During the 2024–25 academic year, the School of Law said farewell to two highly regarded professors – Dan T. Coenen and Michael L. Wells. With a combined 84 years of teaching between them, including instructing foundational first-year courses, their influence on more than four decades of UGA Law graduates is immense. In fact, it would be hard to find a Law Dawg who graduated since the late 1980s who has not taken a class from either Coenen or Wells.

Dan Coenen (left) and Mike Wells (right) during their early years on the faculty.

To ensure these legendary professors are forever honored for their contributions to UGA Law, several former students have established endowed funds bearing their names.

The Dan T. Coenen Scholarship will support students who intend to practice corporate or business law in Georgia and/or who have confronted significant challenges.

Alumna Julia A. Houston (J.D.’95) felt compelled to establish the Coenen Scholarship because the professor had a significant and lasting impact on her, which she said is the same for thousands of others who have had the good fortune to learn from him. “He cares deeply about his students and the legal profession and is committed to creating an inclusive and supportive environment. It is a privilege to be a part of honoring his legacy at the law school.”

Focused on the scholarly mission of the School of Law, the Michael L. Wells Faculty Support Fund will assist the school with recruiting and retaining world-class faculty by providing resources for their professional development and research initiatives.  

Christy Hull, a 2000 graduate who made the lead gift to the Wells Faculty Support Fund, said, “In his nearly 50 years at UGA Law, Professor Wells taught foundational principles of tort law to generations of lawyers. His gentle but probing style challenged us to think harder and sharper. More than 25 years after serving as Professor Wells’ T.A., I still apply those fundamental lessons in my toxic tort defense practice. I was thrilled to contribute to the Michael L. Wells Faculty Support Fund to honor his legacy and ensure the continuation of excellent scholarship at UGA Law.”

Coenen, who holds the titles of University Professor, Meigs Distinguished Teaching Professor and Caldwell Chair in Constitutional Law, has been a member of the law school faculty since 1987, during which time he taught in the areas of contracts and constitutional law.

A former judicial clerk for U.S. Supreme Court Justice Harry A. Blackmun and Chief Judge Clement F. Haynsworth, Jr., of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, Coenen’s scholarship includes four books: The Common-Market Constitution: Text, History, and the “Dormant Commerce Clause” Rule (forthcoming); Principles of Constitutional Structure; The Story of The Federalist: How Hamilton and Madison Reconceived America and Constitutional Law: The Commerce Clause. He has published more than 35 articles in journals such as the Yale Law Journal, the Cornell Law Review, the Michigan Law Review, the Vanderbilt Law Review, the Northwestern University Law Review and the Duke Law Journal.

Over the years, he has been recognized for his teaching on multiple occasions. His UGA accolades include receiving the Josiah Meigs Award and being named a University Professor, which are counted among the university’s highest honors. He has been selected by law students on multiple occasions for the Ellington Award for Excellence in Teaching, the O’Byrne Memorial Award for Significant Contributions Furthering Student-Faculty Relations and the Brown Professionalism Award.

Coenen said his students have always given him energy and a sense of purpose, adding that his favorite UGA recollections center around his students. “Particularly important are the moments when I learned of student successes or joyful events in their lives. … I also smile when I think of the wacky things my students have done – like dressing up as me on Halloween.”

He said he senses his students perceived him as “having been a very challenging professor” but that he always tried to be challenging for the purpose of helping his students. “Most important of all, they always rose to the occasion.”

Coenen plans to stay in Athens as he has been “blessed with wonderful friendships and a strong sense of belonging.” He does hope to devote more time to public service work in his retirement.

Carter Chair Mike Wells with some of his students at the 2023 School of Law Homecoming BBQ.

Wells, who joined the law school’s faculty in 1978, has held the Carter Chair in Tort and Insurance Law since 2004.

Specializing in torts, federal courts and constitutional litigation, he is the author of Constitutional Torts, Constitutional Remedies: A Reference Guide to the United States Constitution, and Cases and Materials on Federal Courts. He has written more than 60 articles in leading journals such as the Cornell Law Review, the Duke Law Journal, the Virginia Law Review, the William & Mary Law Review, Constitutional Commentary and the Yale Journal of International Law.

He is a member of the American Law Institute and is an associate reporter for the institute’s Restatement of the Law, Constitutional Torts project that is examining the law of 42 U.S.C. § 1983.

Over the years, his teaching portfolio has included his scholarly specialties in addition to Insurance, Constitutional Law and European Union Law. Fluent in French, Wells has been a visiting professor at the University of Lyon (III) on six occasions, a professor at the Duke-Geneva Institute in Transactional Law and a visiting scholar at the University of Aix-Marseille. He also served as a judicial clerk for Judge John D. Butzner Jr. of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit after law school.

Of his career, Wells said he hopes to have accomplished “a reasonable amount as a teacher and a scholar.”

He added that his best UGA Law memory is of the day in November 1977 when Dean J. Ralph Beaird offered him a job, which he said he “gratefully accepted.”

Wells said what he will miss most about his time on the faculty is the opportunity to discuss legal issues with students and colleagues both in and out of class. As for what he will miss least, he said “dealing with the University of Georgia bureaucracy.”

In retirement, he plans to live primarily in Athens and continue to teach and write, “just not as much as before.”