When John W. Davis left the faculty in 1897 to pursue private practice, William Reynolds Vance, who had just graduated from Washington and Lee University School of Law that year, was hired to take his place. In 1902, Henry St. George Tucker left the position of dean and Vance was named as his successor.

Harry Tucker had been so impressed with Vance that, in 1903, Tucker persuaded him to join the faculty of Columbian (later George Washington) University where Tucker was then dean. Two years later, Tucker resigned that deanship, and Vance again succeeded him. Vance was also dean at the University of Minnesota law school (1912-1918). He taught at Yale law school from 1920-1938. A prolific author, Vance was general editor of the American Case Book series produced by West Publishing from 1912 through 1935. He died in New Haven in 1940.