Interim President Paul G. Mahoney is a David and Mary Harrison Distinguished Professor and served as dean of the Law School from 2008-16. (University Communications photo)
Paul G. Mahoney served as interim president of the University of Virginia from August 11 to December 31, 2025. Mahoney is a David and Mary Harrison Distinguished Professor and was dean of the Law School from 2008-16. Mahoney’s teaching and research areas are securities regulation, law and economic development, corporate finance, financial derivatives and contracts. He has published widely in law reviews and peer-reviewed finance and law and economics journals. His book, “Wasting a Crisis: Why Securities Regulation Fails,” was published by the University of Chicago Press in 2015.
Mahoney joined the Law School faculty in 1990 after practicing law with the New York firm of Sullivan & Cromwell and clerking for Judge Ralph K. Winter, Jr. of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit and Justice Thurgood Marshall of the U.S. Supreme Court. He has been a visiting professor at the University of Chicago Law School, the University of Southern California Law School, Dalhousie University and the University of Toronto Faculty of Law. He has also worked on legal reform projects in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia and Nepal.
Mahoney is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. From 2018 to 2022 he served on the Securities and Exchange Commission’s Investor Advisory Committee. He served as an associate editor of the Journal of Economic Perspectives from 2004 to 2007 and as a director of the American Law and Economics Association from 2002 to 2004. He is a past recipient of the All-University Outstanding Teacher Award and the Law School's Traynor Award for excellence in faculty scholarship.
UVA interim President Paul Mahoney helps a student carry their belongings to the dorms during move-in weekend 2025. (University Communications photo)
UVA interim President Paul Mahoney speaks at an event to celebrate a University fundraising campaign that “far exceeded even our highest aspirations.” (Photo by Eric Kelley)
UVA interim President Paul Mahoney joins a student conversation over lunch. He helped launch “Table Talk” at Newcomb Hall, a project to encourage Hoos to spend time in conversations. (University Communications photo)