Faculty Profile: William Koch Jr

Bill Koch is currently the President and Dean of the Nashville School of Law. Before joining NSL in 2014, he served on the Tennessee Supreme Court and the Tennessee Court of Appeals. During his 30-year judicial career, Dean Koch was recognized as one of the 500 Leading Judges in America and as the American Board of Trial Advocates’ Tennessee Appellate Judge of the Year. He also received the Tennessee Bar Association’s Justice Frank F. Drowota III Outstanding Judicial Service Award, the Nashville Bar Association’s Liberty Bell Award, and the A. Sherman Christensen Award for his local, national, and international service to the American Inns of Court movement . Before becoming a judge, Dean Koch served as Counsel to Tennessee Governor Lamar Alexander, Commissioner of Personnel, and Deputy Attorney General for the State of Tennessee.

Dean Koch earned his B.A. degree from Trinity College; his J.D. degree from Vanderbilt University; and his LL.M. from the University of Virginia. He has taught Constitutional Law and Tennessee Constitutional Law at NSL and has received appointments as an adjunct professor at Vanderbilt School of Law and Belmont College of Law. He is also an Academic Master of the Bench in the Honourable Society of the Inner Temple in London, England.

Dean Koch has served as president of the American Inns of Court and president of the Harry Phillips American Inn of Court received the A. Sherman Christensen Award. He chairs the Tennessee Trial Court Vacancy Commission and serves on the Tennessee Board of Judicial Conduct. He has also served on the boards of the Nashville Conflict Resolution Center, Cumberland University, the United Way of Metropolitan Nashville, and the Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee.