Richard Bierschbach, who is in line to take over as interim president at Wayne State University following the resignation of President Kimberly Espy, has been credited with energizing his staff and students to improve the national reputation of the university's law school, according to officials at the Detroit institution.
The university's Board of Governors is expected to announce Bierschbach's elevation to Wayne State's interim leader at a special Wednesday board meeting.
Bierschbach, 53, is the dean of the Wayne State University Law School. He came to WSU in 2017 and was reappointed to a second, five-year term as dean in 2022.
Bierschbach's tenure has been marked by improved results for post-graduate employment, an increase in philanthropic donations and increased diversity among the faculty and student body, the university says.
The Wayne State School of Law has risen from No. 100 in the nation to No. 55 in the 2024-25 school year in the U.S. News & World Report's rankings under his leadership, with Law Professor Alan Schenk saying Bierschbach had "energized his staff, the faculty and students to achieve the very ambitious goals he set when he arrived," according to a WSU press release. The Detroit university's improvement of 45 spots in the rankings — despite a change in the methodology for determining the rankings — is "a clear indication of the fundamental strength of its programs," the university said in a 2024 release.
In 2023, he was named one of the Notable Leaders in Higher Education by Crain's Detroit Business.
Besides launching partnerships and programs, he has created additional revenue sources through a new law department for non-juris doctor programs, according to Wayne State. Bierschbach has been published in top law journals, including the Yale Law Review, Georgetown Law Journal, the Michigan Law Review and the University of Pennsylvania Law Review. He is considered an expert in criminal law and procedure, administrative law and legal education.
Before coming to Wayne State, he taught and served as vice dean at the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law at Yeshiva University, a private, Orthodox Jewish university in New York City, where he twice received the annual Best Professor Award.
Prior to his work in academia, Bierschbach worked as a clerk for the late U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor and a federal appeals court judge, according to his university biography. He also has served as a Bristow fellow in the U.S. Department of Justice's Office of the Solicitor General and an attorney-adviser in the Department of Justice's Office of Legal Counsel. He previously worked at three international law firms in New York.
Bierschbach earned his bachelor's degree in history from the University of Michigan and his law degree from UM Law School, where he won awards including the Daniel H. Grady Prize for graduating first in his class and the Henry M. Bates Award, the school's highest honor, according to his Wayne State profile.
mreinhart@detroitnews.com
