Leah Song Richardson (born 1967/1968) is an

America The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

n lawyer, legal scholar, and higher education administrator who was formerly president of Colorado College. Before becoming president of Colorado College, she was dean and a chancellor's professor of law of the

University of California, Irvine School of Law The University of California, Irvine School of Law is the law school at the University of California, Irvine. It is the fifth law school in the UC system. In September 2007, Erwin Chemerinsky was named as the law school's first dean. Chemerinsky ...

. After leaving her role as president of Colorado College, she returned to being a professor of law at the University of California, Irvine School of Law. On February 7, 2024, Richardson announced that she would leave her role as President of Colorado College effective June 30, 2024.

Education

Richardson earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

and a

Juris Doctor The Juris Doctor (J.D. or JD), also known as Doctor of Jurisprudence (J.D., JD, D.Jur., or DJur), is a graduate-entry professional degree in law and one of several Doctor of Law degrees. The J.D. is the standard degree obtained to practice law ...

from

Yale Law School Yale Law School (Yale Law or YLS) is the law school of Yale University, a Private university, private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. It was established in 1824 and has been ranked as the best law school in the United States by ''U ...

Career

Prior to academia, Richardson worked as a

public defender A public defender is a lawyer appointed to represent people who otherwise cannot reasonably afford to hire a lawyer to defend themselves in a trial. Several countries provide people with public defenders, including the UK, Hungary and Singapore, ...

and was a partner at the law firm of Schroeter Goldmark & Bender, where she practiced criminal defense. She was also an assistant counsel at the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund. Richardson assumed the role of UC Irvine School of Law's interim dean on July 1, 2017, replacing the school's founding dean,

Erwin Chemerinsky Erwin Chemerinsky (born May 14, 1953) is an American legal scholar known for his studies of United States constitutional law and federal civil procedure. Since 2017, Chemerinsky has been the dean of the UC Berkeley School of Law. Previously, he a ...

. In January 2018, she was appointed the school's second dean. At the time of her appointment, she was the only

woman of color The term "person of color" ( : people of color or persons of color; abbreviated POC) is primarily used to describe any person who is not considered "white". In its current meaning, the term originated in, and is primarily associated with, the U ...

to lead a top-30 law school. On December 9, 2020, Colorado College announced that Richardson had accepted the post of president of the college; she began her position on July 1, 2021. She is the first woman of color to serve as the school's president. Richardson served as President of Colorado College until June 30, 2024, when she resigned to return to her role as Professor of law at the University of California, Irvine School of Law. On February 7, 2024, it was announced that Richardson would resign her position as President of Colorado College effective June 30, 2024, and return to her role as professor of law at the University of California, Irvine School of Law.

Writing and scholarship

Richardson's research focuses on implicit bias,

criminal procedure Criminal procedure is the adjudication process of the criminal law. While criminal procedure differs dramatically by jurisdiction, the process generally begins with a formal criminal charge with the person on trial either being free on bail or ...

criminal law Criminal law is the body of law that relates to crime. It prescribes conduct perceived as threatening, harmful, or otherwise endangering to the property, health, safety, and moral welfare of people inclusive of one's self. Most criminal law i ...

, and law and social science. She has examined implicit bias and prejudice in

artificial intelligence Artificial intelligence (AI) is intelligence—perceiving, synthesizing, and inferring information—demonstrated by machines, as opposed to intelligence displayed by animals and humans. Example tasks in which this is done include speech re ...

technology. She co-edited the book "The Constitution and the Future of Criminal Justice in America," with John T. Parry of Lewis and Clark College, Portland. The book was published in 2014 by

Cambridge University Press Cambridge University Press is the university press of the University of Cambridge. Granted letters patent by Henry VIII of England, King Henry VIII in 1534, it is the oldest university press A university press is an academic publishing hou ...

. She is working on a forthcoming book examining the history of race in the United States, and implications for law and policy.

Awards

Richardson received the Derrick Bell Award from the Association of American Law Schools in 2012. The award recognizes exceptional contributions to legal education through mentoring, teaching and scholarship. In 2018, she was named among "OC People of 2018" by ''

OC Weekly ''OC Weekly'' was a free alternative weekly paper distributed in Orange County and Long Beach, California. OC Weekly was founded in September 1995 by Will Swaim, who acted as editor and publisher until 2007. The paper was distributed at coffee ...

''.

Affiliations

Richardson is a member of the

American Law Institute The American Law Institute (ALI) is a research and advocacy group of judges, lawyers, and legal scholars established in 1923 to promote the clarification and simplification of United States common law and its adaptation to changing social needs. ...

and serves on the executive committee of the

Association of American Law Schools The Association of American Law Schools (AALS), formed in 1900, is a non-profit organization of 176 law schools in the United States. An additional 19 schools pay a fee to receive services but are not members. AALS incorporated as a 501(c)(3) non ...

Personal life

Richardson is

African American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...

and

Asian American Asian Americans are Americans of Asian ancestry (including naturalized Americans who are immigrants from specific regions in Asia and descendants of such immigrants). Although this term had historically been used for all the indigenous people ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Richardson, L. Song Year of birth missing (living people) Living people American legal scholars Harvard University alumni People associated with the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund University of California, Irvine faculty Yale Law School alumni