Michael Dick Named Director of William & Mary Law School’s Veterans Benefits Clinic and Clinical Associate Professor of Law
Mission Driven Students widely praise Professor Dick's teaching and skilled dedication to his students and Clinic clients. Photo by David F. Morrill
William & Mary Law School announced today that Michael Dick ’06, Colonel, U.S. Marine Corps (Ret.) has been named Director of the Lewis B. Puller, Jr. Veterans Benefits Clinic and Clinical Associate Professor of Law beginning in the 2024-25 academic year.
Dick has been serving the Law School as Visiting Professor of the Practice, Co-Director of the Puller Clinic, Director of Military and Veteran Affairs, and Assistant Director, Center for International Law and Policy.
“Always mission driven, Mike Dick has been doing exceptional work with our Veterans Benefits Clinic and Office of Military & Veteran Affairs,” said William & Mary Law School Dean A. Benjamin Spencer. “By agreeing to undertake this latest tour of duty, he will continue to be a significant force for good in supporting our military and veteran students, educating our students with real-world experiences, and helping veterans get the benefits that drastically improve their quality of life.”
Dick spent more than 26 years on active duty in the Marine Corps, largely as an infantry officer. He served in various U.S. and NATO assignments involving unilateral, multi-national, and inter-agency coordination responsibilities, including assignments as a rifle company commander, Marine Expeditionary Unit Operations Officer, infantry battalion commander, and NATO Senior Staff Officer at NATO HQ in Brussels, Belgium.
With almost eight years of overseas service, his assignments included numerous leadership positions involving operations in such places as Lebanon, Grenada, Somalia, Bosnia and Liberia. His final active-duty assignment was as the Assistant Chief of Staff, G-3 (Operations, Plans, Training) for the 2nd Marine Division, where he served as the principal advisor to Division Commander on the operational employment of the 16,000-member Division. In addition, he is a graduate of the USMC Command and Staff College, USMC School of Advanced Warfighting, and the NATO Defense College in Rome, Italy.
Upon retirement from the military, Dick graduated from the William & Mary Law School and subsequently joined the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) via the Attorney General’s Honors Program and served with the Office of Intelligence, a component of DOJ’s National Security Division, where his responsibilities involved representing the U.S. Government before the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court to obtain authorization for sensitive intelligence operations involving national security, terrorism and counterintelligence issues.
In 2014, Dick joined the Office of International Affairs (OIA) in the Criminal Division of DOJ, where he handled casework involving international extradition and mutual legal assistance matters and led a team that focused on analyzing strategic issues involving complex matters of significant concern to the Director of OIA. His last assignment at OIA was as the Associate Director for Policy, Legislation, and Multilateral Affairs, where he addressed challenging policy issues.
His experience serving veterans includes appointment in 2016 by Governor Terry McAuliffe to the Virginia Board of Veterans Services, which he now serves as Chairman
After almost 13 years at the Department of Justice, he came to the Puller Veterans Benefits Clinic, where he was named Visiting Professor of the Practice in October 2019, and Co-Director in 2020. Since then, he has been teaching and mentoring Clinic students representing veterans in securing compensation for disabilities that arose from their military service. Students widely praise his teaching and skilled dedication to his students and Clinic clients. In addition to his responsibilities within the Puller Clinic, in July 2023 assumed duties as Director of the newly established Office of Military & Veteran Affairs, which provides dedicated, focused, and holistic support to students at William & Mary Law School who are veterans, active duty, or Reserve Forces personnel.
“I am honored to have this opportunity to serve the Law School,” Dick said. “The Puller Clinic is a national leader in the clinical education of future lawyers, and I am humbled to follow in the footsteps of folks like Patty Roberts and Stacey-Rae Simcox who built the foundation on which the Clinic stands.”