Jim Ryan joined the UVA Law School faculty in 1998 after completing a two-year public interest fellowship in Newark,
N.J. He teaches law and education, constitutional law, land use law, local government law and is an instructor in the Supreme Court litigation clinic. He writes primarily about law and educational opportunity but has also authored or co-authored articles on constitutional law and theory. He is the author of "Five Miles Away, A World Apart," which was published in 2010 by Oxford University Press. Ryan served as academic associate dean from 2005-09. In 2009, he helped found and now directs the law school's Program in Law and Public Service. He is the recipient of an All-University Teaching Award from the University of Virginia, an Outstanding Faculty Award from the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia, and several awards for his scholarship. He has been a visiting professor at the University of Auckland, Harvard, and Yale law schools. Ryan received his
A.B. from Yale University and his
J.D. from Virginia. After graduating from the Law School in 1992, Ryan first clerked for J. Clifford Wallace, then-Chief Judge of the 9th Circuit, and then for William H. Rehnquist, the late Chief Justice of the United States.
