Virginia Lawyers Weekly

Robert E. Shepherd Jr.

Robert E. Shepherd Jr., professor emeritus at the University of Richmond law school and a tireless advocate for children and the disadvantaged, died Thursday, Dec. 11. He was 71.

A graduate of Washington and Lee University and its law school, Prof. Shepherd entered the Army JAG Corps after law school, spending four years in the service. He was a lawyer in Richmond from 1964 to 1971, both in private practice then with the attorney general’s office.

He began his academic career in Baltimore, teaching there for three years. Prof. Shepherd was at UR from 1978 until his retirement in 2001. He had been battling cancer during the past year and had recently returned home from a hospital stay, according to UR Law Dean John G. Douglass.

Douglass added that Prof. Shepherd’s “broadest and deepest legacy will remain the hundreds of students whom he mentored throughout his teaching career and with whom he shared equal measures of his inquisitive spirit, his sense of fair play, and his deep human compassion for those most in need.”

Prof. Shepherd was a visiting professor this fall at the W&L law school, and Rodney Smolla, the dean there and Douglass’ predecessor at UR, said, “He was a lion of a man, a champion of the rights of children and a giant advocate for juvenile justice. He was also a gregarious, warm-hearted friend.  I will miss him deeply.”

Melissa Goemann, who worked closely with Prof. Shepherd as director of the law school’s Juvenile Law and Policy Clinic, said, “He did incredible work for the children of Virginia in his long tenure here and was so generous and giving with his time and expertise to improve the juvenile justice system in Virginia.  He  taught many of our legislators and judges, helped to mentor and train new juvenile attorneys, vigorously advocated for good juvenile justice laws at the General Assembly, and much more.”

He was the longtime editor of the newsletter of the Criminal Law Section of the Virginia State Bar. He was a member of the Virginia Indigent Defense Commission and a staunch advocate for better pay and higher standards for attorneys who represent indigent criminal defendants.

Funeral arrangements were incomplete at press time.

— Paul Fletcher and Alan Cooper

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