Emory Law School Website

David F. Partlett

Dean

David F. Partlett assumed the deanship of Emory Law on July 1, 2006.  He holds the academic position of Asa Griggs Candler Professor of Law.  Dean Partlett previously served as Vice President, Dean, and Professor of Law at Washington and Lee University School of Law for six years.  He joined the faculty of the Vanderbilt University Law School in 1987.  He was a fellow in the Institute for Public Policy Studies and was Acting Dean 1996-1997.   Partlett held positions in the Australian government as a senior legal officer for the Commonwealth Attorney-General's Department in Canberra, where he was responsible for policy advice on the Racial Discrimination Act and other related human rights and racial discrimination legislation.   He later was appointed to the Australian Law Reform Commission.

    From 1978 until 1987, Dean Partlett was a member of the faculty of the Australian National University, and he served as Associate Dean from 1982-85.  He is a member of the American Law Institute, the American Society of Law and Medicine, and the Selden Society.  He currently teaches torts and has taught courses on torts, judicial remedies and professional liability.  He has authored books on torts, defamation and free speech, child mental health and medical malpractice. 

    A native of Australia, David Partlett earned his LL.B. degree from the University of Sydney School of Law in 1970, an LL.M. from the University of Michigan Law School in 1974, and an S.J.D. from the University of Virginia School of Law in 1982. He remains an active scholar, with recent work focused on tort law, as well as defamation and free speech, child mental health, and medical malpractice.