Emory University School of Law has announced the creation of the new William and Jane Carney Center for Business and Transactional Law. The Center will further strengthen Emory Law’s nationally recognized Center for Transactional Law and Practice, while engaging more holistically with other areas of business law. William J. "Bill" Carney, a cornerstone of Emory Law for more than three decades, is once again shaping its future with a transformative $6 million gift to create the Center. 

Sue Payne, the William and Jane Carney Professor of Transactional Law and Practice and executive director of the center, will lead the new center. Emory Law expects she will build on the success of the work she’s done leading the Center for Transactional Law and Practice for the last twelve years.

Carney taught law at Emory for 34 years before retiring in 2012. He led the founding of the Center for Transactional Law and Practice in 2007 and, in 2015, provided a matching gift of $1 million to strengthen its work. 

Emory Law is ranked #22 nationally in Business and Commercial Law, reflecting the impact of scholarship by its business law faculty and the success of the Center for Transactional Law and Practice.

 Now, with the largest gift in the school’s history, the Carney family is again expressing its commitment to Emory Law. The investment is driven by the former professor’s deep commitment to combining strong legal education with training in drafting, negotiations, and other skills pivotal to business practice.  

Carney’s vision aligns closely with that of Dean Rich Freer, whom Carney has known since Freer joined the Emory Law faculty 41 years ago. 

“Dean Freer has good values, both academic and professional,” Carney says. “He understands the practice of law and what students need, and I believe he will lead the business law component of the school into prominence.” 

Central to Carney’s vision – and Freer’s – is melding legal education, imparted by Emory’s distinguished law faculty, with practical skills training to allow Emory graduates to enter the profession practice-ready. He believes his gift is a transformative investment that will not only leverage Emory Law’s program in Atlanta but will also be instrumental in continuing to attract leading scholars in business law.

“We’re focused on Emory Law’s core mission, which is to educate and prepare sophisticated, principled lawyers who can flourish in any milieu all over the world,” says Freer.  “Bill Carney understands how important that is. He has devoted his professional life to doing just that and his commitment to Emory Law with this unprecedented gift will take us to new heights.”