Biography

Match Dawson (J.D. ’13), AEP, CTEP, ChTA, CWM, FGAFM, is an Assistant Professor of Law at the St. Mary’s University School of Law, where he teaches Property, Estates and Trusts, Federal Income Tax, Asset Protection and Contracts.

Before entering academia, Dawson clerked for Justice Paul W. Green of the Texas Supreme Court and then practiced with one of the nation’s leading estate planning and asset protection firms before founding his own boutique practice. For more than a decade, Dawson advised ultra-high net worth clients on estate planning, asset protection and tax strategy, working with businesses owners, high-visibility individuals and multigenerational family enterprises on complex domestic and offshore planning matters. His practice focused on structuring trusts, business entities, wealth transfer tax, closely-held business taxation and business succession.

Before his legal career, Dawson built a nationally recognized financial advisory practice and was named a Top of the Table advisor by the Million Dollar Round Table, a distinction reserved for the top one percent of global wealth planners. He draws on this combined legal and financial experience in his teaching, connecting doctrinal rules to the practical challenges attorneys face when advising sophisticated clients.

Dawson is a Fellow of the Global Academy of Finance and Management (distinguished) and holds advanced designations as an Accredited Estate Planner, Chartered Trust and Estate Planner, Chartered Tax Analyst and Chartered Wealth Manager. He has also been recognized as a Texas Super Lawyer, an Elite Lawyer and one of the top estate planning attorneys in the state.

His scholarship examines whether modern doctrine adequately protects property rights as a constitutional guarantee, with particular focus on the relationship between substantive due process and property regulation under the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments. His work has been published in leading journals, including the William & Mary Law Review, Tennessee Law Review, the Michigan Journal of Law Reform and the Texas A&M Journal of Property Law.

Biography

While attending the St. Mary’s University School of Law, Samantha Alecozay (J.D. ’20) received a pro bono service recognition and women in law leadership award. Shortly after graduation, she founded Alecozay Law Firm, PLLC, where she focuses her practice on corporate transactions, corporate bankruptcy and health regulatory law. As a Faculty in Residence, she continues to operate her practice to provide legal care to small businesses in the San Antonio community.

Alecozay is admitted to practice in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Western District of Texas and Supreme Court of Texas. She is an active member of the Business Law Section of the State Bar of Texas and the Texas Bar College.

Alecozay frequently volunteers her time providing no-cost legal services to local music education programs to promote the arts. She also volunteers with non-profit professional development programs, offering educational materials and delivering guest lectures.

Alecozay’s hobbies include advanced culinary arts, sketching and maintaining her vocal skills as a former operatic performer. She is also a classic car enthusiast who regularly works on her 1950 Oldsmobile Rocket 88.

Biography

Shortly after graduating from UT Law School in 1967, Dittfurth was drafted into the United States Army and did his basic training in Fort Polk, Louisiana, before doing a tour in Vietnam. Upon his discharge in 1969, he began his legal practice with Brown & Bradshaw, Attorneys at Law in Houston, Texas. In 1972, Dittfurth left practice and enrolled in the LL.M. program at UT Law School. After completing his degree program in 1973, he was hired for a Teaching Fellowship at the University of Indiana School of Law, Bloomington, Indiana. In 1974, he returned to Texas and began working for the Law Research Corporation in Austin, Texas. Beginning in the fall semester of 1975, he was employed as a full-time teacher at St. Mary’s University School of Law where he has remained until the present. From 1989 until 1993, he served as the Associate Dean (academic affairs) for St. Mary’s University School of Law.

Books

• CIVIL RESTITUTION IN TEXAS (2016). This book, though currently unpublished, represents the edited cases, notes, and materials I have accumulated for the course I created — Civil Restitution in Texas.
• LEARNING CIVIL PROCEDURE (2007), published by Carolina Academic Press.
• THE CONCEPTS AND METHODS OF FEDERAL CIVIL PROCEDURE (1999), published by Carolina Academic Press

Articles

• The Texas Constructive Trust and its Peculiar Requirements, 50 Tex. Tech. L. Rev. 447, (2018)
• Restitution in Texas: Civil Liability for Unjust Enrichment, 54 S. Tex. L. Rev. 225 (2012).
• A Theory of Equal Protection, 14 St. Mary’s Law Journal 829 (1983).
• Rule 3, The Enabling Act, And Statutes of Limitations, 1981 Southern Illinois University Law Journal 329.
• The Younger Abstention Doctrine: Primary State Jurisdiction Over Law Enforcement, 10 St. Mary’s Law Journal 445 (1979).
• Unequal Justice: Lawyers And Social Change in Modern America, 9 St. Mary’s Law Journal 174 (1977).
• Judicial Reasoning and Social Change, 50 Indiana Law Journal 258 (1975).

Media Highlights

• Commentary: Denying Slavery in Texas History is Dangerous, San Antonio Express-News (Apr. 5, 2022).

Biography

Robert F. Eichelbaum (J.D. ’97) began serving as an Adjunct Professor at St. Mary’s University School of Law in 1997 and became Faculty in Residence in 2024. He received his undergraduate degree at the University of Texas at San Antonio, his J.D. from the St. Mary’s University School of Law, and his certification in conflict resolution from Harvard University. He currently teaches Torts, Mediation, Family Law Mediation, Law Practice Management, and Bar Success for Credit. Eichelbaum serves as Acting Director of Bar Success.

He is a native of San Antonio. In addition to working at St. Mary’s, he is a Benefits Review Officer for the Texas Department of Insurance and is the owner of San Antonio Mediation and the Law Office of Rob Eichelbaum.

Eichelbaum was the 2021 recipient of the San Antonio Bar Foundation Peacemaker Award, which recognizes an individual or entity that promotes non-violent resolutions to community conflicts.

He is a past president of the San Antonio Bar Association ADR Section and past Vice-President of the San Antonio Bankruptcy Bar Association. Eichelbaum has been recognized both as a Texas Super Lawyer by Texas Monthly magazine and Best Attorney in San Antonio by Scene in SA.

He is a frequent guest speaker and lecturer at both the state and national level, including serving as the featured presenter at the National Workshop and Law Institute for the American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators, the National Association of Elder Law Attorneys and Texas Department of Insurance.

• San Antonio Bar Foundation, Class of 2021
• San Antonio Bar Foundation Peacemaker Award, 2021
• Scene in SA – Best Lawyer’s Survey, 2007-2013
• Texas Monthly – Texas Super Lawyer, 2012 and 2023-2025
• College of the State Bar of Texas, 1998-2013

Presentations

• Building Blocks of Mediation – A 40 Hour Mediation Training Course
• Advanced Building Blocks of Mediation – A 24 Hour Mediation Training concentrating on areas of Family Law Disputes
• Selecting a Mediator in a Guardianship Matter – National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys 2009 Annual Conference
• Mediation and Bankruptcy – State Bar of Texas Advanced Consumer Bankruptcy Conference
• Not Just Tilting at Windmills – Consumer Litigation on Behalf of the Bankruptcy Debtor
• Harry Potter and the Grievance Committee – What the Wizarding World can teach us about Legal Ethics
• The Choices We Make – Decision Influencers, How We Make Choices & What Mediators Should (or Should Not) Do to Impact Those Choices – Alamo Area Mediators Association
• What to Expect when you are Facilitating – How to Facilitate a Title IX Claim – Texas Title IX Administrators Conference (2020)

Biography

Stacy Fowler (M.A. ’09), Professor and Technical Services Librarian, joined the Sarita Kenedy East Law Library at the St. Mary’s University School of Law in 2005. She has a Bachelor of Arts in English and Master of Arts degrees in both library science and international relations.

Fowler has presented at numerous national and regional conferences on diverse subjects such as laws pertaining to women in the U.S. military and the current state of DEI efforts in Hollywood and the population at large. She recently finished her third book about women in the military in films. Additionally, her poems have been published in several university journals, including The Tau, Pomona Valley Review, and Pecan Grove Review from St. Mary’s University.

Books

• Military Women in Sci-Fi Films: Breaking Barriers Since 1902 (book, ISBN 9781476696522). Co-written with Deborah A. Deacon. McFarland Publishing (Forthcoming 2026).
• Military Women in World Cinema: A 20th Century History and Filmography  (book, ISBN 9781476684512). Co-written with Deborah A. Deacon. McFarland Publishing (2023).
• A Century in Uniform: Military Women in Hollywood Films (book, ISBN 9781476677132). Co-written with Deborah A. Deacon. McFarland Publishing (2020).

Articles

• The Current State of E-Books in U.S. Law Libraries: A Survey. Co-written with Wilhelmina Randtke. Law Library Journal (Summer 2016).
• And Other Duties as Assigned: Expanding the Boundaries of the E-resource Life Cycle to Get Things Done.  Co-written with Marcella Lesher and Esta Tovstiadi. The Serials Librarian (2016).
• Spine Bending: The Favorite Novels of Law Librarians, AALL Spectrum (April 2014).

Presentations

• Legal Education Untethered: A Case Study in Library Support for Online Students, American Association of Law Libraries Annual Meeting, Portland, Oregon, 2025.
• What’s Gonna Work? Teaming Up with Your Academic Library for Life, the Universe, and Everything. Southwestern Association of Law Libraries Annual Meeting, Dallas, Texas, 2024.
• (Mis)sed Representation: DEI in Legal Reels and Reality, Southwest Popular/American Culture Association Annual Conference, Albuquerque, New Mexico, 2024.
• Comedians in Court Getting Censored: No Laughing Matter, Southwestern Association of Law Libraries Annual Meeting, Tucson, Arizona, 2023.

Biography

Annie Bright (J.D. ’20) is the Moody Foundation Visiting Professor and an Englehardt Research Fellow at the St. Mary’s University School of Law.

Bright studied political science at the University of California, Santa Barbara, and graduated with her B.A. in Comparative Politics. She later returned to Texas to attend the St. Mary’s University School of Law where she graduated summa cum laude.

In law school, Bright was a board member for the Law Journal. She received the Faculty Award for Academic Excellence in Administrative Law, Federal Civil Procedure, Constitutional Law, Professional Responsibility, and Torts. She was awarded the Presidential Law Scholarship, the Chief Justice Catherine M. Stone Rock of Justice Award, and the Presidential Award for her demonstrated commitment to leadership, service, and academic excellence. While in law school, she also represented immigration clients in the Immigration and Human Rights Clinic and worked as a law clerk at De Mott, Curtright, Armendáriz, LLP (DMCA). She also clerked for the Travis County Attorney’s Office and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Texas.

Bright went on to earn a Master of Arts in Law and Diplomacy at The Fletcher School of International Affairs at Tufts University where she studied International Law and Humanitarian Action. While at Fletcher, she researched the financial journeys of migrants around the world through the Leir Institute for Migration and Human Security.

Prior to joining St. Mary’s as a visiting faculty member, Bright worked in private practice in San Antonio with DMCA. There she represented both detained and non-detained immigrants in immigration proceedings. Bright’s practice included affirmative processes, defense litigation, and appeals. She litigated cases in the San Antonio and Laredo immigration courts and is admitted to practice in the Western District of Texas.

Biography

Robert H. Hu, J.D., LL.M., Ph.D., is a Professor of Law and Director of the Institute on Chinese Law and Business at St. Mary’s University. Hu is now serving as the Interim Director of the LL.M. Program for the St. Mary’s University School of Law.

He joined St. Mary’s University in June 2005 and served as Director of the Sarita Kenedy East Law Library from 2005 to 2021. He left the library director’s position in 2021 and has since been teaching full-time on the law school faculty. A tenured professor of the law school, he currently teaches Advanced Legal Research and Conflict of Laws. For research and writing, he focuses on American and Chinese intellectual property law and legal histories. He is a member of the American Law Institute (ALI), American Bar Association (ABA), and American Association of Law Libraries (AALL). He is a guest professor of two universities in China.

Before his current institution, Hu had worked at four American law schools: The College of William & Mary (1993-1997), Wake Forest University (1997-1999), Gonzaga University (1999-2000) and Texas Tech University (2000-2005).

• American Law Institute (ALI);
• Association of American Law Schools (AALS);
• American Bar Association (ABA);
• American Association of Law Libraries (AALL);
• Chinese and American Forum on Law Libraries and Legal Information (CAFLL);
• Southwestern Association of Law Libraries (SWALL)

Books

• Research Guide to Chinese Patent Law and Practice. 2nd ed. Getzille, NY: William S. Hein & Co., Inc., 2022.
• Research Guide to Chinese Copyright Law. 2nd ed. Buffalo, NY: William S. Hein & Co., Inc., 2016.
• Research Guide to Chinese Trademark Law and Practice. Durham, NC: Carolina Academic Press, 2009.
• Research Guide to Chinese Patent Law and Practice. Buffalo, NY: William S. Hein & Co., Inc., 2002.
• Guide to China Copyright Law Studies. Buffalo, NY: William S. Hein & Co., Inc., 2000.

Articles in a Periodical

• Reconstruction of the Reasonable Person Standard under Chinese Patent Law.  (co-author).  Marquette Intellectual Property & Innovation Law Review, Vol. 26 (Winter 2022):  11-45.
• Time to Reopen Houston Consulate, San Antonio Express-News (Dec. 6, 2021).
• St. Mary’s University Institute on Chinese Law and Business:  Remarkable Success in the First Ten Years. St. Mary’s Law Journal, Vol 51, No. 4 (2020):  839-901.
• Race for a COVID-19 vaccine patent could hurt the public, San Antonio Express-News (Sep. 30, 2020)
• Arthur C.Y.Yao (1906-2004): A Pioneer Chinese Professor at St. Mary’s University School of Law. St. Mary’s Law Journal, Vol 51, No. 1 (2019): 131-171.
• International Legal Protection of Trademarks in China. Marquette Intellectual Property Law Review 13 (December 2008): 69-121.
• Status and Tenure for Academic Law Librarians: A Survey. Law Library Journal 96 (Winter 2004): 127-165.
• A Resource Guide to Tax Law Careers. Legal Reference Services Quarterly, 22 (2003): 113-138.
• A Guide to Resources on Careers in Foreign and International Law. Law Library Journal 93 (Summer 2001): 479-493.
• ROIs Can Validate Your Library’s Value. AALL Spectrum, 7 (October 2002): 20, 27.
• ‘C’ Is for Communications. AALL Spectrum, 6 (March 2002): 28, 30.
• PR for Academic Libraries: Focus on the Faculty. AALL Spectrum, 6 (February 2002): 28, 32.
• Protection of Intellectual Property in China : A Selected Bibliography. University of Baltimore Intellectual Property Law Journal, 5 (Fall 1996/Spring 1997): 135-148.
• Spirit of innovation moves China forward. San Antonio Express-News (November 2017).

Biography

Kauffman has been a civil rights litigator specializing in the education, voting and employment rights of Latinos. For nearly 20 years, Kauffman was the senior litigating attorney for the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF) in San Antonio.

As a MALDEF attorney, Kauffman was the lead attorney for plaintiffs in the Texas school finance cases, for Latino plaintiffs in the Texas Higher Education System finance and desegregation case and in litigation challenging the state’s use of the TAAS test for graduation from Texas high schools. He has also litigated affirmative action cases, local and state voting rights, employment discrimination cases, immigration and hospital admission policy cases.

After MALDEF, he served as a Senior Legal and Policy Advocate Associate for the Civil Rights Project at Harvard Law School. Subsequently, he served as the Senior Legal Policy Advocate at the Chief Justice Earl Warren Institute on Race, Ethnicity and Diversity at the University of California at Berkeley. While there, he wrote about civil rights issues such as voting rights, No Child Left Behind, affirmative action, and public schools’ student assignment systems.

Kauffman was part of a small team of experts involved with passing both the state’s top 10 percent rule for admission to public universities and recent changes to admission and scholarship criteria for public graduate and professional schools.

• Drum Major for Justice Award from the American Association for Affirmative Action (2013).
• Maria A. Berriozabal Visionary Leadership Award from Our Lady of the Lake University (2013).
• Texas Lawyer selection as one of “The 25 Greatest Texas Lawyers of the Past Quarter-Century,” 2010.
• Lifetime Achievement Award, St. Mary’s Law School Hispanic Law Students Association, 2009.
• Laredo Texas LULAC, Champions of Education Award, 2004.
• Editorial Advisory Committee, Harvard Latino Law Review, 2003 (national award).
• Mary’s School of Law, Sir Thomas More Award, 2003 (national award).
• Boston College, chosen to give Boisi Lecture, “The No Child Left Behind Act, Dropouts and Affirmative Action: What’s the Common Issue?” 2003 (national award).
• American GI Forum Lifetime Achievement Award, 2002.
• Columbia Law School Human Rights Law Review Annual Award for Human Rights, 2002 (national award).
• Edgewood School District Achievement Award, 2002.
• Texas LULAC Service Award, 2002.
• Amistad award Texas State IMAGE, 2000.
• PTA national Lifetime Service Award, Edgewood I.S.D. PTA 2000.
• Board of Advisors, The Scholar: St. Mary’s Law Review on Minority Issues, 1999 (national award).
• Association of Higher Education – Hispanic Caucus selected to give Tomas Rivera lecture at 1997 National AHE Convention (national award).
• Texas State NAACP – Heroes Award, 1996.
• Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities – P. Gus Cardenas National Service to Higher Education Award – 1995 (national award).
• Texas Lawyer, selected one of ten most influential lawyers in Texas for decade 1985-1995.
• Hero for Children Award, Texas State Board of Education, 1994.
• Henry B. Gonzalez Award, Legal Achievement – St. Mary’s Law School Hispanic Alumni, 1994.
• Edgewood Plaintiffs Award – Service to Low-Wealth Districts, 1994.
• San Antonio Chapter, ACLU – John Henry Faulk Liberty Award, 1992.
• Texas Association of Chicanos in Higher Education – Meritorious Service Award, 1992.
• Association of Higher Education – Hispanic Caucus Lifetime Achievement Award, 1992
• Texas Mexican American Bar Association – Lifetime Achievement Award, 1992.
• Incarnate Word College – “Insigne Verbum” Award, 1992.
• San Antonio Mind Science Foundation, Imagineer Award, 1992.
• McAllen Tripas Club, “Tripero Distinguido,” 1990.
• Texas GI Forum Education Award, 1990.
• Texas Mexican American Bar Association Education Award, 1990.
• Harlandale I.S.D. Education Award, 1989.
• San Antonio Bilingual Education Trendsetter, 1988.
• Texas LULAC “Educacion – La Solucion,” 1988.
• Edgewood I.S.D., “Amigos de Edgewood”, 1987.
• Socorro I.S.D. Educational Achievement Award, 1987.
• Texas Association of Chicanos in Higher Education, 1986.
• Association for the Advancement of Mexican Americans, 1984.

Articles in a Periodical

• Supreme Court sets stage for partisan gerrymandering standards, San Antonio Express News, June 30, 2018
• Constitution does not guarantee right to bear an AR-15, San Antonio Express News, April 8, 2018; also in News Taco, April 9, 2018
• Latino Organizations Thrived in San Antonio in 1960s, chapter in “300 Years of San Antonio & Bexar County,” (Trinity University Press 2018)
• Moving from packing and cracking to fairness, San Antonio Express News, October 29, 2017; also in News Taco, https://newstaco.com/2017/11/01/gerrymandering-moving-cracking-packing-fairness/
• Texas must have the courage-and honor-to settle redistricting, San Antonio Express News, May 20, 2017 ; also in News Taco https://newstaco.com/2017/05/22/80036/
• Texas Supreme Court Retreats from Finance Battles, 19 The Scholar: St. Mary’s L. Rev. on Racial & Soc’l Just. 145 (2017)
• Effective Litigation Strategies to Improve State Education and Social Service Systems, 45 J. L. & Educ. 453 (2016)
• Albert Kauffman, The Barriers and Route to Texas School Finance Equity, 1Tex. Educ. Rev. 27 (2013)(Online).
• Tribute, Judge William Wayne Justice: A Life of Human Dignity and Refractory Mules, St. Mary’s Law Journal, 215-230 (2010).
• Introduction to Issue: Education and Minorities in the Modern Era: Working Civil Rights Into Practice, Policy and Procedure, The Scholar: St. Mary’s Law Review on Minority Issues , 101-108 (2010).
• The Texas School Finance Litigation Saga: Great Progress, Then Near Death By A Thousand Cuts, 40 St. Mary’s Law Journal 511-579 (2008).
• Accessibility to Comprehensive Higher Education in Texas, 31 The Social Science Journal 263 (1994) (with Richard Jones)
• Applying Edgewood v. Kirby to Analysis of Fundamental Rights Under the Texas Constitution, 22 St. Mary’s Law Journal 69 (1991) (with Carmen Rumbaut)

Shorter Works in Collections

• Texas School Finance Litigation: Great Progress and Some Regression, in Institute for Educational Equity and Opportunity, A Quality Education for Every Child: Stories from the Lawyers on the Front Lines, pp.109-155 (David Long, et al. ed., 2009).
• A Continuation of an Analysis of School Finance Cases Comparing Adequacy and Equity Theories, Albert H. Kauffman. Rockefeller Foundation. 01/2004. p. 26.
• A Comparison of Equity and Adequacy School Finance Cases and a Consideration of the Current New York and California School Finance Litigation on the Equity and Adequacy Dimensions, Albert H. Kauffman. Rockefeller Foundation. 01/2003. p. 26.
• The Hopwood Case: What It Says and What It Doesn’t, chapter in Affirmative Action’s Testament of Hope: Strategies for a New Era in Higher Education by Mildred Garcia, State University of New York Press (1997).
• Minority Concerns: A Response to TASP, Chapter in From Politics to Policy: A Case Study in Educational Reform, Matthews, Swanson, Kerker, Praeger Press, (New York, NY 1991).No Child Left Behind Act Resource Guide, The Civil Rights Project at Harvard (2004) (with Dan Losen)
• Lead writer and lead researcher on large number of briefs to U.S. Supreme Court, Texas Supreme Court, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit and numerous U.S. District Courts on issues of school finance, testing, higher education finance, affirmative action, and voting rights.

Op-Eds

• Commentary: Constitution does not guarantee right to bear an AR-15, McAllen Monitor, April 22, 2018.
• Commentary: Gerrymandering Affect Voter Turnout, McAllen Monitor, November 5, 2017.
• Stand Up, Texas, and Fix Redistricting, San Antonio Express-News, May 21, 2017.
• Courts rightfully stop unconstitutional executive order on immigration, San Antonio Express-News, April 1,2017.
• Texans deserves the full protection of the Voting Rights Act, San Antonio Express-News, Oct. 8, 2016.
• Court missed opportunity to promote diversity, San Antonio Express-News, June 27, 2016.
• Border higher ed gains began with a lawsuit, San Antonio Express-News, May 21, 2016.
• On school funding, the needed next steps will be hard, Houston Chronicle, May 13, 2016.

Presentations

• History of School Finance Issues in Texas, Say Si youth project, San Antonio, June, 2017.
• Reflections of Texas Scholars on Growing up in Texas, American Education Research Association national convention, San Antonio, April 2017.
• Civil and Criminal Procedures, The U.S Legal System and the Mexican Oral Trials Course, St. Mary’s University, August 2016.
• Panel: The Fisher Decision, 7th Annual Texas Higher Education Symposium, Austin, Texas August, 2016.
• United States Legal Systems, Presentation to law students at Universidad Enrique Diaz de Leon, Guadalajara, Jalisco Mexico, March, 2016. (In Spanish)
• School Finance Update to San Antonio Inns of Court, February 2015.
• Phoenix Law School, Phoenix Arizona, presentation to faculty on Wal-Mart case and class actions, Nov. 2011.
• Phoenix Law School, Phoenix Arizona, presentation to students on effects of litigation on societal change, Nov. 2011.
• Texas Tech Law School, presentation to faculty on Wal-Mart case and class actions, Oct. 2011.
• “A Comparison of Fifth Circuit and Texas Class Action Cases—Worse and Worser: No Class Left in Texas” New Scholars Workshop, August 2, 2010, Southeast Association of Law Schools, Palm Beach Florida.
• Hispanic National Bar Association annual convention, Minneapolis, Minnesota, September 8, 2010, Latino Education issues.

Biography

St. Mary’s University School of Law Professor Dorie Klein, J.D., writes and teaches in the areas of evidence, criminal law and mental health law. Her recent scholarship includes several law review articles examining the pitfalls of character evidence, as well as several articles exploring ways to reduce the excessive punitiveness of criminal punishments. In 2022 Carolina Academic Press published the second edition of her casebook, Texas Criminal Law. In addition to teaching core courses in evidence and criminal law, Klein has developed upper-level writing seminars that focus on a variety of specialized subjects, including mental health law, the law of self-defense and the operation of appellate courts.

Prior to joining the St. Mary’s law faculty in 2006,  Klein was a visiting assistant professor of law at Florida State University and a judicial clerk for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. She received her J.D. degree from Vanderbilt University, where she was an articles editor for the Vanderbilt Law Review. Klein also holds an M.A. degree in clinical psychology from the University of Pennsylvania and a B.A. in biopsychology from Swarthmore College. She worked as a community mental health therapist for several years before attending law school.

• The (Mis)application of Rule 404(b) Heuristics, 72 U. Miami L. Rev. 706 (2018).
• Texas Criminal Law: Cases and Materials (Carolina Academic Press, 2017).
• Exemplary and Exceptional Confusion Under the Federal Rules of Evidence, 46 Hofstra L. Rev. 641 (2017).
• Is Felony Murder the New Depraved Heart Murder? Considering the Appropriate Punishment for Drunken Drivers Who Kill, 67 S.C. L. Rev. 1 (2015).
• The Dignity of the Human Person: Catholic Social Teaching and the Practice of Criminal Punishment, 60 Loy. L. Rev. 1 (2014).
• The Costs of Delay: Incompetent Criminal Defendants, Involuntary Antipsychotic Medications, and the Question of Who Decides, 16 U. Pa. J.L. & Soc. Change 203 (2013).
• When Coercion Lacks Care: Competency to Make Medical Treatment Decisions and Parens Patriae Civil Commitments, 45 U. Mich. J.L. Reform 561 (2012).

Articles in a Periodical

• “Rule of Inclusion” Confusion, 58 San Diego L. Rev. 379 (2021)
• When Coercion Lacks Care: Competency to Make Medical Treatment Decisions and Parens Patriae Civil Commitments, 45 U. Mich. J.L. Reform 561 (2012).
• The Mentally Disordered Criminal Defendant at the Supreme Court: A Decade in Review, 91 Or. L. Rev. 207 (2012).
• Rehabilitating Mental Disorder Evidence After Clark v. Arizona, 60 Case W. Res. L. Rev. 645 (2010).
• Unreasonable: Involuntary Medications, Incompetent Criminal Defendants, and the Fourth Amendment, 46 San Diego L. Rev. 161 (2009).
• Autonomy and Acute Psychosis: When Choices Collide, 15 Va. J. Soc. Pol’y & L. 355 (2008) (review essay of Elyn R. Saks, The Center Cannot Hold: My Journey Through Madness).
• Categorical Exclusions from Capital Punishment: How Many Wrongs Make A Right? 72 Brook. L. Rev. 1211 (2007).
• Curiouser and Curiouser: Involuntary Medications and Incompetent Criminal Defendants After Sell v. United States, 13 Wm. & Mary Bill Rts. J. 871 (2005).
• Involuntary Treatment of the Mentally Ill: Autonomy is Asking the Wrong Question, 27 Vt. L. Rev. 649 (2003).
• Beyond Brown v. Board of Education: The Need to Remedy the Achievement Gap, 31 J.L. & Educ. 431 (2002).
• Note, Trial Rights and Psychotropic Drugs, 55 Vand. L. Rev. 165 (2002).

Biography

Chenglin “Gary” Liu has been teaching torts, products liability, wills, trusts, and estates, and law and economics at the St. Mary’s University School of Law since 2007. Through the years, he has developed a unique teaching style, focusing on problem solving and individual thinking. In 2019, Liu received the Alumni Association Distinguished Faculty Award, becoming professor of the year. Prior to St. Mary’s, Professor Liu taught various law courses in China, Austria and the U.K. 

Liu has served on various committees, including the Faculty Appointment Committee, Non-Tenure Review Committee, Law Journal Committee and Admissions Committee. From 2012 to 2019, Liu served as a co-director of the LL.M. programs.

He has written about torts, wills and trusts, food and drug safety, and Chinese law. His articles have been downloaded more than 10,000 times from across the world. Recently, Liu devoted his time to writing Learning Wills, Trusts, and Estates for West Academic’s Learning Series. Unlike traditional casebooks, the Learning Series emphasizes readability, clarity, rule learning and assessments. The book was out in print in summer 2025. In the meantime, Liu delved into affirmative action and racially motivated charities, resulting in law review articles on these topics.

Currently, Liu continues to pursue a varied research agenda that builds on his most recent work, further expanding on how discriminatory charities are scrutinized and whether donors will continue to contribute to nonprofit organizations, including educational institutions, without the benefit of tax deductions. On the tort law front, Liu’s research will focus on whether the current products liability and public nuisance doctrines will effectively prevent consumers from being physically and emotionally injured by AI products and whether a new doctrine should be developed to regulate AI technology.

Books

• Learning Wills, Trusts, and Estates, West Academic Publishing, 2025
• (With Vincent R. Johnson), Studies in American Tort Law, 7th ed., Carolina Academic Press, 2021
• (With Vincent R. Johnson), Teaching Torts: A Teacher’s Guide to Studies in American Tort Law, 7th ed., Carolina Academic Press, 2021
• Chinese Law in Context, Carolina Academic Press, 2020
• Chinese Law on SARS, Hein, 2004

Articles

• The Fearless Fund Decision and Racially Discriminatory Charities, 74 Cle. St. L. Rev., forthcoming 2025
• The Evolution of Race-Based Admissions in American Higher Education, 51 Ohio N.U. L. Rev. 77, 2024
• Beyond Compulsory Licensing: Pfizer Shares Its COVID-19 Medicines with the Patent Pool 25 New York University Journal of Legislation and Public Policy, 1, 2022
• The World Health Organization: A Weak Defender Against Pandemics, 28 Virginia Journal of Social Policy & the Law, 174, 2021
• Confucius and the Chinese Legal Tradition, 28 Michigan State International Law Review 477, 2020
• Socialized Liability in Chinese Tort Law, 59 Harvard International Law Journal Online 16, 2018
• Risks Faced by Foreign Lawyers in China, 35 Arizona Journal of International and Comparative Law 131, 2018
• The Development of Chinese Constitutionalism, 48 St. Mary’s Law Journal 199, 2017
• Escaping Liability via Forum Non Conveniens, 17 University of Pennsylvania Journal of Law and Social Change, 137, 2014
• Leaving the FDA Behind: Pharmaceutical Outsourcing and Drug Safety, 48 Texas International Law Journal, 1, 2012
• Is “USDA ORGANIC” a Seal of Deceit? The Pitfalls of USDA Certified Organics Produced in the United States, China and Beyond, 47 Stanford Journal of International Law 333, 2011
• The Obstacles of Outsourcing Imported Food Safety To China, 43 Cornell Journal of International Law 249, Lead Article, 2010
• Profits Above The Law: China’s Melamine Tainted Milk Scandal, 79 Mississippi Law Journal 371, 2009
• The Chinese Takings Law From A Comparative Perspective, 26 Washington University Journal of Law & Policy 301, 2008
• Informal Rules, Transaction Costs And The Failure Of Chinese Takings Law 29 Hastings International & Comparative Law Review 1, Lead Article, 2005. (Reprinted in Jose Maria Serna de la Garza,Derecho Comparado Asia-Mexico. Culturas y Sistemas Juridicos Comparados, IIJ-UNAM, 2007)
• Regulating SARS In China: Law As An Antidote? 4 Washington University Global Studies Law Review 81, 2005. (Reprinted in Stoltzfus Jost, Readings in Comparative Health Law and Bioethics, Carolina Academic Press, 2007

Media Highlights

• Quoted in The Labels Said “Organic.” But These Massive Imports of Corn and Soybeans Weren’t, Washington Post, May 12, 2017
• Not All Organic Food Labels are Created Equal, Forbes, Nov. 11, 2015
• Quoted in Organic-Farming Boom Stretches Certification System, The Wall Street Journal, Dec. 9, 2014
• A Breach of Defense against the Ebola Virus, Austin American-Statesman, Oct. 3, 2014