An Interview with A. Mechele Dickerson

Authors

• A. Mechele Dickerson

Files

Interview Date

4-9-2026

Description

"As I tell people when they’re young law professors and they’re thinking about…challenges that they may be facing in the classroom, one of the things that I’ve always said is you have to be you when you teach." -- Mechele Dickerson

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In this oral history dated April 9, 2026, former William & Mary Law School professor A. Mechele Dickerson gives us an overview of her life and career. Beginning with her years at Harvard and then as a law clerk and private practitioner, Dickerson tracks the journey that led her to become a professor. She discusses her early years of professorship at William & Mary Law School, explaining how she found the culture and environment when she joined the faculty in 1995 and how it evolved by the time she left in 2006. She discusses the lasting relationships she formed with faculty and students at the Law School and how they influenced her both personally and professionally. She also reflects on her scholarship, including her recent 2026 book, The Middle-Class New Deal: Restoring Upward Mobility and the American Dream, and explains how personal experiences inspire her work.

Run Time

01:16:17

Comments

A transcript and guide to the oral history are available as additional files, above. 

Use the CC button on the video to toggle captions on and off. 

Keywords

Peter A. Alces, Jayne Barnard, Alemante Gebre-Selassie, Paul Marcus, African American lawyers, Bankruptcy lawyers, Experiential learning, Corporate lawyers, Harvard Law School, Law school community, Supreme Court Preview, Teaching--Law school, Women lawyers

Local Identifier

OH.2026.004

Conditions Governing Reproduction and Use

The copyright for these materials remains with their narrator. Permission to publish, quote, or reproduce for reasons not covered by fair use must be secured from the repository and the copyright holder.

Recommended Citation

Dickerson, A. Mechele, "An Interview with A. Mechele Dickerson" (2026). William & Mary Law School Oral Histories. 27.
https://scholarship.law.wm.edu/oralhist_all/27