Biography

Robert William “Bill” Piatt was born in Santa Fe. He is Hispanic/Native American (Genizaro), Catholic, and fluent in Spanish. Prior to his arrival at St. Mary’s, he had taught at five law schools in the U.S., had engaged in private practice, and had helped to establish indigent criminal defense and civil legal assistance offices. Piatt had also taught in Mexico and Spain, and assisted Native American communities in this country.

His background has led him to continue his work with Indigenous communities, and to participate in religious and cultural ceremonies. Piatt’s writings are the first to discuss the legal rights of non-federally recognized Indians.

His background has also enabled him to expand on incorporating his Catholic faith into his teaching, research and service.

Piatt’s writings, including ten books and dozens of articles, focus on Human Rights. They have received numerous awards and have been cited in hundreds of publications.

His background in broadcasting has assisted him in participating as a commentator on law-related topics in English and in Spanish, on radio and tv.

Piatt served as Dean of St. Mary’s Law School from 1998 to 2007.

• Outstanding Alumni Award, Eastern New Mexico University, 1997
• Outstanding Book on the Subject of Human Rights in North America, Gustavus Myers Center for the Study of Human Rights in North America, 1998, for my book, Black and Brown in America.
• Outstanding Book on the Subject of Human Rights in North America, Gustavus Myers Center for the Study of Human Rights in North America, 1994, for my book, “Language on the Job,”
• Outstanding Academic Book of the Year, 1994, Choice Magazine, for my book, “Language on the Job”
• Outstanding article in the Houston Law Review in 1996, Houston Law Review Alumni Award, for my article, “Toward Domestic Recognition of a Human Right to Language.”

Books

• Slavery in the Southwest: Genizaro Identity, Dignity and the Law (with Moises Gonzales, Carolina Academic Press, 2019)
• Human Trafficking (with Cheryl Taylor Page, Carolina Academic Press, 2016).
• Catholic Legal Perspectives, 3rd Edition (Carolina Academic Press, 2018).
• Black and Brown in America: The Case for Cooperation (New York University Press, 1997). The book was named, “Outstanding Book on the Subject of Human Rights in North America” in 1998 by the Gustavus Myers Center for the Study of Human Rights in North America.
• Immigration Law: Cases and Materials (Michie, 1994).
• Language on the Job: Balancing Business Needs and Employee Rights (University of New Mexico Press, 1993). The book was named, “Outstanding Book on the Subject of Human Rights in North America” in 1994 by the Gustavus Myers Center for the Study of Human Rights in North America, and was also selected as an Outstanding Academic Book of the Year by Choice Magazine in 1994.
• ¿Only English? Law and Language Policy in the United States. (University of New Mexico Press, Spring, 1990)
• A Layperson’s Guide to New Mexico Law, Center for Business Services, New Mexico State University, 1977.

Articles in a Periodical

• “Respecting the Identity and Dignity of All Indigenous Americans,” 6 Howard Human & Civil Rights Law Review 83 (2021).
• Commentary: Breyer’s Legacy One to Commend, San Antonio Express-News (Feb. 6, 2022).
• Law Schools Harm Genizaros and Other Indigenous People By Misunderstanding ABA Policy (with Moises Gonzales and Katja Wolf), 49 N.M.L. Rev. 236 (2019).
• Working toward a Fiesta of peace, Santa Fe New Mexican, Commentary, (July 29, 2018).
• Entrada: Slavery, Religion and Reconciliation, 13 Intercultural Hum. Rts. L. Rev. 1 (Fall 2018)
• State Bar Efforts to Deny Accreditation to Faith-Based CLE Ethics Programs Sponsored by Religiously-Affiliated Law Schools, 29 Regent U. L. Rev. 293 (2016-2017).
• Opting out in the Name of God: Will Lawyers be Compelled to Handle Same-Sex Divorces?, 79 Albany L.R. 683 (2016)
• If the Pope is Infallible, Why Does He Need Lawyers? 43 Cap U. L.R. 555 (2015)
• Prudence, Common Sense Best Tools to Stop Ebola, San Antonio Express-News, Op-Ed (November 9, 2014).
• The Future of Legal Education, Texas Lawyer (three-part series, 2013).
• Border Wars & The New Texas Navy: International Treaties, Waterways, and State Sovereignty After Arizona v. U.S. (with Rachel Ambler) 15 Scholar 535, n.3, 2013).
• Reinventing the Wheel: Constructing Ethical Approaches to State Indigent Legal Defense Systems, St. Mary’s L. J. Legal Mal. & Ethics 372 (2012).
• Catholicism and Constitutional Law: More than Privacy in the Penumbras, 7 Vill. J. Cath. Soc. Thought 337 (2010).
• Gender Segregation in the Public Schools: Opportunity, Inequality, or Both?, 11 Scholar 561 (2009).
• Loose Lips Sink Attorney/Client Ships: Unintended Technological disclosure of Confidential Communications (with Dr. Paula deWitte), 39 St. Mary’s Law Journal 781 (2008).
• A Glass Half Full: A Rational/Radical Approach to Immigration Reform, 13 Nexus 3 (2008).
• New Legal Rights in the Legal System of the United States of America (with Professor Roberto Rosas), 23 Juris Tantum 19, Universidad Anahuac, Mexico (2008).
• Immigration Reform from the Outside In, 10 The Scholar: St. Mary’s Law Review on Minority Issues 269 (2008).
• Los Nuevos Derechos en el Sistema Jurídico de Estados Unidos (with Roberto Rosas), 20 Juris Tantum 16, Universidad Anáhuac, México (2005).
• México y los Estados Unidos: Idioma Común, Futuro Común, 9-10 Derecho y Cultura Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (2003).
• One View to Add to the Many, 34 TOL. L. REV. 143, 144 (2002).
• Training Lawyers for a Global Economy, Renmin University of China, (Mandarin and English), (2000).
• Appellate Law in the New Millennium: Bridging Theoretical Foundations with Practical Application, 31 St. Mary’s Law Journal 987, (1999).
• Of Pigeonholes and Prospective Jurors, 14 Chicano-Latino L. Rev. 61 (1994).
• Attorney as Interpreter: A Return to Babble, 20 N.M. L. Rev. 1 (1990) (lead article).
• Born as Second-Class Citizens in the USA: Children of Undocumented Parents, 63 Notre Dame L. Rev. 35 (1988).
• Toward Domestic Recognition of a Human Right to Language, 23 Hous. L. Rev. 885 (1986). Recipient of the Houston Law Review Alumni award as the outstanding article published in the Houston Law Review in 1996.
• Spanish on the Job: Business Needs and Employee Rights, published in La Voz del Llano, Kansas Advisory Committee on Hispanic Affairs, Vol. 5, No. 4 (July, 1986).
• Awaiting the Rebirth (paper presented to 1986 Minority Law Teacher’s Conference, Houston).
• Equal Access to Law (School), published in The Alliance, Kansas State University, May 1985. Discusses theoretical considerations regarding attracting women and minority students to law school.
• Linguistic Diversity on the Airwaves: Spanish-Language Broadcasting and the FCC, 2 La Raza L.J. 101 (1984) (lead article).
• Orgullo Hispano en El Maratón de Nueva York, El Hispano, Albuquerque, New Mexico, November 5, 1982.
• Hasta Luego, Papá, Salsa Literary Magazine, Espanola, New Mexico, 8/2/90. A “cuento” (short story).

Chapters in Books

• “Catholic Perspectives on Family Law”, in Through a Clear Lens: American Law From a Catholic Perspective (Scarecrow Press, a division of Rowman & Littlefield Publishers Group, Inc., 2015).
• “Attorney As Interpreter”, in The Latino Condition: A Critical Reader (Richard Delgado and Jean Stefancic, eds. N.Y.U. Press 1998, and in the second ed., 2011).
• “The Confusing State of Minority Language Rights”, in Language Loyalties: A Source Book on the Official English Controversy (James Crawford, ed., U. of Chicago Press 1992)

Biography

After graduating from Brigham Young University law school in 2001, Pomeroy practiced law for a decade as an associate attorney and as a partner for multiple firms in Utah. He primarily practiced transactional law, with an emphasis on real estate and other property issues.

He has taught at St. Mary’s since 2011. A full professor, he holds the Turcotte R.C. Chair in Oil and Gas. He teaches a variety of business and property-focused classes, including Oil and Gas, Mortgages, Property and Business Associations.

Articles in a Periodical

• The Real Doctrine & Covenants, 65 Drake L. Rev. 101 (2017)
• Well Enough Alone: Liability for Wrongful Foreclosures, 68 Ala. L. Rev. 943 (2017)
• Our Court Masters, 94 Neb. L. Rev. 401 (2015)
• All Your Air Right are Belong to Us, 13 Nw. J.L. & Tech. 277 (2015).
• The Shape of Property, 44 Seton Hall L. Rev. 797 (2014).
• Think Twice: Charging Orders and Creditor Property Rights, 102 Ky. L.J. 705 (2014).
• Why is Property So Hard?, 65 Rutgers L. Rev. 505 (2013).
• A Theoretical Case for Standardized Vesting Documents, 38 Ohio N.U. L. Rev. 957 (2012).
• Ending Surprise Liens on Real Property, 11 Nev. L.J. 139 (2010).
• Preslar v. Commissioner: Debt-Discharge Income and its Rationale, 2000 B.Y.U. L. Rev. 1677 (2000).

Presentations

• Well Enough Alone, University of Alabama (September 2016)
• All Your Air Right are Belong to Us, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville (March 30, 2015)
• Think Twice: Charging Orders and Creditor Property Rights, Southeastern Area Law Schools Annual Conference, Palm Beach, Florida (August 8, 2013)
• A Theoretical Case for Standardized Vesting Documents, JRCLS Law Professor Conference, Washington D.C. (January 4, 2012)
• Ending Surprise Liens on Real Property, University of New Mexico School of Law (November 22, 2010)
• Ending Surprise Liens on Real Property, Hamline University School of Law (November 30, 2010)

Biography

Spanning four years, Professor Rice was a graduate-faculty professor at Duke University before securing his post-doctoral degree from The Johns Hopkins University and receiving his law degree from the University of Texas at Austin.

After law school, Professor Rice became a Visiting Public-Law Professor in the Department of Government—University of Texas at Austin, and, later, a Scholar-In-Residence at The American Bar Foundation in Chicago. Professor Rice has been a full- tenured professor of law since 1993 and is presently a Professor of Law and Englehardt Research Fellow at St. Mary’s University School of Law in San Antonio, Texas.

Additionally, for nearly twenty-seven years, he has been a legal expert/statistician for multiple international, national and regional law firms and their clients. Professor Rice is currently a member the Gerson-Lehrman Group of International Experts

• Scholar-In-Residence — American Bar Foundation, Chicago, Illinois
• Distinguished Faculty Award for Excellence in Teaching, St. Mary’s School of Law, 2005-2006
• President’s Excellence in Teaching Award, Texas Tech School of Law, 1993
• Ex-Students’ New Faculty Teaching Award, Texas Tech School of Law, 1990
• Fifth Circuit’s Excellence in Writing Law Review Award for 2003-2004
• Order of the Coif, 1997
• Phi Kappa Phi Honor Society, 1992
• Omicron Delta Kappa Honor Society

Books

• Legal Practice Technology and Law (Cognella Academic Publishing 2017)
• Consumer Litigation and Insurance Defense, Cognella Academic Publishing 2 ed.
• Contract Law, Practice, Interpretation, and Enforcement, Cognella Academic Publishing 1 ed. 2014

Articles in a Periodical

• Willy E. Rice, Allegedly “Biased,” “Intimidating,” And “Incompetent” State Court Judges And The Questionable Removal Of State Law Class Actions To Purportedly “Impartial” And “Competent” Federal Courts-A Historical Perspective And An Empirical Analysis Of Class Action Dispositions In Federal And State Courts, 1925-2011, 3 William & Mary Business Law Review 419 (2012);
• The Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit: A Review of Selected 2009-2010 Insurance Decisions, 43 TEX. TECH L. REV. 971 (2011).
• The Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit: A Review of 2007-2008 Insurance Decisions, 41 Tex. Tech L. Rev. 1013 (2009).
• The Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit: A Legal Analysis and Statistical Review of 2005-2006 Insurance Decisions, 39 Tex. Tech L. Rev. 843 (2007).
• The Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit 2004-2005 Disposition of Insurance Decisions: A Survey and Statistical Review, 38 Tex. Tech L. Rev. 821 (2006);
• The Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit 2003-2004 Insurance Decisions: A Survey and an Empirical Analysis, 37 Tex. Tech L. Rev. 871 (2005);
• Insurance Decisions — A Survey and an Empirical Analysis, 35 Tex. Tech L. Rev. 947 (2004).
• Willy E. Rice, Insurance Contracts and Judicial Decisions Over Whether Insurers Must Defend Insureds That Violate Constitutional And Civil Rights: An Historical And Empirical Review Of Federal And State Court Declaratory Judgments 1900-2000, 35 Tort & Ins. L.J. 995 (2000);
• Insurance Contracts and Judicial Discord Over Whether Liability Insurers Must Defend Insureds’ Allegedly Intentional and Immoral Conduct: A Historical and Empirical Review of Federal and State Courts’ Declaratory Judgments 1900-1997, 47 Am. U. L Rev. 1131 (1998);
• Race, Gender, “Redlining,” and the Discriminatory Access to Loans, Credit, and Insurance: An Historical and Empirical Analysis of Consumers Who Sued Leders and Insurers in Federal and State Courts, 1950-1995, 33 San Diego L. Rev. 583 (1996).
• Federal Courts and the Regulation of the Insurance Industry: An Empirical and Historical Analysis of Courts’ Ineffectual Attempts to Harmonize Federal Antitrust, Arbitration, and Insolvency Statutes with the McCarran-Ferguson Act–1941-1993, 43 Cath. U. L. Rev. 399 (1993).
• Judicial Bias, The Insurance Industry and Consumer Protection: An Empirical Analysis of State Supreme Courts’ Bad-Faith, Breach-of-Contract, and Breach-of-Covenant-of-Good-Faith and Excess-Judgment Decisions, 1900-1991, 41 Cath. U. L. Rev. 325 (1992).
• Judicial and Administrative Enforcement of Title VI, Title IX, and Section 504: A Pre- and Post-Grove City Analysis, 5 Rev. Litig. 219 (1986).

Biography

Erica Schommer is a Clinical Professor of Law at St. Mary’s University School of Law where she teaches the Immigration and Human Rights Clinic.

Before joining St. Mary’s, Schommer was in private practice where she focused on detained removal defense and federal court litigation. She began her career working on the U.S./Mexico border at Texas RioGrande Legal Aid, Inc. (TRLA) where she represented many survivors of domestic violence and human trafficking, and directed the Legal Orientation Program at the Willacy Detention Center in Raymondville, Texas.

From 2012 to 2015, Schommer served on the American Bar Association’s Commission on Immigration and was the co-chair of the Commission’s Mental Health Advisory Group. She is a frequent presenter at immigration CLEs and has particular expertise in detained removal defense, remedies for non-citizen victims of crime, and representing individuals suffering from mental illness. Schommer has a background in international human rights and has worked on various human rights issues in Mexico, Guatemala and Costa Rica.

• Op-ed, San Antonio Express News, July 10, 2022, Preventing migrant deaths requires changing policy at home and abroad 
• Op-ed, San Antonio Express News, September 29, 2021, Return of Haitians a violation of U.S. law 
• “Reflections of an Immigration and Asylum Lawyer in Texas, one month after the Massacre of Infants in Uvalde, TX.” Seminar on Critical Studies of Law and Migration, National Autonomous University of Mexico, June 27, 2022.
• Op-ed, San Antonio Express News, October 4, 2020, Five reforms to restore and improve asylum system
• Op-ed, San Antonio Express-News, June 19, 2020, Support Dreamer’ quest for citizenship
• Op-ed, San Antonio Express-News, May 5, 2019, Unsung heroes in SA and beyond help immigrants find hope
• Op-ed, Texas Observer, July 10, 2018, After Years of Working with ‘Ritmo’ Detainees, I Know the Inhumane Facility Doesn’t Deserve a Second Chance
• Op-ed, San Antonio Express-News, June 23, 2018, Cruelty at the border continues despite executive order

Presentations

• Speaker, 2022 A Practical Guide to Immigration Removal Proceedings, University of Texas CLE, San Antonio, TX, June 2-3, 2022
• Panelist, International Human Rights, Inns of Court, San Antonio, TX , March 23, 2022  
• Moderator, A Conversation on the Ethical Implications of COVID-19 for Immigration Practitioners, The Scholar’s 2022 Immigration Symposium, San Antonio, TX, February 25, 2022 
• Speaker, Solicitando Asilo en los Estados Unidos [Applying for Asylum in the United States], Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico (UNAM), Estudios Críticos del Derecho y Migraciones, Mexico City, Mexico, (via Zoom), January 27, 2021 
• Speaker, Immigration Law Update, Federal Bar Association, San Antonio, TX, December 8, 2021 
• Speaker, 2021 A Practical Guide to Immigration Removal Proceedings, University of Texas CLE, Austin, TX, October 27, 2021 
• Speaker, Working with Expert and Supporting Lay Witnesses in Immigration Court, 2021 AILA Annual Virtual Conference, June 11, 2021 
• Speaker, Temporary Protected Status, City of San Antonio Office of the Immigration Liaison, San Antonio, TX (via Zoom), May 28, 2021 
• Speaker, Immigration Updates, The People’s Law School, virtual event, May 1, 2021 
• Speaker, Affirmative vs. Defensive Asylum Cases: Nuts & Bolts, TexasBarCLE Handling Your First (or Next) Asylum Case, virtual course, April 15, 2021 
• Speaker, The Ever-Evolving World of U.S. Asylum Law: Updates and Practice Pointers on Presenting Affirmative and Defensive Claims, UT CLE 44th Annual Conference on Immigration and Nationality Law, virtual course, October 23, 2020
• Speaker, Immigration and Schools, American Board of Trial Advocates’ Teachers Law School, virtual course, October 23, 2020 
• Panelist, Requesting Bond, Parole, and Custody Review During COVID-19, Texas A&M University School of Law Webinar Series, July 22, 2020 
• Speaker, A Practical Guide to Immigration Removal Proceedings, UT CLE, virtual course, June 4 – 5, 2020 
• Speaker, Navigating the New Roadblocks to Asylum, San Antonio Bar Association Immigration & Nationality Section, San Antonio, TX, January 30, 2020 
• Speaker,  Avoiding the Pitfalls of Zealous Representation, UT CLE’s 43rd Annual Conference on Immigration and Nationality Law, Austin, TX, October 24, 2019 
• Speaker, A Practical Guide to Immigration Removal Proceedings, UT CLE, San Antonio, TX, June 6 – 7, 2019
• Panelist, Learning in Baby Jail: Lessons from Law Student Engagement in Immigration Detention Centers, American Association of Law Schools Conference on Clinical Legal Education, San Francisco, CA, May 4, 2019
• Speaker, Current Trends in Asylum Law, St. Mary’s Law Weekend and Reunion, San Antonio, TX, March 29, 2019 
• Speaker, Ethics in Immigration Law: Remaining True to Your Clients While Upholding Your Ethical Duties, National Immigration Project of the National Lawyers Guild, Defiant Lawyering: Empathy, Audacity, and Skill, Spring CLE, San Antonio, TX, March 29, 2019 
• Panelist, Identifying and Raising Capacity and Mental Competency Issues in Children’s Immigration Cases, Children’s Immigration Law Academy, National Webinar, January 22, 2018 
• Panelist, Lawyering in a Hostile Climate, 2018 AALS Clinical Conference on Clinical Legal Education, Chicago, IL, April 30, 2018
• Panelist, The Multiple Legal and Social Facets of Mass Immigration Detention in the United States, paper presented: Why Appointed Counsel Will Never Be Enough, 2017 International Meeting on Law and Society, Mexico City, Mexico, June 21, 2017. 
• Speaker, U.S. Asylum Law and Procedure, presentation made for members of the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada, Webcast from Austin, TX, May 31, 2017

Media Highlights

• Commentary: Return of Haitians a Violation of U.S. Law, San Antonio Express-News (Sept. 29, 2021).
• Trumps Immigration Order Reflect Fantasy, Fear, San Antonio Express-News (Feb. 5, 2017).

Biography

After serving as Dean of the St. Mary’s University School of Law for five years, Stephen Michael Sheppard has returned to the faculty of St. Mary’s University.

Under Sheppard’s leadership, the School of Law launched the Law Success Program and established a Board of Visitors, the Law Student Pro Bono College, the Dean’s Fellows Program, became a host site for the Federal Judicial Training Center, and opened the Law Commons in the Sarita Kenedy East Law Library.

Sheppard has experience as a trial and appellate lawyer, representing both plaintiffs and defendants. He is a legal historian whose works have been relied on by the courts, a lexicographer and author of a new edition of a classic law dictionary and a legal philosopher whose works are studied in many countries.

Sheppard received a B.A. from the University of Southern Mississippi. Besides his doctorate (J.S.D.), he completed his J.D. and L.L.M., at Columbia and his Master of Letters at Oxford University, where he attended University College.

Sheppard completed his doctorate in the philosophy of law at Columbia University in New York, following work for his Master of Letters at Oxford University. His doctoral research is summarized in I Do Solemnly Swear: The Moral Obligations of Legal Officials, also published by Cambridge, and in other works. An active scholar in comparative and international law, Sheppard completed his post-J.D. certificate in Comparative Law in the Parker School of Foreign and Comparative Law of the Columbia Law School. He has lectured or presented academic papers in many countries.

As an attorney, Sheppard has consulted for many law firms, corporations and government agencies, particularly in international law, environmental law, appellate litigation, trial work in law and in equity, technology transfer and licensing, regulatory compliance and oversight, and constitutional law. He was an associate with Phelps Dunbar LLP in New Orleans; Jackson, Mississippi; and London; after clerking for Judge E. Grady Jolly Jr. on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit and Judge William Barbour on the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi.

Sheppard is a member of the bars of Mississippi, the U.S. Tax Court and the U.S. Supreme Court. Though active in other fields of scholarship, Sheppard is a legal historian, with a focus on the development of the common law and of legal institutions, particularly legal education in the United States. He was elected a fellow of the Royal Historical Society especially for his work on early modern English law, including his three-volume anthology, The Selected Writings of Sir Edward Coke. He is also a member of the Selden Society and a member of the editorial board of the Oxford University Press edition of Blackstone’s Commentaries.

His work in the law has been widely cited by courts including the Utah Supreme Court, (in State v. Reyes, 116 P.3d 305 (2005)) which changed the burden of proof for felonies in Utah citing Sheppard’s law review article, The Metamorphoses of Reasonable Doubt: How Changes in the Burden of Proof Have Weakened the Presumption of Innocence, as its only academic authority. He wrote a new edition of the great American legal dictionary by John Bouvier, The Wolters Kluwer Bouvier Law Dictionary.

An active scholarly editor, he has prepared new editions of several classic law books, including the massive Opera Omnia of John Selden and the contemporary classics, Bramble Bush by Karl Llewellyn and Introduction to the Legal System of the United States by E. Allan Farnsworth. He has written numerous articles in the history of legal education and law schools, edited the two-volume History of Legal Education in the United States and is writing The American Law School under contract for Cambridge University Press.

Sheppard was a reservist in the United States Coast Guard, enlisting in 1984; serving as deck gunner, boarding officer, vessels inspector, facilities inspector, and special interest vessel inspector, first as sailor and Boatswain’s Mate and then as an officer. He is an Eagle Scout and active Scouter. Sheppard lives in San Antonio with his wife, Christine, and two of their three children.

Books

• The American Law School: Past, Present, and Future (Cambridge University Press, forthcoming 2015).
• The Wolters-Kluwer Bouvier Law Dictionary (Steve Sheppard, General Editor) (2011-12). A new edition of the classic law dictionary of John Bouvier, with over 8,000 entries for over 10,000 terms, all of which are newly written, incorporating over 40,000 common-placed quotations. The Desk Edition (3,300 pp.); Compact Edition (1240 pp.); Quick Reference (800 pp.); App., and E-books.
• E. Allan Farnsworth, An Introduction to the Legal System of the United States, Fourth Edition (Steve Sheppard, ed.) (Oxford University Press, 2010). A full revision of this internationally standard text, with new notes and several new chapters, including a biographical introduction and narrative for readers.
• I Do Solemnly Swear: The Moral Obligation of Legal Officials (Cambridge University Press, 2009). A clear description of what law is, how it works, and why it depends on the individual official to act from moral, not just legal, reasons. Though a normative argument in legal philosophy, the book presents a series of descriptive arguments from legal history, focusing on the laws of colonial Massachusetts and the history of legal philosophy, especially the neo-Aristotelean arguments of Cicero, Leibniz, Machiavelli, Thomasius, Weber, and Arendt. Despite all the philosophy, the book makes sense for lawyers, and it ends with a clear set of guidelines that apply its lessons to real legal questions.
• Karl Llewellyn, The Bramble Bush: The Classic Lectures on Law School and the Law (Steve Sheppard, ed.) (Oxford University Press, 2008). A new edition of the most famous book on legal education in twentieth-century America, with a new introduction, notes, and index. The book is being translated into Mandarin and Japanese.
• George P. Fletcher & Steve Sheppard, American Law In a Global Context: The Basics A (Oxford University Press, 2005). An introduction to the law and law practice of the United States, written with comparisons to related concepts in other national legal systems. This book has been adopted as the primary course book for the Master of Laws course at Columbia, Indiana, Miami, New York University, UCLA, and other schools. Reviewed by Janet E. Stearns in 54 American Journal of Comparative Law 489 (2006); Kirk Randazo, 15 Law and Politics Book Review 617 (2005); Amy Atchison & Catherine F. Halvorsen, Keeping up with New Legal Titles, 98 Law Library Journal 531 (2006). The book has been translated into Mandarin and German.
• George P. Fletcher & Steve Sheppard, A Guide for Teachers: American La w in a Global Context: The Basics (Oxford University Press, 2005). A 250-page platform for web-based teaching support for the book at www.us.oup.com
• The Selected Writing of Sir Edward Coke (Steve Sheppard, editor) (Three volumes) (Liberty Fund, 2003) (revised edition, 2005). This is the first modern anthology of one of the architects of the modern common law. Drawn from Coke’s Reports, judicial opinions, Institutes, minor treatises, and speeches in Commons, it includes extensive introductory, chronological, and scholarly matter by the editor. Reviewed in Charles M. Gray, Two Contributions to Coke Studies, 72 University of Chicago Law Review 1127 (2005), and in Achsah Guibbory, Recent Studies in the English Renaissance, 45 Studies in English Literature, 1500-1900 (2005).
• The History of Legal Education in the United States: Contemporary Essays and Primary Materials (Steve Sheppard, editor) (Two volumes) (Salem Press, 1998) (Lawbook Exchange, 2006). This reference work collects five original essays by the editor on the history of legal education (totaling over 100,000 words), with a collection of rare primary materials illuminated by other contemporary essays in a topical arrangement. Reviewed in 39 Reference & User Services Quarterly 92 (1999).

Series

• Series Editor, The Oxford Commentaries on American Law (Oxford University Press). A series of newly commissioned treatises, to be launched in 2013, with the collaboration of national board of editorial advisers and a target of ten titles per year.
• Series Editor, Model Problems and Outstanding Answers (Oxford University Press). A series of new problem books for legal education, launched in 2011, with a target of nine titles.

Articles in a Periodical

• The U.S. Lawyer in the Twenty-First Century: The Report for the United States on the Organization of the Legal Profession,  American Journal of Comparative Law, Supplemental Volume (2014) (The Report was presented at the Congress of Comparative Law, Vienna, July 2014).
• Legal Jambalaya: A Commentary on Hohn Cairns’ “Blackstone on the Bayou,” in Re-interpreting Blackstone’s Commentaries: A Seminal Text in National and International Contexts (Wilfred Prest, ed.) (Hart Publishing 2014).
• The Self-Fulfilling Prophecy of Law School Crisis, a book review of Brian Z. Tamanaha, Failing Law Schools, on H-Law. A methodical examination of a recent criticism of U.S. legal education, examining its poor use of history and policy. Apparently the longest review published on H-Net.
• Abraham Fraunces, Legal Analysis, and Legal Scholarship in Abraham Fraunce, Lawyer’s logike (1588) (Lawbook Exchange, 2013). A biographical study of the lawyer to publish the first study of legal analysis in English, with an introduction to its Ramist scholasticism that foreshadowed modern deductive reasoning.
• Academic Freedom: A Prologue: 64 Arkansas Law Review 177 (2012). A symposium essay summarizing the history and divisions of academic freedom that introduces lectures by Robert Post and Frederick Schauer.
• Caperton, Due Process, and Judicial Duty: Recusal Oversight in Patrons’ Cases, 64 Arkansas Law Review 113 (2011). A symposium essay on judicial ethics and the U.S. Constitution.
• What Oaths Meant to the Framers’ Generation: A Preliminary Sketch, 2009 Cardozo L. Rev. de novo 273. A consideration of cultural, personal, and legal expectations by an oath-taker in early federal America.
• Sahib’s Courts and Babu’s Laws: An Introduction to Cowell’s Short Treatise on Hindu Law
  in Herbert Cowell, Short Treatise on Hindu Law (Lawbook Exchange, 2009). A biographical and critical introduction to a classic text of Anglo-Hindu law.
• Teach Justice, 43 Harvard Civil Rights-Civil Liberties Law Review 599 (2008). A contribution to the journal’s symposium on radical proposals for legal education, arguing for the teaching of practical tools of analysis that place a value on justice.
• Intelligence, Law and Democracy: A Hartman Hotz Symposium, 60 Arkansas Law Review 809 (2008) (with Lord Robin Butler, Alberto Mora, and William Howard Taft IV). A discussion of the use of torture and intelligence collection in the balance between law, democracy, and the practical demands of security.
• The Works of John Selden: An Introduction for the American Reader in John Selden, Opera Omnia (Lawbook Exchange 2008). A biographical and critical essay on the life and works of John Selden, prefacing the only edition of his collected works.
• Law, God, Custom, and Duties in Sir William Jones’s Ordinances of Menu: An Introduction for the American Reader in William Jones, Ordinances of Menu (Lawbook Exchange 2007). A biographical essay and comparative exercise in an essential text in native law developed as part of the colonial legal hybrid of India.
• Legal Scholarship and the Courts in the United States (with Michael Hoeflich), 28 Zeitschrift für Neuere Rechtsgeschichte 20 (2006). A comparison of judges who have influenced U.S. law, this article proposes four models of the development of judicial influence.
• Disciplinary Evolution and Scholarship Expansion: Legal History in the United States (with Michael Hoeflich), 54 American Journal of Comparative Law, Supplement, 32 (2006). A review of the scholarship and profession of legal history in the United States in recent years.
• Officials’ Obligations to Children: The perfectionist Response to Libertarians, Conservatives, and Liberals, or When Adult Rights are Not Trumps, 2005 Michigan State Law Review 809 (2005). This symposium article explores arguments over the welfare of the child, focusing on home schooling, and proposes using legal perfectionism to improve arguments over the standards for such regulation. Reprinted as The State Obligation to Children, in The Rights of Children (Lahore 2008).
• The Law of War in the Pre-Dawn Light: Institutions and Obligations in Thucydides’ Peloponnesian War, 43 Columbia Journal of Transnational Law 905 (2005). This extended essay argues against the realist reading of this classic text and illustrates in it the institutional authority for an early form of the law of war comprising both jus in bello and jus ad bellum.
• The Ghost in the Law School: How Duncan Kennedy Caught the Hierarchy Zeitgeist but missed the Point, 55 Journal of Legal Education 94 (2005). A contribution to the 25th anniversary of the publication of Duncan Kennedy’s 1983 polemic, Legal Education and the Reproduction of Hierarchy, arguing that the law requires hierarchies to protect social values, including freedom and equality.
• Guerrilla Parties, The Lieber Code, and the Law of War, in Francis Lieber, Instructions for the Government of Armies of the United States (Lawbook Exchange, 2005). This essay introduces the life of Francis Lieber and the history of the formative document for the modern law of war.
• The Metamorphoses of Reasonable Doubt: How Changes in the Burden of Proof May weaken the Presumption of Innocence. 78 Notre Dame Law Review 1165 (2003). This article applies tools developed in The Moral Obligation of Legal Officials and historical analysis to argue that the current understanding of reasonable doubt is both altered by changes in culture and a diminished protection of the defendant from its original understanding. The Supreme Court of Utah quoted this article as authority when changing jury instructions for the burden of proof in that state. See State v. Reyes, 116 P.3d 305, 312 (Utah, 2005).
• Passion and Nation: War, Crime, and Guilt in the individual and Collective, 78 Notre Dame Law Review 761 (2003). A consideration of George Fletcher’s theory of Romanticism and war, deriving arguments on the limits of the laws of war to apply to military actions against terrorism, with particular scrutiny of the nature of collective guilt and the nature of non-state enemies in war.
• Paul Dudley: Heritage, Observation, and Conscience, 5 Massachusetts Legal History (2000). This 12,000-word commissioned article chronicles the life and work of Paul Dudley FRS (1675-1751) the first law-trained Chief Justice of Massachusetts.
• The Perfectionism of John Rawls, 11 The Canadian Journal of Law and Jurisprudence 383 (1998). This 20,000-word, peer-reviewed article presents the first synthesis of John Rawls’s development of a theory of perfectionism, which Rawls describes throughout his writings. Drawing upon the work of Rawls’s interpreters, the article suggests that Rawls’s theory of justice is a form of Rawls’s theory of perfectionism.
• Freedom to and Freedom From: A Response to Garvey and Arm a cost with a Tinge of Legal Perfectionism, 47 Drake Law Review 65 (1998). This symposium essay considers the sources and content of the morality of rights and the moral duty of lawmakers to maintain certain standards when framing laws, in a solicited response to articles by John Garvey and Barbara Armacost. Among other moves in the article, it locates John Garvey’s theory of rights on a scale with Randy Barnett’s and Lloyd Weinreb’s.
• Casebooks, Commentaries and Curmudgeons: An Introductory History of Law in the Lecture Hall, 78 Iowa Law Review 547-644 (1997). This 55,000-word article chronicles books and lecturing methods in American legal education from Coke’s books to computer instruction. The study examines constants in the historical debates among competing forms of pedagogy as well as purposes, weaknesses, and strengths in historical and current classroom approaches. Reprinted as An Introductory History of Law in the Lecture Hall, in 1 The History of Legal Education in the United States, above.
• An Informal History of How Law Schools Evaluate Students, with a Predictable Emphasis on Law School Exams, 26 UMKC Law Review 657-776 (1997). This symposium article studies the history of student evaluation, the advent of the written graduation and then course examination and the evolution of questions. An appendix reprints examinations from over a century.
• The State Interest in the Good Citizen: Constitutional Balance Between the Citizen and the Perfectionist State, 45 Hastings Law Journal 969 (1994). This article reviews two comparisons of state to private interests – balancing and categorization – via the state police power to regulate morals as seen in Bowers v. Hardwick and Barnes v. Glen Theatre. Applying the requirement of educative coherence of legal perfectionism to measure disputes, neither comparison adequately measures the interests involved. Commentary is given in Vikram D. Amar, Some Questions About Perfectionist Rationality Review, 45 Hastings Law Journal 1029 (1994).
• Another Such Victory?  Term Limits,  Section 2 of the Fourteenth Amendments, ans the Right to Representation (with Mark Killenbeck), 45 Hastings Law Journal 1121-1221 (1994). A review of state- mandated limits on Congressional terms under other standards and under the Fourteenth Amendment, section 2, which might reduce the number of seats in the House of Representatives held by term-limiting states.
• UNESCO ENCYCLOPEDIA OF LIFE SUPPORT SYSTEMS. These major articles (topic articles are to be 15,000 words; subject articles are to be 10,000 words in length) are original scholarly critical essays commissioned for the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization, as the primary educational vehicle for “the achievement of global security through sustainable development.” Information on the project as a whole may be found at http://www.eolss.net/,
  • Ethics, and Justice (Topic Article 6.31.4.)
  • The Rule of Law (Subject Article 6.31.1)
  • Equity and the Law (Subject Article 6.31.4.1)
  • Philosophy of the Common Law (Subject Article 6.30.2)
  • Perspectives on Ethics and Justice (Subject Article 6.31.4.2)

Shorter Work in Collection

• The Jury is Dismissed, in the Library of Liberty, www.libertylawsite.org/2013/04/10/the-jury-is-dismissed
• Legal Education in the United States (with Shallen Carrell), in Jurisprudence at 36 (Bin Liang and Hong Lu, eds.) (China Remnin University Press, 2012).
• Encyclopedia of American Political Legal History (Oxford University Press, 2012) (Donald T. Critchlow and Philip Vandermeer, eds.)
  • Due Process of Law
  • Virginia Statute of Religious Freedom
  • Christopher C. Langdell
• 8 Hand- Holding Tips if Your Child Gets in Trouble With The Law, Forbes.com June 22, 2012 forbes.com (last visited Aug. 9, 2012).
• Legal Lingo You Should Know Before Saying, ‘I Do’ Forbes.com May 21, 2012 forbes.com (last visited Aug. 9, 2012).
• 6 Legal Words That Can Boost or Bust Your Budget, Forbes.com, May 2, 2012 forbes.com (last visited Aug. 9, 2012).
• Some Randomly Selected Entries from the New Edition of The Bouvier Law Dictionary, 2011 Arkansas Law Notes. This note introduced the dictionary to Arkansas lawyers.
• Books for Lawyers f ro m 2010:  A Very Subjective View of the Scribes Prize Nominees, A 2011 Arkansas Law Notes. This note reviews law books published in 2006 in the United States.
• Cheney is Wrong: There is Precedent for the Torture Investigation, Findlaw.com Commentary, Sept. 2, 2009.
• Sharon Keller, Tory Davis, and the Duty of a Death Case Judge, Findlaw.com Commentary, August 24.
• Supreme Court Finds No Right to Post-Conviction DNA Tests, Findlaw.com Commentary, July 8, 2009.
• Supreme Court Bans Judge Buying, Findlaw.com Commentary, June 29, 2009.
• Books for Lawyers from 2007: A Very Subjective View of the Scribes Book-Award Nominees, 2008 Arkansas Law Notes. This note reviews lawbooks published in 2007 in the United States.
• The Encyclopedia of Libertarianism (Cato Institute, 2008)
  • Sir Edward Coke
  • Albert Venn Dicey
• Books for Lawyers from 2006: A Very Subjective View of the Scribes Book-Award Nominees, 2008 Arkansas Law Notes. This note reviews lawbooks published in 2006 in the United States.
• Book Review, (Neil Duxbury Frederick Pollock and the English Juristic Tradition ( Oxford Series in Modern Legal History) Oxford University Press 2004). 48 American Journal of Legal History 110 (2006).
• Birth Pain of the Living Constitution (Review of Bruce Ackerman, The Failure of the Founding Fathers: Jefferson, Marshall, and the Rise of Presidential Democracy) H-Law, for H-net.org, 2006, at http://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.cgi?path=72751160575132
• Method, Art, and Authority: An Introduction to Selden’s Tracts, in John Selden, Law Tracts (1683, Lawbook Exchange, 2006). This essay introduces Selden’s early life and writings.
• Presidential Signing Statements: How to Find Them, How to use them, and What They Might Mean,  2006 Arkansas Law Notes. This note introduces lawyers to the presidential signing statement, demonstrates how to locate them, and explains uses that are likely to be valid and others that are not.
• Books for Lawyers from 2005: A Very Subjective View of the Scribes Book-Award Nominees, 2006 Arkansas Law Notes. This note reviews 40 leading U.S. lawbooks of 2005. Reproduced at www.scribes.org.
• Intelligible, Honest, and Impartial Democracy: Making Laws at the Arkansas Ballot Box, or Why Jim Hannh and Ray Thornton were Right about May v. Daniels, 2005 Arkansas Law Notes. This note examines ballot cases in Arkansas from 1925 to 2004, develops principles for decision of such cases, finds the most recent case problematic, and proposes tools for future use. This note is reprinted in Arkansas Politics: A Reader (Richard Wang & Janine Parry, eds.) (University of Arkansas Press, 2009).
• First Priority? The Neglect of Rural Development by Federal Agencies, and How Arkansas Could Respond, 2004 Arkansas Law Notes. This note considers the effects of the Rural Development Act on the location of federal facilities and argues for greater state participation in that process. Reprinted and enlarged as Steve Sheppard and Allen Mazzanti, Liability of Federal Agencies for Failure to Abide by the Rural Development Act, published by the National Agricultural Law Center.
• Arkansas 1, Texas 0: Sodomy Law reform and the Arkansas Law, 2003 Arkansas Law Notes. This note considers recent state and federal cases overturning some aspects of the statutes forbidding sodomy, and examines the implications for the remaining arenas of potential enforcement of such laws.
• Introduction to the 1826 edition, in The Reports of Sir Edward Coke. (Lawbook Exchange, 2002). A 4,000-word forward to the re-published, authoritative 1826 edition of the thirteen-part Reports.
• The Dictionary of American History (Stanley Kutler, ed., Scribner’s & Sons, 2002). These commissioned articles appear in the premiere reference work of American History.
  • Civil Rights Act of 1957
  • Due Process of Law
  • Enron Scandal
  • Ex Parte McCardle
  • Legal Profession
  • Law of War
  • Marbury v. Madison
  • Martin v. Mott
  • Neutrality
  • Neutral Rights
  • Police Power
  • Regulators
  • Right of Petition
  • U.S. v. E.C. Knight
• The Unpublished Opinion Opinion: How Richard Arnold’s Anastasoff Opinion is Saving America’s Courts from Themselves, 2002 Arkansas Law Notes. This note considers the dispute raised by recent cases on the use of unpublished appellate opinions, arguing that the fundamental principles of the common law require their allowance.
• Encyclopedia of Land Warfare (Stanley Sadler, ed., ABC-CLIO, 2002). Signed articles with emphasis on the legal dimensions of land warfare.
  • The Law of War
  • Nuremburg Doctrine
  • Field Order 100
• Arkansas Tree Trusts: How Private Land Holders May Protect Arboreal Landmarks Through Civic Donations, 2001 Arkansas Law Notes. This note analyzes the Arkansas public trust statute and proposes the adoption of municipal ordinances to protect trees from destruction in Arkansas municipalities.
• Annotated Glossary in Roscoe Pound, The Ideal Element in La w (Liberty Fund, 2002). These annotations make accessible Dean Pound’s specialized terms of common law and Roman law, emphasizing their context in his thought.
• Encyclopedia of the Great Depression and the New Deal (James Ciment, ed.,) (M.E. Sharpe, 2001). Signed articles of 2,000 to 6,000 words each, emphasizing the legal and cultural influence of the subjects.
  • The Supreme Court
  • Franklin Roosevelt
  • The Second New Deal
• Makers of Western Culture, 1800-1914: A Biographical Dictionary of Literary Influences (Derek Blakeley and John Powell, editors) (Greenwood Press, 2001). Two signed articles with an emphasis on archival resources available to the modern researcher.
  • James Mill
  • David Ricardo
• Lives of Not-Quite Saints, Book Review of Harold M. Hyman, Craftsmanship and Character: A History of the Vinson & Elkins Law Firm of Houston, 1917-1997. H-Law reviews at http://www.h-net.msu.edu/reviews/.
• The Role of the Law Professor in the High Tech Law School,  1 Journal of Law School Computing 55 (1999). This essay argues for a more substantive approach to teaching professional character as the most principled basis for retaining large law faculties in lieu of supported computer-based distance learning. This article is commented upon in Stephen M. Johnson, Legal Education in the Digital Age, 1 Wisconsin Law Review 85 (2000).
• Legal Education in the Magill Legal Guide (Timothy Hall, editor) (Salem Press, 1999). A signed article considering the history and missions of legal education in the United States.
• The Canon and the Current in the Jurisprudence Course, The Law Teacher 5 (October, 1996). Remarks at the 1995 AALS Workshop on Jurisprudence, the article presents both a rationale for a general jurisprudence survey based on a preparation for the practice of law and an innovative methodology for instructing such a course.
• Other published writings include the prefaces of five volumes of religious meditations by the Reverend Bill Sykes, the chaplain of University College, Oxford, as well as over fifty classical music reviews in The Clarion Ledger, the Gannet-owned state-wide daily newspaper of record in Mississippi.

Biography

Michael Smith, J.D., researches and teaches in the areas of criminal law and criminal procedure. His research also includes issues relating to constitutional law, including constitutional interpretation, originalism and state constitutional law. His scholarship has appeared in the Brooklyn Law Review, Pepperdine Law Review, Pennsylvania State Law Review and the Harvard Journal on Legislation.

Before joining the faculty of St. Mary’s University School of Law, Smith was a temporary faculty member at the University of Idaho College of Law, where he taught courses in constitutional law, criminal procedure and First Amendment law. Prior to entering academia, Smith practiced for over eight years–primarily as a civil litigation attorney. Smith handled numerous high-profile cases on a wide variety of subject matters, including environmental law, entertainment law, civil rights litigation, professional liability, and commercial litigation. Smith also worked as a fellow with the Orange County District Attorney’s Office in Orange County, California, where he tried multiple cases before juries and was involved in the preliminary stages of misdemeanor and felony cases.

Smith received his J.D. from the UCLA School of Law, and a B.S. in political science and a B.A. in philosophy from the University of Iowa. He is admitted to practice law in California. In his spare time, Smith enjoys hiking, exploring used book shops, and attending classical music concerts.

Articles in Periodical

• Pluralism in State Constitutional Law, 59 Georgia L. Rev. (Forthcoming 2025)
• Missouri’s Law of Constitutional Interpretation, 93 UMKC L. Rev. (Forthcoming 2025)
• Originalism in the Year Three Thousand, 43 Quinnipiac L. Rev. (Forthcoming 2025)
• “Do Not Read”, 70 South Dakota L. Rev. (Forthcoming 2025)
•  Law and Technological Innovations: Three Reasons to Pause, 12 Belmont L. Rev. (Forthcoming 2025)
• Papering Justices, 50 B.Y.U. L. Rev. (Forthcoming 2025)
• Is Originalism Bullshit?, 28 Lewis & Clark L. Rev. (Forthcoming 2025)
• History as Precedent: Common Law Reasoning in Historical Investigation,27 U. Pa. J. Con. L. (Forthcoming 2025)
• Social Media Regulation in the Wake of 303 Creative v. Elenis, 17 St. Thomas J.L. & Pub. Pol’y (Forthcoming 2024)
• Generative AI in the Attorney-Client Relationship: An Exercise in Critical Revision and Client Management, 27 S.M.U. Sci. & Tech. Rev. (Forthcoming 2024)
• State Constitutional Prohibitions of Slavery and Involuntary Servitude, 99 Wash. L. Rev. 523 (2024)
• Moral Panic and the First Amendment, 72 Buffalo L. Rev. __ (Forthcoming 2024)
• Library Crime, 71 Drake L. Rev. 65  (2024)
• Constitutional Crimes, 99 N.D. L. Rev. 379 (2024)
• Public Accommodations Laws, Free Speech Challenges, and Limiting Principles in the Wake of 303 Creative, 84La. L. Rev. 565 (2024)
• Language Models, Plagiarism, and Legal Writing, 22 U.N.H. L. Rev. 361 (2024)
• Constitutional Interpretation and Zombie Provisions, 40 Ga. St. U. L. Rev. 603 (2024)
• Disingenuous Interpretation, 93 Miss. L. J. 349 (2023)
• Originalism and the Meaning of “Twenty Dollars”, 56 Creighton L. Rev.  499 (2023)
• Idaho’s Law of Seduction, 59 Idaho L. Rev.  291 (2023)
• Originalism, Common Good Constitutionalism, and Transparency, 45 Harv. J.L. & Pub. Pol’y 1217 (2023)
• Idaho’s Law of Constitutional Interpretation: Lessons From Planned Parenthood Great Northwest v. State, 59 Idaho L. Rev. __ 59 Idaho L. Rev. 411 (2023)
• Historical Tradition: A Vague, Overconfident, and Malleable Approach to Constitutional Law, 88 BROOKLYN L. REV. 797 (2023)
• Abandoning Original Meaning, 86 ALBANY L. REV. 43 (2023)
• The Present Public Meaning Approach to Constitutional Interpretation, 89 TENNESSEE L. REV. 885 (2023)
• Countermajoritarian Criminal Law 43 PACE L. REV. 54 (2023)
• Using Bruen to Overturn New York Times v. Sullivan, 2022 PEPPERDINE L. REV. 80 (2023) (coauthored with Alexander Hiland)
• Policy’s Place in Pedestrian Infrastructure, 127 DICKINSON L. REV. 587 (2023) (Reviewing Angie Schmitt, Right of Way: Race, Class, and the Silent Epidemic of Pedestrian Deaths in America (Island Press 2020))
• Originalism’s Implementation Problem, 30 WILLIAM & MARY BILL OF RIGHTS J. 1063 (2022) (coauthored with Alexander Hiland)
• The Third Amendment in 2020, 52 STETSON L. REV. 55 (2022)
• Distracted Walking, 126 PENN STATE L. REV. 707 (2022)
• Originalism and the Inseparability of Decision Procedures From Interpretive Standards, 58 CAL. WEST. L. REV. 273 (2022)
• The Citation of Unpublished Cases in the Wake of COVID-19, 25 CHAPMAN L. REV. 97 (2022)
• Trial by Combat in the Modern World, 27 BARRY L. REV. 53 (2022)
• Shooting Fish, 12 KY. J. EQUINE, AGRIC. & NAT. RESOURCES L. 187 (2020)
• Prior Sexual Misconduct Evidence in State Courts: Constitutional and Common Law Challenges, 52 AM. CRIM. L. REV. 321 (2015)
• Regulating Law Enforcement’s Use of Drones: The Need for State Legislation, 53 HARVARD J. ON LEGIS. 423 (2015)
• Arbitration by Combat, 20 MEDIA & ARTS L. REV. 164 (2015) (coauthored with Raj Shah)
• The Second Amendment Implications of Regulating 3D Printed Firearms, 31 SYRACUSE J. SCI. & TECH. L. 60 (2014-2015)
• Search Engine Liability for Autocomplete Defamation: Combating the Power of Suggestion, 2013 J. L., TECH. & POL. 313 (2013)
• Second Amendment Challenges to Student Housing Firearms Bans: The Strength of the Home Analogy, 60 UCLA L. REV. 1046 (2013) (comment)
• Prosecuting the Undead: Federal Criminal Law in a World of Zombies, 61 UCLA L. REV. DISCOURSE 44 (2013)

Presentations

• Presenter: “Pluralism in State Constitutional Law,” Southeastern Association of Law Schools 2024 Annual Conference (July 22, 2024)
• Speaker: “The Use and Abuse of History in Constitutional Interpretation” and “Papering Justices,” Virgin Islands Bar Association 2024 Midyear Meeting & CLE Program (June 28, 2024)
• Presenter: “Pluralism in State Constitutional Law,” 2024 Chicago State Court Roundtable (Northwestern University School of Law) (April 19, 2024)
• Presenter: “A Holistic Approach to Interpreting State Constitutional Punishment Provisions,” St. Mary’s University School of Law Junior Criminal Law Scholars Roundtable (March 22, 2024)
• Panelist: “Hiring Market Panel for VAPs,” Northeastern University School of Law Junior Scholars Conference (March 2, 2024)
• Presenter: “History as Precedent: Common Law Reasoning in Historical Investigation,” Northeastern University School of Law Junior Scholars Conference (March 1, 2024)
• Presenter: “Library Crime,” Northeastern University School of Law Junior Scholars Conference (March 1, 2024)
• Presenter: “History as Precedent: Common Law Reasoning in Historical Investigation,” 2024 National Conference of Constitutional Law Scholars (February 24, 2024)
• Presenter: “State Constitutional Prohibitions of Slavery and Involuntary Servitude,” 2024 ACS Constitutional Law Scholars Forum (February 16, 2024)
• Presenter: “Is Originalism Bullshit?” ClassCrits XIV (February 9, 2024)
• Panelist: “Looking 50 Years Into the Future, What Will Legal Education Look Like?” University of New Hampshire Law Review – 2024 Symposium: Risk Taking & Reform in Legal Education (January 26, 2024)
• Presenter: “Is Originalism Bullshit?” Texas Junior Scholars Faculty Workshop (Southern Methodist University School of Law) (November 30, 2023)
• Panelist: “The ‘Marketplace of Ideas:’ An Apt Metaphor or a Mistake?” National Communication Association – 2023 Annual Convention (November 18, 2023)
• Presenter: “Social Media Regulation in the Wake of 303 Creative,” University of St. Thomas Journal of Law and Public Policy – Fall 2023 Symposium, “Free Speech and the United States Constitution” (November 17, 2023)
• Presenter: “Constitutional Crimes,” Constitutional Law Colloquium (Loyola University Chicago School of Law) (November 10, 2023)
• Presenter, “Language Models, Plagiarism, and Legal Writing”, Legal Education’s Next Generation: Embracing Online, ChatGPT, and Technology in Pedagogy and Practice (St. Mary’s University School of Law) (September 21, 2023)
• Presenter, “Disingenuous Interpretation”, University of Idaho College of Law Faculty Colloquium (2023)
• Presenter, “Disingenuous Interpretation”, Rutgers Law School Faculty Colloquium (2023)
• Presenter, “Disingenuous Interpretation”, Constitutional Law Colloquium (Loyola University Chicago School of Law) (2022)
• Panelist, “Originalism and Common Good Constitutionalism,” Harvard Journal of Law and Public Policy Symposium (2022)

Media Highlights

• Before Police Deploy AI, San Antonio Residents Need Details, San Antonio Express-News (August 31, 2024)
• Avoid Harmful Bail Reform in Response to Recent Shootings, San Antonio Express-News, (September 15, 2023)
• Idaho Supreme Court’s Abortion Ruling Isn’t Originalist. It’s Based Only On Tradition, Idaho Statesman (Jan. 11, 2023)
• Common Good Constitutionalism Could Influence Judicial Practice, Bloomberg Law (Dec. 7, 2022)
• How California’s NDA Restrictions Cause More Harm Than Good for Survivors, The Hollywood Reporter (March 2020) (coauthored with Jill Basinger)

Biography

After graduating from St. Mary’s School of Law, Professor Stevens worked for the law offices of Mark Stevens as a criminal defense attorney. She volunteered as a pro bono attorney to represent death row inmates in conjunction with the Texas Death Penalty Education and Resource Center.

Professor Stevens also taught constitutional law as an adjunct professor for Trinity University. She joined the Criminal Justice Clinic as Supervising Attorney in 1996 after serving in the clinic’s mentor program during the previous year.

Professor Stevens also serves as the director of the Summer Skills Enhancement Program, an intensive program designed to help prospective students develop the skills necessary to succeed in law school.

• Texas Best Lawyers, 2019
• San Antonio Scene Top DUI/DWI Lawyer, 2019
• San Antonio’s Top 30 Criminal Defense Lawyers, 2015
• Fellow of the Texas Bar Foundation, 2012
• Texas Top Rated Lawyer, 2012
• Distinguished Faculty Award, 2009-2010
• Best Lawyers in America, 2005 to present
• Best Lawyers in San Antonio, 2004 to present
• Kimberly E. Young Defender of the Year Award 2006
• Kimberly E. Young Defender of the Year Award 2004
• Martindale-Hubbell AV rating, ongoing

Sampson, Tindall, and England’s Texas Family Code Annotated, Title Three Updates from 2005 to Present.

Biography

Sigrid Vendrell-Polanco, J.D., is a Visiting Assistant Professor at St. Mary’s University School of Law who specializes in Territorial Law, Criminal Law and Negotiations.

Vendrell-Polanco joined St. Mary’s University School of Law in August 2017 as a Law Success Instructor, later becoming Service Professor of Law. As a Visiting Professor of Law, Vendrell-Polanco’s legal scholarship focuses on territorial law, examining legal issues regarding the political status of Puerto Rico and other U.S. territories. In her scholarship, she examines the constitutional history of American territorial expansion and the ramifications of the application of the U.S. Constitution in the territories, including citizenship and nationhood. Her forthcoming research will be published in the Brooklyn Law Review Journal in early Winter 2024.

Before transitioning to doctrinal faculty, Vendrell-Polanco taught courses as law faculty within the Law Success Program for over 6 years. She taught Legal Methods, Legal Communications, Analysis and Professionalism and Bar Preparation for Credit. Vendrell-Polanco also directed the supplemental bar preparation program (Raise the Bar) from 2018 to 2023, assisting graduates to prepare for the Texas Bar Exam.

Vendrell-Polanco graduated with honors from Texas A&M University with an undergraduate degree in International Studies and earned her law degree from California Western School of Law in 2014 with an Academic Excellence Award. Vendrell-Polanco has had a variety of professional experiences, including criminal defense in Southern California and representing low-income employees with numerous employment claims such as wage and hour violations, discrimination, harassment and wrongful termination claims.

During law school, Vendrell-Polanco worked at the California Western School of Law Library and worked with organizations such as California Innocence Project, Public Interest Law Foundation, Community Law Project Clinic, and clerked for the United States Attorney’s Office in the Southern District of California Criminal Enterprise Section.

• Pro Bono/Public Service Honors Society, California Western School of Law, 2015
• Phi Alpha Delta Law Fraternity

Articles:

• Puerto Rican Presidential Voting Rights: Why Precedent Should be Overturned, and Other Options for Suffrage, 89 Brook. L. Rev. (2024) (forthcoming).

Presentations

• “Building Communities for the Bar Exam”, Tenth Annual Association of Academic Support Educators Conference, May 2022 Honors and Awards: Phi Alpha Delta Law Fraternity

Biography

Teeter practiced commercial litigation in Honolulu and labor and employment law in Boston. His teaching experience includes working for Oklahoma City University School of Law in 1988 and St. Mary’s University since 1991. Teeter has published numerous articles on labor law and a series of essays on how Buddhist insights can enhance the study, practice and teaching of law.

Teeter has taught many different subjects at St. Mary’s and has lectured at the summer programs in Austria and China. He takes pride in being accessible to his students and in making a meaningful difference in their lives through his classes. Teeter has received a number of awards for pedagogical excellence.

• Most Influential Professor at St. Mary’s in Texas Lawyer’s Survey of Law Schools (August 18, 2008 edition)
• Phi Delta Phi Most Outstanding 1L Professor, 2003
• Student Bar Association Professor of the Year, 2001
• Student Bar Association Professor of the Year, 2000
• Alumni Association Distinguished Faculty Award for Excellence in Teaching, 1999
• Phi Delta Phi Outstanding Faculty Member, 1993
• Phi Beta Kappa, 1982
• Recipient, St. Mary’s University Alumni Association Distinguished Faculty Award

Articles in a Periodical

• Integrity under Fire: The Wisdom of General U.S. Grant and Advice for the Neophyte Lawyer, 41 J. Legal Prof. 81 (2016)
• Perils and Pontifications:  Reflections on the Failures and Joys of a Law Teacher, 37 Southern Illinois University Law Journal 53 (2012).
• Eastern Visions, Western Voices: A Sermon on Love in the Valley of Law, 53 Cleveland State Law Review 429 (2005-06).
• Dueling Democracies:  Protecting Labor Representation Elections from Governmental Interference, 106 West Virginia Law Review 121 (2003).
• Teaching Tips from the Lotus Sutra, 77 Tulane Law Review 443 (2002).
• The Daishonin’s Path: Applying Nichiren’s Buddhist Principles to American Legal Education, 30 McGeorge Law Review 271 (1999).
• Representation Elections, Anti-Semitism and the National Labor Relations Board, 5 Virginia Journal of Social Policy and the Law 341 (1998) (with Christopher Burnett).
• Into the Thicket: Pursuing Moral and Political Visions in Labor Law, 46 Journal of Legal Education 252 (1996).
• Fair Notice: Assuring Victims of Unfair Labor Practices That Their Rights Will Be Respected, 63 University of Missouri-Kansas City Law Review 1 (1994).
• Between the Buttons: Employer Distribution of Antiunion Insignia, 24 New Mexico Law Review 69 (1994).
• Banning the Buttons: Employer Interference with the Right to Wear Union Insignia in the Workplace, 80 Kentucky Law Journal 377 (1991-92).
• Inadvisable Advice: Limits on Employers’ Counseling of Employees with Regard to Unfair Labor Practice Proceedings, 12 Industrial Relations Law Journal 292 (1990).
• Keeping the Faith: The Problem of Apparent Bias in Labor Representation Elections, 58 University of Cincinnati Law Review 909 (1990).

Shorter Works in Collections

• Book Review, Sam Roberts, The Brother: The Untold Story of Atomic Spy David Greenglass (2001), 13 Bimonthly Review of Law Books 6 (Sept.-Oct. 2002).
• Book Review, Lawrence Schiller, Into the Mirror: The Life of Master Spy Robert P. Hanssen (2002), 13 Bimonthly Review of Law Books 7 (Sept.-Oct. 2002).
• Book Review, Tammy Bruce, The New Thought Police: Inside the Left’s Assault on Free Speech and Free Minds (2001), 13 Bimonthly Review of Law Books 15 (July-Aug. 2002).
• Book Review, Thomas H. Koenig and Michael L. Rustad, In Defense of Tort Law (2001), 13 Bimonthly Review of Law Books 24 (March-April 2002).
• Book Review, John Grisham, The Brethren (2000), 11 Bimonthly Review of Law Books 14 (May-June 2000).
• Book Review, Alan M. Dershowitz, Just Revenge (1999), 11 Bimonthly Review of Law Books 9 (Jan.-Feb. 2000).
• Book Review, Derrick Bell, Afrolantica Legacies (1998), 10 Bimonthly Review of Law Books 2 (Jan.-Feb. 1999).
• Book Review, Dominick Dunne, Another City, Not My Own (1997), 9 Bimonthly Review of Law Books 13 ( March-April 1998).
• Book Review, Vincent R. Johnson and Alan Gunn, Studies in American Tort Law (1994), 6 Bimonthly Review of Law Books 12 (July-Aug. 1995).
• Book Review, Richard A. Epstein, Cases and Materials on Torts (6th ed. 1995), 6 Bimonthly Review of Law Books 13 (July-Aug. 1995).
• Book Review,  Richard A. Epstein, Cases and Materials on Torts (5th ed.1990), 1 Bimonthly Review of Law Books 1 (Sept.-Oct. 1990).

Biography

Greg Zlotnick serves as at Visiting Clinical Assistant Professor and Supervising Attorney for the Housing Rights Project at the Center for Legal and Social Justice at St. Mary’s University School of Law.  There, he teaches in the Consumer Protection Clinic and oversees student and staff efforts to provide eviction defense and housing stability to San Antonio-area residents.  This includes the operations of the St. Mary’s Housing Hotline; representation in eviction hearings and appeals; and the delivery of public education presentations and materials.  In the classroom, Greg also teaches a course on public interest lawyering.

Prior to his appointment as a visiting clinical faculty member, Greg served as the director and supervisor of Pro Bono Programs at the St. Mary’s University School of Law’s Center for Legal and Social Justice from August 2014-September 2022.  

In that role, Greg facilitated the implementation of the community service graduation requirement for JD students at St. Mary’s Law. Through the development of multiple community-centered collaborations, the Pro Bono Program connected law student volunteers with opportunities to meet the law-related needs of the San Antonio community. In 2020, Greg received the Pro Bono Coordinator Award from the State Bar of Texas. 

Beyond St. Mary’s Law, Greg is a board member of the Andy Mireles Charitable Foundation, the San Antonio Legal Services Association, and the South Alamo Regional Alliance for the Homeless. 

As a pro bono attorney, Greg has served as clemency counsel with the ABA’s Death Penalty Representation Project and has volunteered with the State Bar of Texas’s Texas Legal Answers website. 

Prior to joining St. Mary’s, Greg worked in private practice in San Antonio. Prior to moving to San Antonio, Greg was a trial attorney and law clerk with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development in Fort Worth. He received his undergraduate and law degrees from Georgetown University.

• Pro Bono Coordinator Award, State Bar of Texas, 2020

Articles in a Periodical

• Picking the Lock: A Proposal for a Standard Fee Waiver for Texas Identifying Documents, 22 The Scholar: St. Mary’s Law Review on Minority Issues 345-381 (2020).
• “Halt any proceedings in county that would lead to evictions,” San Antonio Express-News, July 6, 2020.
• “Juan Castillo worthy of clemency by Texas board.” San Antonio Express-News, May 9, 2018.
• “Marian Reflection,” Justice Jottings, January 2018 (remarks prepared for Our Lady of Guadalupe Mass, December 12, 2017).
• “One Day, All Americans . . .”: Considering a TFA-Style Lawyer Corps, 23 GEO. J. LEGAL ETHICS 971 (2010).

Media Highlights

• Duran, Sarah. “CDC Moratorium Saves Texas Tenant in Financial Bind,” Spectrum News 1.
• Faderewski, Adam. “Texas Legal Answers Celebrates First Anniversary.”
• Poppe, Ryan. “San Antonio Man Sentenced to Die Requests Clemency.”
• The Source, Texas Public Radio. “Teen Court’ Could Help Stymie School-to-Prison Pipeline.”