Following his service as interim dean from January 2022 to June 2023, Alan D. Woodlief, Jr. resumed his role as senior associate dean at Elon Law, overseeing the law school’s admissions efforts, facilities, budget, and other administrative functions. In 19 years at Elon Law, he has served in a variety of administrative and academic roles and developed knowledge about all facets of the law school’s operations, including student life, career services, academic support and the law library.

Woodlief has devoted almost three decades to educating law students in North Carolina. After serving as a research assistant for Justice (later Chief Justice) Henry E. Frye, he joined the faculty at Campbell Law in 1995 and served there as associate dean for admissions from 1999 to 2005.  Woodlief joined Elon Law in May 2005 as a member of the founding faculty and administration. In addition to his senior administrative roles, he has also chaired or served on numerous law school and university committees, including strategic planning and ABA accreditation committees.

Woodlief teaches a wide array of classroom and online courses, including professional responsibility, commercial law, and remedies. In 2015, he founded the school’s Guardian Ad Litem Appellate Advocacy Clinic, through which Elon Law students represent the interests of abused and neglected children in the North Carolina appellate courts.

Woodlief also directs the law school's nationally recognized Moot Court Program, which he established in 2008. In this role, he has coached numerous award-winning teams and guided the Moot Court Board in hosting the annual Billings, Exum & Frye National Moot Court Competition, one of the largest and best regarded competitions in the country, with over 20 law schools and 36 teams competing each fall.

Woodlief authors treatises on damages, civil trial practice, and appellate practice that are widely used by North Carolina practitioners and judges and frequently cited by the appellate courts of this state. Since 1999, Woodlief has served as the Reporter to the Criminal Subcommittee of the Pattern Jury Instruction Committee of the North Carolina Conference of Superior Court Judges, supporting the work of the state’s courts and trial judges by researching and drafting jury instructions that are used in criminal trials throughout the State of North Carolina.

Woodlief has been active in the North Carolina Bar Association, serving on its Appellate Rules Study Committee. In the past, he has served on the editorial board to the North Carolina State Bar Journal. For many years, he has also served on the Board of Directors for the Legal Education Assistance Foundation.

Woodlief received his B.A. in Journalism and Mass Communication from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and his Juris Doctor with high honors from Campbell University School of Law.