Richard A. Bierschbach
Bierschbach has served as interim president at Wayne State since Sept. 17, 2025. Prior to his appointment, he served as dean of the Wayne State Law School during an eight-year period of increased national recognition, academic distinction and institutional stability. Bierschbach was appointed to a term through June 30, 2030.
Before joining academia, Bierschbach clerked for Judge A. Raymond Randolph of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit and Justice Sandra Day O’Connor of the U.S. Supreme Court. Between those clerkships, he was a Bristow Fellow in the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office of the Solicitor General and an attorney-advisor in the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel, where he represented and advised executive branch agencies across the government on a wide range of legal issues. He also practiced law in various New York law firms, focusing on Supreme Court and appellate litigation. He has served in leadership roles within the American Bar Association and Association of American Law Schools, is an elected member of the American Law Institute, and is a Life Fellow of the American Bar Foundation.
Bierschbach earned his bachelor’s in history,summa cum laude,from the University of Michigan. He earned his law degree from the University of Michigan Law School, where he graduated first in his class and received the Henry M. Bates Memorial Scholarship Award, the law school’s highest honor.
