promotions
Richmond Law faculty were recognized at the university’s annual Promotion and Tenure Celebration last week.

Recognizing Faculty Excellence Through Promotion and Tenure

Congratulations to Richmond Law faculty who were promoted this year.
April 17, 2026

Recognizing excellence in teaching, research, outreach, and service, Richmond Law is pleased to celebrate faculty members who earned promotions this year.


Professor Krishnee Coley, legal expert in the academic success, adult education, and bar exam preparation, was promoted to professor of law, legal practice. She directs the law school’s Academic Success Program, and joined the Richmond Law faculty in 2023.

Selected recent scholarship and presentations:

  • Cultivating and Encouraging BIPOC First-Generation Law School Students, in Fostering First Gen Success and Inclusion: A Guide for Law Schools (Carolina Academic Press 2026)
  • Integrating Academic Success, 8 Raising the Bar 6 (2025)(with L. Webb)
  • “Enhancing Inclusivity: Reaching More Students Without Reinventing the Wheel,” Association of American Law Schools Annual Meeting (2025)
  • Investing in Your Success: A Practical Guide to Achieving Your Best Results in Your First Year of Law School, (2010)(with K. Vernon)

Professor Janice Craft, legal expert in professional identity formation, leadership, professional responsibility, and public service, was promoted to professor of law, legal practice. She directs the law school’s Professional Identity Formation program, and joined the Richmond Law faculty in 2020.

Selected recent scholarship and presentations:

  • The Large Impact of Small Groups on the Character-Based Leadership Development of Law Students, Journal of Legal Education___(forthcoming)(with B. Rigney)
  • Self-Compassion and Law Student Professional Identity Formation, 2 The Journal of Law Teaching and Learning 235 (2025)
  • “Leadership Development and Professional Responsibility,” American Association of Law Schools Section on Leadership (2025)
  • “Maintaining Balance in Troubled Times,” American Association of Law Schools Annual Meeting (2025)
  • “From Rote to Revolutionary: Ensuring Law Students' Holistic Understanding of the Attorney's Role in Society,” Society of American Law Teachers (2024)

Professor Marissa Jackson Sow, legal expert in contracts, constitutional law, international law, human rights, post-structuralism, political economy, visual culture, and rhetoric, was promoted to professor of law and granted tenure. She joined the Richmond Law faculty in 2022.

Selected recent scholarship and presentations:


Professor Riley Keenan, legal expert in federal courts and constitutional law, was promoted to associate professor of law. He joined the Richmond Law faculty in 2023.

Selected recent scholarship and presentations:

  • Minimal Justiciability, 109 Minnesota Law Review __ (2025)
  • “The New Methodological Stare Decisis,” Loyola University Chicago School of Law (2025)
  • “Trump v. CASA and the Universal Class Action,” University of Richmond (2025)
  • “Patchwork Methodological Precedent,” Cornell Law School (2025)
  • Functional Federal Equity, 74 Alabama Law Review 879 (2023)

Professor Tamika Moses, legal expert in criminal law & procedure, evidence, prosecutorial discretion, criminal justice, and policing, was promoted to associate professor of law. She joined the Richmond Law faculty in 2025.

Selected recent scholarship and presentations:

Professor Alexandra Silva, legal expert in mentorship and student development, was promoted to professor of law, legal practice. She directs the law school’s Externship Program and joined the Richmond Law faculty in 2020.

Selected accomplishments:

  • Oversees four externship tracks involving 100 different placements throughout Virginia, Washington, D.C. and expansion pilots
  • Faculty Advisor to law school competition teams, including Moot Court Board and Trial Advocacy Board
  • Appointed by Supreme Court of Virginia to the Access to Justice Commission
  • George Hettrick Leadership Award Recipient, given by the Greater Richmond Bar Foundation to recognize outstanding efforts, innovative thinking, and the development of pro bono programs