Chelsea Belote Leitch

Chelsea Leitch ’14 serves as the assistant dean for graduate studies. In this role, she oversees the Law School’s graduate programs, leading recruitment, admissions, academic advising, and career development for international and domestic Master of Laws (LL.M.) and Doctor of Juridical Science (S.J.D.) students and legal scholars.

Prior to returning to the Law School, Leitch spent over a decade practicing corporate transactional law at Haynes Boone in Dallas, where she served as partner and co-chair of the Commercial Contracts Practice Group. In her practice, she led teams of attorneys representing multinational corporations in complex commercial transactions and cross-border deals, navigating jurisdictional, strategic and cultural considerations across transactions in North America, Europe, Asia and the Middle East. As a first-generation lawyer, Leitch maintained a deep commitment to attorney development and legal education throughout her tenure in private practice. As a member of Haynes Boone’s Recruiting Committee, she interviewed and mentored summer associates and full-time attorneys, maintaining close insight into the evolving opportunities and recruitment trends in the legal profession.

Leitch earned her J.D. from the University of Virginia School of Law, where she received the Rosenbloom Award, served as an articles editor for the Virginia Law and Business Review, and was active as a Dillard Fellow, Peer Advisor and Virginia Law Ambassador. She holds a B.S. with honors from the University of Texas at Austin.