1. Brian Murchison Featured Speaker at Tucker Lecture, Law Commencement

Brian Murchison Featured Speaker at Tucker Lecture, Law Commencement Murchison, the third-longest serving law professor of all time, will retire from full-time teaching at the end of the academic year.

By Law Communications
March 16, 2026

Brian Murchison, Charles S. Rowe Professor of Law, will be the featured speaker at two upcoming events for the Law School and University community. Murchison, who is the longest-serving current faculty member at the University and third-longest serving law professor of all time, will retire from full-time teaching at the end of the academic year.

First up, Professor Murchison will be the speaker for the annual Tucker Lecture at the Law School. The lecture will take the form this year of a Q&A between Professor Murchison and Dean Melanie Wilson and is titled "Legacy of a Law Professor." The event will be held on Tuesday, March 31 at 1:00 p.m. in the Millhiser Moot Court Room, Sydney Lewis Hall.

Professor Murchison will also deliver the commencement address during graduation ceremonies for the Law Class of 2026. Commencement is scheduled for Friday, May 15, beginning at 10 a.m. on the lawn in front of University Chapel.

Professor Murchison joined the faculty at Washington and Lee in 1982. He focuses his teaching and scholarship on First Amendment issues, administrative law, mass media law, jurisprudence, torts, civil liberties, and contemporary problems in law and journalism. Murchison's articles have appeared in a variety of law and scholarly publications, including the Columbia Journal of Law & the Arts, the Harvard Civil Rights-Civil Liberties Law Review, the North Carolina Law Review, the Georgia Law Review, and the Emory Law Journal.

Murchison has been recognized numerous times with awards for his scholarship, and students have awarded him 16 different teaching honors. In 1988, he won the Virginia Council of Higher Education's Outstanding Faculty Award, the Commonwealth's highest honor for university faculty, recognizing excellence in teaching, research scholarship, mentoring, and public service.

At W&L Law, Murchison has served as interim dean and as director of the Frances Lewis Law Center, among numerous other activities. He also cofounded the Black Lung Legal Clinic, serving as supervising attorney for a number of years. At the University level, Murchison served on numerous search committees for leadership positions, directed the Mudd Center for Ethics, and chaired the W&L Commission on Institutional History and Community. The Executive Committee awarded him the William W. Pusey Award in 2008 as the faculty member or administrator who has made the greatest contribution to the university.

Murchison received both his B.A. and J.D. from Yale University. He served in the Peace Corps in Benin, West Africa, before attending law school. He practiced law as an associate with Hamel, Park, McCabe and Saunders in Washington, D.C., before joining the W&L law faculty.

More about Professor Murchison

Murch Exits the Stage