Professor Joan Marie "Shaun" Shaughnessy, of Lexington and New York, N.Y., passed away on Sunday, Nov. 24, 2024, while surrounded by family at the home of her sister in Fredericksburg.

Born on June 7, 1953, in South Bend, Ind., to Edward Francis and Mary Culhane Shaughnessy, Joan spent most of her childhood in Chicago, Ill., as the oldest of eight children, and surrounded by a large extended family in the city. 

Joan moved with her family to Frederick, Md., at the age of 16 and finished her schooling there, graduating from Governor Thomas JohnsonHigh School. She went on to receive her bachelor's degree in anthropology from the State University of New York at Binghamton and earned her juris doctor from the University of Chicago Law School where she was associate editor of the law review and a member of the Order of the Coif.

After law school, Joan began her legal career as an associate at Cleary Gottlieb Stein & Hamilton LLP in New York, N.Y. She was able to fulfill her ultimate goal of joining the world of legal academia in 1983, when she became a member of the faculty at the Washington and Lee University School of Law, where she would spend the remainder of her career as a law professor.

From the beginning of her time there, she distinguished herself as an outstanding classroom teacher. She taught a formidable range of courses, including Civil Procedure, Federal Courts, Complex Litigation, Evidence, and Jurisprudence. She also spent many years teaching Legal Writing, spending untold hours with new law students as they faced the different norms of legal analysis for the first time. She published a number of scholarly writings, covering complex issues across a number of areas, including personal jurisprudence and parental rights, as well as legal issues arising from poverty and child neglect. She also played an active role in the Shepherd Poverty Program, opening her seminars to undergraduates and law students alike.

Through her role in the classroom and in her personal time outside of it, she influenced a whole generation of W&L students to become ethical and socially responsible attorneys. She generously supported the writings of her colleagues and students, reviewing countless manuscripts and working closely with authors to develop and shape their ideas. Whenever a colleague or visiting scholar presented a work in progress, Joan's helpful questions and participation were invaluable to the ultimate success of the project. Through all of these efforts, she greatly contributed to the intellectual life of the law school.

Joan also contributed to faculty governance by serving in almost every leadership capacity during her 40 years at W&L School of Law. For several years, she served as the associate dean for academic affairs. Her colleagues elected her to multiple terms as a member of the President's Advisory Committee and as a faculty representative to the Board of Trustees. She chaired numerous committees, including the Appointments Committee and the Curriculum Committee and also served multiple times on search committees for the School of Law's dean. Further, she brought her experience and guidance to the Academic Standards Committee, Admissions Committee, and Law Center Committee, as well as to several Self-Study and Tenure committees.

Beyond the halls of the law school, Joan served on the university's Long-Range Planning Committee, the Confidential Review Committee, the Dean of the College Search Committee, the Dean of Students Search Committee, and the Steering Committee for SACS Reaccreditation. Beyond Washington and Lee, she served as chair of the Association of American Law Schools Section on Children and the Law, and as secretary of the Virginia Bar Section on the Education of Lawyers.

In recognition of her many contributions, Joan received a numerous awards and honors. For the 2003-2004 school year, she was honored with the John W. Elrod Law Alumni Association Fellow in Teaching Excellence. She was named the inaugural holder of the Roger D. Groot Chair, exemplifying Professor Groot's own values of honesty and diligence in the service of legal reform. In 2017, Joan received honorary membership in Omicron Delta Kappa National Leadership Honor Society.

She retired from the Washington and Lee School of Law in 2023 after a long and storied career.

Joan was kind, empathetic, soft-spoken, and extraordinarily generous with her friends and family. Behind her soft demeanor, she was incredibly smart and unafraid to stand up for friends, family, and causes she believed in. She also had a subtle but phenomenal humor when the occasion was right.

In her later years, Joan split her time between Lexington and New York City. As a fan of opera, museums, theater and ballet, she took full advantage of all New York had to offer when there. She also found a home at St. Bart's Episcopal Church, where she was a member of the Usher's Guild. She spent her final moments watching the church's Sunday service online.

During her time in Lexington, Joan enjoyed reading, listening to classical music, spending time with friends and enjoying the wonderful events that the small town had to offer. She was an incredible cook and always welcomed friends and family with a delicious meal when they came to her home. When she had time to relax, she loved a glass of Sauvignon Blanc and a nice conversation.

Joan was predeceased by her parents, her beloved godchild M.C. (Mary Catherine) Shaughnessy and her brother-in-law Gregory DuChane. 

She is survived by her sisters, Ann DuChane of Fredericksburg, Catherine (John) Brennan of Okemos, Mich., and Monica (William) Henderson of Baltimore, Md., her brothers, Edward (Tricia) of San Antonio, Texas, John (Barbara) of Barrington, R.I., Lawrence (Linda) of Germantown, Md., and Vincent of Baltimore, Md., and many nieces, nephews, cousins, friends, colleagues, and students who were changed for the better by her time in their lives. We will miss her dearly.

Services will be held in New York and Lexington in the new year and Joan will be buried beside her parents at St. Joseph on Carrollton Manor in Buckeystown, Md.

Joan loved to support local food banks, often asking her family members to donate to theirs as a gift to her for Christmas. In lieu of flowers, we ask that you make a donation in her honor to the Rockbridge Area Relief Association, the Blue Ridge Area Food Bank, or one near you.