, which is around $6.7 billion.
This number may fluctuate year to year, based on a variety of factors, including market forces, particular projects from the University, decisions from the Board of Trustees and internal fundraising from the law school’s development team.
Schapiro said he hopes this donation will be inspirational for others to invest back into the School of Law
— By Rupsha Basu, News Editor
Rupsha Basu (16C) was the Emory Wheel's executive editor from 2015-2016 and served as the Wheel's news editor prior to that. She currently attends New York University School of Law.
