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Alexandra Klein

Assistant Professor of Law | Englehardt Research Fellow

 

Contact Information

Education

  • J.D.,(summa cum laude), Washington and Lee University School of Law 2016
  • B.F.A.,(cum laude), Virginia Commonwealth University, 2007

License to Practice

  • Virginia

Specialties and Courses

  • Capital Punishment
  • Criminal Law
  • Criminal Procedure
  • Constitutional Law

Biography

Professor Alexandra Klein researches and teaches in the area of criminal law, criminal procedure, and the death penalty. Her scholarship has appeared in or is forthcoming in the Ohio State Law Journal, the Florida Law Review, and the Washington & Lee Law Review.

Before joining the faculty of St. Mary’s School of Law, Klein was a Visiting Assistant Professor at Washington & Lee University School of Law. Klein served as a judicial law clerk to the Honorable Sally D. Adkins of the Maryland Court of Appeals and the Honorable Danny J. Boggs of the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. Klein received her J.D. summa cum laude, from Washington & Lee University School of Law, where she graduated Order of the Coif and was inducted into Phi Delta Phi and Omicron Delta Kappa.

Klein served in the United States Peace Corps in the Republic of Moldova from 2008 to 2010. She received her B.F.A. cum laude from Virginia Commonwealth University. She is admitted to practice law in the Commonwealth of Virginia.

Publications

Articles in a Periodical

  • “Only to Have a Say in the Way He Dies”: Bodily Autonomy and Methods of Execution, 99 U. DET. MERCY L. REV. 323 (2022)
  • When Police Volunteer to Kill, 74 FLA. L. REV. 205 (2022)
  • The Beginning of the End: Abolishing Capital Punishment in Virginia, 77 WASH & LEE L. REV. ONLINE 375 (2021)
  • Meaningless Guarantees: Comment on Mitch McCloy’s “Blind Justice: Virginia’s Jury Sentencing Scheme and Impermissible Burdens on a Defendant’s Right to a Jury Trial, 78 WASH. & LEE L. REV. 585 (2021)
  • Nondelegating Death, 81 OHIO STATE L.J. 923 (2020)
  • A Few Words for the Firing Squad, THE NATION (March 24, 2021) (co-authored with Brandon Hasbrouck), https://www.thenation.com/article/society/south-carolina-firing-squad/
  • A Tribute to Professor David Bruck, 78 WASH & LEE L. REV. 601, 625 (2021)
  • A Tribute to Professor Doug Rendleman, 78 WASH. & LEE L. REV. 3, 26 (2021)

Presentations

  • Presenter, Only to Have a Say in the Way He Dies: Bodily Autonomy and Methods of Execution, Detroit Mercy Law Review Symposium, Governing Bodies: Bodily Autonomy and the Law (March 2022)
  • Moderator, Contributions and Impact of VC3, Washington & Lee Journal of Civil Rights and Social Justice Symposium, Revoking Irrevocable Punishment (Feb. 2022)
  • Moderator, Race and Capital Punishment, Washington & Lee Journal of Civil Rights and Social Justice Symposium, Revoking Irrevocable Punishment (Feb. 2022)
  • Presenter, The Irrelevance of Pain, 2021 Junior Faculty Forum, University of Richmond School of Law (September 2021)
  • Moderator, Racial Justice, 8th Annual Lara D. Gass Women in the Law Symposium, W&L Law Women Law Students Organization, Washington & Lee (September 2021)
  • Presenter, United States v. Zubaydah, Supreme Court Preview, Washington & Lee University School of Law (September 2021)
  • Discussant, The Irrelevance of Pain, New Scholars Workshop, Your Next Article, SEALS Annual Meeting (July 2021)
  • Presenter, When Police Volunteer to Kill, New Scholars Workshop, Criminal Law & Criminal Justice, SEALS Annual Meeting (July 2021)
  • Guest, Clerking, University of Akron School of Law Course: Judicial Drafting (June 2021)
  • Presenter, When Police Volunteer to Kill, Punishment and Prison Panel, 2021 Law & Society Annual Meeting, Virtual (May 2021)
  • Presenter, When Police Volunteer to Kill, 2020 ABA–AALS–Academy for Justice Criminal Justice Roundtable (November 2020)
  • Moderator, Journal of Civil Rights & Social Justice Symposium: Race and the Pandemic, Washington & Lee University School of Law (October 2020)
    • Moderator: Civil Rights & Civil Liberties Panel
    • Moderator: Keynote Q&A with Professor Justin Hansford
  • Panelist, NOTORIOUS: The Legacy of RBG, Washington & Lee University School of Law (October 2020)
  • Presenter, Meaningless Guarantees: Comment on Mitch McCloy’s “Blind Justice: Virginia’s Jury Sentencing Scheme and Impermissible Burdens on a Defendant’s Right to a Jury Trial, 2020 Student Notes Colloquium, Washington & Lee University School of Law (October 2020)
  • Invited Speaker, Dissents, Protests, and Surveillance: The First Amendment and the Right to Expression, Constitution Day, Dabney Lancaster Community College (September 2020)
  • Presenter, Jones v. Mississippi, Supreme Court Preview, Washington & Lee University School of Law (September 2020)
  • Guest Lecturer: Law, Order, and the Constitution in the Time of a Pandemic, Washington & Lee University Course: Perspectives on the Pandemic (Undergraduate Fall Term 2020) (co-taught with Dr. Mark Rush)
  • Presenter, Nondelegating Death, Carceral Politics Panel, 2020 Law & Society Annual Meeting, Virtual (May 2020)
  • Presenter, Nondelegating Death, 2020 American Constitutional Society Constitutional Law Scholars Forum, Barry University School of Law (February 2020)
  • Presenter, Nondelegating Death, 2019 Junior Faculty Forum, University of Richmond School of Law (May 2019)