Class of 2028 Recognizes Professor Nancy Combs as Outstanding Teacher

The Class of 2028 has spoken, and it has spoken well of Professor Nancy Combs, Ernest W. Goodrich Professor of Law.

On the morning of May 6, as finals were close to wrapping up for the semester, students from the class surprised Professor Combs with the 1L Professor of the Year Award.

The award recognizes a faculty member’s outstanding work with first-year students both inside and outside of the classroom.

Combs teaches courses in criminal law, human rights, and international criminal law. Prior to joining the William & Mary faculty in 2004, she served as a legal advisor at the Iran–United States Claims Tribunal in The Hague. She has written extensively on topics in international law and international criminal justice, publishing dozens of articles and essays appearing in the nation’s leading law journals.

She is the author of two books, “Factfinding Without Facts: The Uncertain Evidentiary Foundations of International Criminal Convictions” (Cambridge University Press) and “Guilty Pleas in International Law: Constructing a Restorative Justice Approach” (Stanford University Press).

Combs holds a Ph.D. in international law from Leiden University School of Law and a J.D. from the University of California at Berkeley, where she earned the Thelen Marrin Prize for graduating first in her class. She received her B.A. in philosophy, summa cum laude, from the University of Portland. Following her graduation from law school, she clerked for Judge Diarmuid F. O’Scannlain of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals and for Justice Anthony Kennedy of the U.S. Supreme Court.

Combs received her first 1L Professor of the Year Award in spring 2022 from the Class of 2024. She is a previous recipient of the William & Mary Alumni Fellowship Award for teaching excellence and is a two-time recipient of the Plumeri Award for Faculty Excellence. Most recently, she has been honored with the McGlothlin Award for Teaching Excellence (2023), and the Thomas A. Graves, Jr. Award for Sustained Excellence in Teaching (2024).