Contact Information
The University of Akron School of Law
C. Blake McDowell Law Center
Akron, OH 44325-2901

Office: C. Blake McDowell Law Center 103
Phone:330-972-7331
Fax:330-258-2343
rlaynes@uakron.edu

Professor Richard L. Aynes earned Bachelor and Juris Doctor degrees from Miami University and Cleveland-Marshall College of Law before joining The University of Akron School of Law in 1976 as coordinator of the Appellate Review Office and a Lecturer. He has held the rank of Professor since 1986. He served as UA’s interim athletics director in 1993-94 and returned to Akron Law where he held the John F. Seiberling Chair of Constitutional Law for the balance of 1994. Professor Aynes was appointed Dean of Akron Law in 1995, a position he held through 2007. Beginning in spring 2008 he returned to the faculty as holder of the John F. Seiberling Chair of Law and Director of the Constitutional Law Center. His research and teaching interests include constitutional law, the 14th Amendment and legal history. He has written numerous articles in the area of Constitutional Law including articles published in the Yale Law Journal, the Journal of Southern Legal History, the Chicago Kent Law Review and the Catholic University Law Review. Professor Aynes has been admitted to the bar for the U.S. Supreme Court, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit and U.S. District Court for Northern Ohio. Among his current and past memberships are the American Bar Association, Ohio State Bar Association, Akron Bar Association, Western Reserve Legal Services (Board of Trustees), ABA Special Committee of Evaluation of Judicial Performance (reporter), and consultant to the ABA Victim's Committee, Ohio Supreme Court Racial Fairness Implementation Committee, Ohio Supreme Court Continuing Legal Education Committee and Scanlon Inn of Court.