Andrea L. Dennis

Andrea L. Dennis joined the University of Georgia School of Law faculty in 2010 and was appointed to the John Byrd Martin Chair of Law in 2019. She currently serves as the school's associate dean for academic affairs overseeing academic and student life at the law school. From 2020 to 2024, she was the associate for faculty development.

She came to UGA from the University of Kentucky College of Law, where she taught courses in criminal law and procedure, children and the law, and family law. Dennis received the University of Kentucky Alumni Association Great Teacher Award in 2010. Nominations for the award are submitted by students, and candidates must have superior knowledge of their subject matter, employ original and innovative classroom presentations, and demonstrate concern for students both inside and outside of the classroom. Dennis has also taught legal analysis and writing and research at the University of Maryland School of Law.

Previously, Dennis served as an assistant federal public defender in the District of Maryland. She also worked for the Office of the Corporation Counsel prosecuting child abuse and neglect cases on behalf of the District of Columbia. At Covington & Burling in Washington, D.C., Dennis practiced corporate and patent litigation and antitrust law as an associate. She has also served as a judicial clerk for Judge Raymond A. Jackson of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia. In addition to her legal experience, Dennis was a senior associate in the National Office of Job Corps for the U.S. Department of Labor, where she engaged in strategic analysis and planning for national vocational training programs for at-risk youth.

Her scholarship explores criminal defense lawyering, race and criminal justice, criminal informants and cooperators, youth advocacy, legal socialization of youth and the cradle-to-prison pipeline. Dennis' book "Rap on Trial: Race, Lyrics and Guilt in America" has received national attention, and courts nationwide have cited her research on rap lyrics as criminal evidence. She has also published works in the American Criminal Law Review, the Catholic University Law Review, the Columbia Journal of Law and the Arts, the Howard Law Journal, the Marquette Law Review, the Nebraska Law Review, the Nevada Law Journal and the Journal of Legal Education. Additionally, she has been quoted in The New York Times, the Los Angeles Times and other media outlets about rap lyrics being used as criminal evidence in trials across the country.

Dennis earned her B.S. in engineering with a psychology concentration from the University of Maryland and her J.D. from New York University, where she served on the Annual Survey of American Law.