William C. Hubbard

William C. Hubbard is Dean and Professor of Law at the University of South Carolina School of Law.

Previously, as president of the American Bar Association, he led efforts to increase access to justice through innovation, reform the criminal justice system, provide legal assistance to unaccompanied immigrant children, improve support for victims of domestic violence, and strengthen the rule of law globally. He has also served a two-year term as chair of the ABA’s House of Delegates and is a past president of the American Bar Foundation and a past president of the American Bar Endowment. From 2019–2020, he served as chair of the Standing Committee on the Federal Judiciary, which reports to the DOJ and the U.S. Senate on the qualifications of federal judicial nominees.

Hubbard is co-founder and chair of the Board of the World Justice Project, a multinational, multidisciplinary initiative to strengthen the rule of law worldwide. He is a fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers, the Council of the American Law Institute (emeritus), as well as the Leaders Council of the Legal Services Corporation. He is an Honorary Master of the Bench of Middle Temple in London

Hubbard served on the Board of Trustees of the University of South Carolina from 1986–2020 and served as chairman of the board from 1996–2000. He earned a Juris Doctor from the University of South Carolina School of Law in 1977 and a Bachelor of Arts in History, magna cum laude, from the University of South Carolina in 1974. After law school, Hubbard was law clerk to U.S. District Judge Robert F. Chapman. He is a former partner with Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough LLP in Columbia, SC.