Raymond C. Pierce became dean of the North Carolina Central University School of Law in July 2005. Since that time, Pierce has managed the law school’s growth which, has included the largest student enrollment in the school’s history, an expanded faculty, a significantly increased state budget allocation and the completion of the final stages of a building renovation and new construction addition to the law school facility. During his tenure, Pierce has directed the law school’s successful accreditation confirmation with the American Bar Association, inclusion on the Princeton Review’s list of top law schools, and worked to help the school reach its number-one ranking as the “best value law school” by National Jurist and Pre Law magazine based on bar passage rate, job placement and affordability. Pierce has overseen development of the first two institutes at the law school: the Biotechnology and Pharmaceutical Law Institute and the Dispute Resolution Institute in addition to a Veteran’s Law Clinic, which has received national recognition for providing legal assistance to U.S. soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan.

Prior to becoming dean of the law school, Pierce enjoyed a successful career as a partner in the national law firm of Baker and Hostetler LLP, as a member of the firm’s Business Group in Cleveland, OH. Pierce also represented a large private investment fund in numerous post acquisition restructurings and was appointed by the Ohio Attorney General to serve as a special counsel for investment activity of a large state employee retirement fund. He was also a member of the firm's Federal Policy Group, based in Washington, DC, where he assisted clients with government-related issues.

From 1993 to 2000, Pierce served as President Bill Clinton’s deputy assistant secretary for civil rights at the U.S. Department of Education, where he managed the enforcement of federal civil rights laws in education and led the development of federal civil rights education policy. Pierce also served on a White House Domestic Policy Council committee that developed the enterprise zone/empowerment zone economic development initiative.

Pierce currently serves on the North Carolina Banking Commission and is a past vice president and member of the board of governors of the North Carolina Bar Association. He serves on the North Carolina Chief Justice’s Commission on Professionalism and the Bar Admissions Committee of the American Bar Association. He is a member of the board of directors of the American Law Deans Association, the National Association of Law Placement Foundation, and he is on the executive board of Duke University’s Center on Law, Ethics, and National Security.

Pierce earned his law degree from Case Western Reserve University School of Law in 1983, where he later received a Distinguished Graduate Award and induction into that school’s Society of Benchers. He received his bachelor’s degree in 1980 from Syracuse University where he was admitted into the Sigma Tau Delta English Honor Society. He is admitted to practice in Ohio and Arkansas.