A Constancy of Purpose: Mike Dick Retires After Years of Service to William & Mary Law School

For Clinical Associate Professor of Law Mike Dick '06, the annual cording ceremony at William & Mary Law School is all about honoring the graduating law students with military backgrounds who serve others through the Puller Veterans Benefits Clinic. This year, however, the students and law school leaders added a little something extra to the event.

They celebrated Mike Dick’s career on the eve of his imminent retirement.

Dick’s story in both the military and the law is one that never stopped answering the same quiet call: to serve.

Long before he stood at the front of a classroom at William & Mary Law School, Dick’s introduction to the law was simple, almost understated—a signature on an enlistment contract more than 50 years ago. That moment began a journey that would take him across the world as a U.S. Marine Corps officer, eventually rising to the rank of Colonel.

In places where the rule of law was fragile or absent, he saw firsthand what its absence meant. Those experiences shaped his career while defining his understanding of why the law matters.

After more than 26 years in uniform, Dick could have stepped away from service entirely. Instead, he chose to enroll at William & Mary Law School as a student, a transition that, as then-Dean Taylor Reveley once admitted, was not without its doubts.

Reveley wondered how a seasoned Marine colonel would adapt to life as a first-year law student, starting at the bottom.

“We admitted Mike, and he turned out to be a spectacular member of the law school community, absolutely spectacular,” Reveley said during the cording ceremony on April 16. “He did what he needed to do; he pulled his oar in the public life of the law school and set a wonderful example. He nurtured a lot of people. He was just dynamite.”

Dick even invited his dean to dinner.

“That requires producing a dinner, and Mike, it turns out, is a really good cook,” Reveley said. “But that was typical of him, reaching out to the dean, feeding the dean. And then Mike left the law school with a very distinguished progress, and then we got him back. He has been instrumental in really giving new life to William & Mary's outreach to veterans.”

After graduating in 2006, Dick carried that same spirit into his work at the Department of Justice, combining legal skill with the leadership instincts forged over years in the Marines. Yet even then, his connection to William & Mary and to service remained strong.

“In 2019, Mike returned to our law school, this time to give back,” said A. Benjamin Spencer, Dean and Trustee Professor and a former Major in the Judge Advocate General’s Corps of the U.S. Army (Reserve). “Through his leadership of the Puller Veterans Benefits Clinic, he showed students what the law looks like at its best — personal, purposeful, and grounded in service.”

As Director of the Veterans Benefits Clinic, Dick ensured that students worked directly with veterans, helping them navigate the complexities of benefits and recognition they had earned. In that work, Dick taught legal doctrine while showing what it means to stand beside someone and advocate for them.

At the same time, as the founding director of the Office of Military and Veteran Affairs at William & Mary Law, Dick built something lasting — a community for military-connected students grounded in mentorship, advocacy and belonging. He built a home as well as a program, and like everything he touched, it reflected his belief that leadership is measured more by the people you lift up than by authority.

When Dick spoke about his own journey during the cording ceremony, he deflected credit, turning instead to gratitude. He recalled the mentors who guided him—people like Dean Reveley—and the path that brought him to William & Mary.

But those who have worked with him know that his legacy is written not only in programs built or years served, but in students inspired, veterans helped and colleagues strengthened.

As he retires from his many roles at William & Mary, the work he began will continue. Veterans will still find help through the clinic under acting director Zach Outzen ’22. Students will still learn what it means to practice law with purpose. And the community he helped build will remain, shaped by his example.

Mike Dick’s career will be remembered for many things—distinguished military service, impactful legal work and transformative leadership in education. But perhaps most of all, it will be remembered for its constancy of purpose.

In the words of Taylor Reveley, he has “done good.”