Keri A. McCoy

As Assistant Dean for Field Placement, Dean McCoy oversees one of the largest legal externship programs in the country. The Field Placement Program provides students with the unique opportunity to work closely with judges and practicing attorneys as legal externs in government, judicial, and nonprofit organizations. She also teaches Advanced Field Placement and leads the Field Placement Program’s orientation seminar for all first-time Field Placement students focused on strategies to achieve effective and unbiased communications and interactions in the legal profession.

Before assuming her current role, Dean McCoy served as the law school’s inaugural Director of the Office of Alumni Career Development and Mentorship (ACDM), where she focused on providing career development assistance to alumni and managed the Alumni Mentoring Program. Prior to the creation of ACDM, she served in several positions in the Career Development Office, including, most recently, Director of Alumni Career Development. Dean McCoy also continues to assist some of the law school's most senior alumni in career development matters. Over the course of her tenure with the law school, Dean McCoy has assisted thousands of students and alumni in securing employment opportunities across the country and abroad, created and managed multiple fellowship programs, and led numerous workshops and programs focusing on all aspects of career development. In addition to her career development experience at the law school, Dean McCoy also held the position of Senior Counselor for Student Development, where she assisted prospective students, supported student groups, and oversaw recruiting events held at the law school.

Dean McCoy joined the law school with nearly a decade of law firm experience, primarily as a trial attorney and litigator with a focus on medical malpractice, insurance defense, products liability, and multidistrict litigation. She has tried numerous cases before state and federal courts on behalf of both plaintiffs and defendants, taken in excess of one thousand depositions, and represented many clients in arbitrations and mediations. Dean McCoy is licensed to practice law in the District of Columbia and New Jersey. In 2023, 2024, 2025, and 2026, she was recognized as Faculty Member of the Year by the GW Law Black Law Students Association. During the 2026 commencement exercises, Dean McCoy received the "Distinguished Associate / Assistant Dean” award from the Student Bar Association.