Richmond Law welcomes three new professors

The University of Richmond School of Law is pleased to announce that three new faculty members will join our ranks this year.

Kurt Lash comes to Richmond from the University of Illinois College of Law, where he was the Guy Raymond Jones Chair in Law and the co-director for the Program in Constitutional Theory, History, and Law. A renowned expert on the Ninth and Fourteenth Amendments, Professor Lash will serve as the E. Claiborne Robins Distinguished Chair in Law, and will teach constitutional law and First Amendment law. Professor Lash has published widely on the subjects of constitutional law and constitutional history, including The Fourteenth Amendment and the Privileges or Immunities of American Citizenship (Cambridge University Press, 2014), The Lost History of the Ninth Amendment (Oxford University Press, 2009), and The American First Amendment in the Twenty-first Century: Cases and Materials (with William W. Van Alstyne) (5th ed., Foundation Press, 2014). His research has been published in the Yale Law Journal, Georgetown Law Journal, and Stanford Law Review, among other venues, and he has been cited by the Supreme Court and the U.S. Court of Appeals. 

Hayes Holderness also taught at the University of Illinois College of Law, where he was a Visiting Assistant Professor of Law. Professor Holderness is a former associate at McDermott Will & Emery and previously served as a tax policy fellow for the Joint Committee on Taxation. He earned his J.D. and his LL.M. in taxation from New York University School of Law and his B.A. from UNC-Chapel Hill. Professor Holderness’ research focuses on state and local taxation issues. His works have appeared in the University of Chicago Law Review, the Florida Tax Review, and Professor Richard D. Pomp's leading casebook, State and Local Taxation. He will be an assistant professor at Richmond Law and will teach in the field of tax law.

Daniel Schaffa joins the Richmond Law faculty from the University of Michigan, where he was a joint J.D. and Economics Ph.D. Student. Professor Schaffa also earned his masters in mathematics and accounting at the University of Michigan, and researched and taught in the areas of tax and its intersection with law and economics. His tax research focuses on how the tax system can be designed to achieve socially desirable goals, while his law and economics research focuses on how related crimes should be punished. He will be an assistant professor at Richmond Law and will teach in the areas of tax policy, corporate finance, and corporate tax.

“These three exceptional new faculty members have a lot to contribute to our students,” said Dean Wendy Perdue. “Their combination of experience and scholarly excellence will be a true asset to our community.”