Correction: An earlier version of this story misreported former dean John Charles “Jack” Boger's name.

The University of North Carolina School of Law found its next leader outside academia. Martin Brinkley, a transactions partner in Raleigh law firm Smith, Anderson, Blount, Dorsett, Mitchell & Jernigan, will become dean on July 1.

Brinkley has been in private practice for 22 years but is no stranger to the law school. He graduated from North Carolina Law in 1992 and taught as an adjunct between 1996 and 2000.