Morgan, Richard

Richard Morgan was born in 1945 Fresno, California. His parents moved to the San Francisco Bay, California area a few months later, where Morgan grew up and attended school. His father had moved there for the express purpose of giving his children the opportunity to attend the University of California, Berkeley. Morgan did, in fact, graduate from Berkeley in 1967 with a degree in political science.

After college, Morgan got married and he and his wife worked for a year to save money so he could go to law school. His wife supported him while he studied law at the University of California, Los Angeles Law School from 1968 to 1971. After graduation, Morgan worked for two different law firms, eventually choosing Nausaman and Waters, Scott, Kruger and Reardon. He worked there for nine years, becoming a partner in 1977.

In 1980, Morgan left the law firm to teach corporations and commercial law at Arizona State University (ASU) in Tempe, Arizona. For three years, he was an associate professor, and in 1983 was asked to take the position of associate dean. He accepted and held that position for four years. He then became dean at the University Of Wyoming College Of Law in Laramie, Wyoming. After two and a half years, he was asked to return to ASU as dean of the law school, where he worked for seven years.

In 1997, Morgan learned that the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) was planning to start a law school. Remembering the advice of friends Booker Evans and Willard Pedrick to seize the opportunity to be a founding dean, he applied for the job. Morgan and the other founding members recruited quality faculty members and the William S. Boyd law school took shape.