In 1869 a committee of trustees prepared a report on the problem of legal instruction. They recommended the appointment of an additional professor of law with salary and perquisites sufficient to attract the highest level of talent in the nation. In a stroke of extraordinary good fortune, John Randolph Tucker accepted the position in 1870. Tucker's father -- Henry St. George Tucker -- had been a member of congress, president of the Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals, and University of Virginia Law Professor. After taking his law degree from the University of Virginia, John Randolph Tucker had served as attorney general of Virginia, and as special counsel to the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad.

When Brockenbrough left in 1873, Tucker hired Charles Graves to assist him in teaching. In 1875, Tucker was elected to the U.S. Congress. He served there until he voluntarily retired in 1886. Sometime between 1887 and 1889 Tucker returned to the law school. In 1893 the title of dean was conferred upon Tucker and this has remained the designation for the chief administrative officer of the law school ever since.

The succession of honors that came to Tucker -- including an honorary LL.D degree from Harvard and the ABA presidency -- and the continued attention paid him by the press, advertised favorably the Washington and Lee University School of Law. Tucker spent his last years ceaselessly urging the board for increased instructional staff, larger quarters, and expansion of the library. He died in 1897.