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Michael S. Ariens

Aloysius A. Leopold Professor of Law

 

Contact Information

Education

  • LL.M., Harvard University, 1987
  • J.D., Marquette University, 1982
  • B.A., St. Norbert College, 1979

License to Practice

  • District of Columbia
  • Wisconsin

Specialties and Courses

  • American Legal History
  • Church and state
  • Constitutional Law
  • Evidence
  • Professional Responsibility

Biography

After graduating law school, Ariens worked as a law clerk at the Wisconsin Court of Appeals. He then worked as an associate in the Washington, D.C. office of Holland & Knight for three years. He was a civil litigator for firm clients in state and federal courts in the District of Columbia, Maryland, and Virginia, in both trial and appellate courts.

In addition to teaching at St. Mary’s, he has served as a part-time visiting professor at Southern Methodist University, a visiting professor at Catholic University Columbus School of Law, and a visiting professor at the University of Innsbruck, Austria.

He is the author of five books. His book Lone Star Law: A Legal History of Texas received two awards. He is also the author of fifty law review articles, essays, and other scholarly works, and a number of book reviews.

Publications

Books

  • The Lawyer’s Conscience: A History of American Lawyer Ethics (University Press of Kansas, 2022)
  • American Constitutional Law and History (2d ed., Carolina Academic Press, 2016)
  • American Constitutional Law and History (Carolina Academic Press, 2012)
  • Lone Star Law: A Legal History of Texas (Texas Tech University Press, 2011)
  • Law School: Getting In, Getting Out, and Getting On (Carolina Academic Press, 2010)
  • Religious Liberty in a Pluralistic Society (2d ed., 2002) (with Destro)
  • Religious Liberty in a Pluralistic Society (1996) (with Destro)

Articles in a Periodical

Book Chapters and Entries

  • Church and State in Ohio, 1785-1833, in DISESTABLISHMENT AND RELIGIOUS DISSENT: CHURCH-STATE RELATIONS IN THE NEW AMERICAN STATES, 1776-1833, at 249-271 (Carl H. Esbeck & Jonathan Den Hartog eds., 2019)
  • Religion and Roman Catholicism in American Legal History, in American Law from a Catholic Perspective: Through a Clearer Lens 1 (Ronald J. Rychlak ed., Rowman & Littlefield 2015)
  • Teaching Legal History Through Storytelling, in Teaching Legal History: Comparative Perspectives 32 (Robert M. Jarvis ed., Wildy, Simmonds & Hill 2014)
  • Simon Greenleaf, in Yale Biographical Dictionary of American Law 234 (Roger K. Newman ed., 2009)
  • Charles T. McCormick, in Yale Biographical Dictionary of American Law 370 (Roger K. Newman ed., 2009)
  • Edmund M. Morgan, Jr., in Yale Biographical Dictionary of American Law 389 (Roger K. Newman ed., 2009)
  • United States v. Cruikshank, in Encyclopedia of the Supreme Court of the United States (Gale Publishing 2008)
  • Religion in the 19th Century—Bible Wars, in Encyclopedia of American Civil Liberties (2006)
  • Church and State in the United States, 1900-2001, in New Catholic Encyclopedia (2003)
  • Religion in the Courtroom, in Encyclopedia of Religious Freedom (2003)
  • Forms of Legal Practice, in The Oxford Companion to American Law (Oxford University Press 2002)
  • Sole Practitioners, in The Oxford Companion to American Law (Oxford University Press 2002)
  • Paralegal and Legal Secretary, in The Oxford Companion to American Law (Oxford University Press 2002)
  • Defining ‘Church’ in American Law, in Church Autonomy: A Comparative Survey (Gerhard Robbers ed., 2001)
  • On ‘Doctrine’ and the Establishment Clause, in Vouchers for School Choice: Challenge or Opportunity? An American Jewish Reappraisal (Marshall J. Breger & David M. Gordis eds., 1998)

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