Law School Announces Faculty Promotion and Tenure Decisions for 2011
William & Mary Law School Dean Davison M. Douglas is pleased to announce that the College has conferred tenure on Laura A. Heymann, and promoted her from Associate Professor to Professor of Law, and has promoted Angela M. Banks from Assistant to Associate Professor.
Laura A. Heymann joined the faculty in 2005. She is a graduate of the University of California at Berkeley School of Law (Boalt Hall), where she was elected to Order of the Coif and served as the Book Review Editor on the California Law Review.
Prior to her appointment, Professor Heymann was the inaugural Frank H. Marks Visiting Associate Professor of Law and Administrative Fellow in the Intellectual Property Law Program at The George Washington University Law School. She has also served as an assistant general counsel at America Online, Inc.; as an associate at Wilmer, Cutler & Pickering in Washington, D.C.; and as a law clerk to the Honorable Patricia M. Wald of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. Prior to attending law school, Professor Heymann worked as an assistant editor at St. Martin's Press in New York. She received her B.A. in English, magna cum laude, from Yale. Professor Heymann was selected by the 2008 graduating class as the recipient of the Walter L. Williams, Jr., Memorial Teaching Award.
Angela M. Banks joined the faculty in 2007. She is a graduate of Harvard Law School, where she served on the
Harvard Law Review and the Harvard International Law Journal. Prior to law school, Professor Banks studied at the University of Oxford Centre for Socio-Legal Studies as a Marshall Scholar, where she earned a Master of Letters in Sociology.
Prior to joining the faculty, Professor Banks was the Reginald F. Lewis Fellow for Law Teaching at Harvard Law School. She has also served as a legal advisor to Judge Gabrielle Kirk McDonald at the Iran-United States Claims Tribunal; an associate at Wilmer, Cutler & Pickering in Washington, D.C.; and as law clerk for Judge Carlos F. Lucero of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit. Professor Banks received her B.A. in sociology, summa cum laude, from Spelman College.
Douglas said Heymann’s and Banks’s achievements are examples of the strength of the William & Mary law faculty. “Our outstanding faculty of scholars and teachers continues to be one of our strongest assets as a law school. We are fortunate to have both Laura and Angela as members of our faculty. We will continue to expect great things from both of them!”
The William & Mary Board of Visitors voted to approve both appointments at its February 2011 meeting. The promotions become effective in the fall of 2011.