Biography

Adam MacLeod is Professor of Law and Katherine A. Ryan Chair for Global and International Law at the St. Mary’s University School of Law.

He is a Senior Research Fellow of the Center for Religion, Culture and Democracy, and he lectures in the James Madison Program’s summer seminar on the Moral Foundations of Law at Princeton University. MacLeod has been a fellow at Princeton University and George Mason University, lecturer in the Alabama Judicial College, special Deputy Attorney General of Alabama, and an Auxiliary advisor to active duty and auxiliary commands in the U.S. Coast Guard. Before his academic career, he practiced law in Boston and served as law clerk to Chief Justice Christopher Armstrong and Justice Benjamin Kaplan of the Massachusetts Appeals Court and then-Chief Judge Lewis T. Babcock of the United States District Court for the District of Colorado.

MacLeod is the author of four books, dozens of book chapters and scholarly articles, and more than one hundred essays and book reviews. His published writings include Property and Practical Reason (Cambridge University Press 2015), peer-reviewed articles in journals such as the Modern Law Review and Journal of Law & Religion, and law review articles in journals such as the Notre Dame Law Review and Harvard Journal of Law & Public Policy. He received his B.A. summa cum laude from Gordon College and his J.D. magna cum laude from the University of Notre Dame.

Books

• With George C. Christie and Patrick H. Martin, Jurisprudence: Text and Readings on the Philosophy of Law (4th ed., West Academic Publishing 2020)
• The Age of Selfies: Reasoning About Right(s) When the Stakes Are Personal (Rowman & Littlefield 2020)
• With Robert L. McFarland, Foundations of Law (Carolina Academic Press 2017)
• Property and Practical Reason (Cambridge University Press 2015)

Book Chapters

• To Caesar (Only) What is Caesar’s, in SOCIAL CONSERVATISM FOR THE COMMON GOOD: A PROTESTANT ENGAGEMENT WITH ROBERT P. GEORGE (Andrew Walker, ed., Crossway 2022)
• The Boundaries of Dominion, in CHRISTIANITY AND PRIVATE LAW (Robert Cochran and Michael Moreland, eds., Routledge 2020)
• The Substantial Burden Test in RLUIPA, in ZONING AND PLANNING LAW HANDBOOK (Patricia E. Salkin, ed., West Publishing 2012)

Academic Articles

• A Workable Common-Law Baseline for Regulatory Takings, __ Journal of Law, Economics, and Policy __ (2025) (symposium issue)
• Foundations of the Right of Charitable Uses, __ Mississippi Law Journal __ (2025) (selected for M.L.J. Peer Review Forum)
• Children and Chairs, Artifacts and Reality, 74 Catholic University Law Review __ (2024) (invited for symposium issue)
• The First Amendment, Discrimination, and Public Accommodations at Common Law, 112 Kentucky Law Journal 209 (2024)
• Why Equity Follows the Law, 13 Laws 3 (2024) (invited lead article for peer-reviewed symposium issue)
• Is, Ought, and the Limited Competence of Experts, Journal of Religion, Culture and Democracy (December 6, 2023) (invited for peer-reviewed symposium issue)
• Vested Patents and Equal Justice, 72 Catholic University Law Review 359 (2023)
• Opus as the Core of Property, 9 Texas A&M Journal of Property Law 637 (2023) (invited for symposium issue)
• The Bare Necessity of Natural Law, 2023 Journal of Christian Legal Thought 13 (2023) (invited)
• What Makes Property Liberal?, 84 Modern Law Review 1427 (2021)
• Cyber Trespass and Property Concepts, 10 IP Theory 4 (2021)
• Group Ownership and the Ends of Legal Artifacts, 13 Faulkner Law Review 1 (2021) (invited lead article in symposium issue)
• Public Rights After Oil States Energy, 95 Notre Dame Law Review 1281 (2020)
• Review of Great Christian Jurists in English History, 34 Journal of Law and Religion 123 (2019)
• Patent Infringement as Trespass, 69 Alabama Law Review 723 (2018)
• Of Brutal Murder and Transcendental Sovereignty: The Meaning of Vested Private Rights, 41 Harvard Journal of Law & Public Policy 253 (2018)
• Metaphysical Right and Practical Obligations, 48 University of Memphis Law Review 431 (2017)
• Tempering Civil Rights Conflicts: Common Law for the Moral Marketplace, 2016 Michigan State Law Review 643
• Strategic and Tactical Totalization in the Totalitarian Epoch, 5 British Journal of American Legal Studies 57 (2016)
• Rights, Privileges, and the Future of Marriage Law, 28 Regent University Law Review 71 (2015) (invited)
• Bridging the Gaps in Property Theory, 77 Modern Law Review 1009 (2014)
• Universities as Constitutional Lawmakers, 17 University of Pennsylvania Journal of Constitutional Law Online 1 (2014)
• Private Rights and Duties, 6 Faulkner Law Review 65 (2014) (invited)
• Identifying Values in Land Use Regulation, 101 Kentucky Law Journal 55 (2012)
• The Mystery of Life in the Laboratory of Democracy: Personal Autonomy in State Law, 59 Cleveland State Law Review 589 (2012)
• Resurrecting the Bogeyman: The Curious Forms of the Substantial Burden Test in RLUIPA, 40 Real Estate Law Journal 115 (2011)
• Empathy’s White Elephant: Responding to the Subprime Mortgage Crisis Without Denigrating the Poor, 9 Georgetown Journal of Law & Public Policy 283 (2011)
• A Non-Fatal Collision: Where Religious Land Uses and Community Interests Meet, 42 Urban Lawyer 41 (2010)
• A Gift Worth Dying For?: Debating the Volitional Nature of Suicide in Personal Property Law, 45 Idaho Law Review 93 (2008)
• The Search for Moral Neutrality in Same-Sex Marriage Decisions, 23 BYU Journal of Public Law 1 (2008)
• All for One: A Review of Victim-centric Justifications for Criminal Punishment, 13 Berkeley Journal of Criminal Law 31 (2008)

Essays and Reviews

MacLeod has written more than one hundred essays and book reviews for a variety of audiences. The following list is representative.

• How Law Lost Its Way, Touchstone Magazine (September 2024)
• Rights, Duties, and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights at 75, Law & Liberty (November 16, 2023)
• Still Alive and Well, Law & Liberty (October 3, 2023)
• Fictions and Lies in a Lawless Age, Public Discourse (February 20, 2022) (reviewing Stephen D. Smith, Fictions, Lies and the Authority of Law)
• The Problem-Solving Framers, Law & Liberty (October 6, 2021) (reviewing Donald Drakeman, The Hollow Core of Constitutional Theory)
• With Andrew Koppelman, Between the Trenches of the Culture Wars, But Not With Ill Will: An Exchange, Public Discourse (January 7, 2021)
• Making Cyber Criminals Walk the Constitutional Plank, Law & Liberty (November 23, 2020)
• Natural Law for a Lawless People, Public Discourse (September 10, 2020) (reviewing Kody Cooper, Thomas Hobbes and the Natural Law)
• Bagehot and the Causes of Our Crisis, Online Library of Liberty (January 3, 2020) (lead essay in symposium on The English Constitution) (invited)
• Sovereignty and the Rule of Law (January 28, 2020)
• Bagehot as Aristotle (January 30, 2020)
• Review of GREAT CHRISTIAN JURISTS IN ENGLISH HISTORY, 34 Journal of Law and Religion 123 (2019) (invited)
• Piracy, Protests, and the Problem of China, Public Discourse (October 28, 2019)
• Toward a Productive Discussion About Immigration, Public Discourse (September 4, 2019)
• A Case of Stolen Jurisprudence in Kansas, Public Discourse (June 12, 2019)
• Ordered Liberty and the Demands of Law, Law & Liberty (April 1, 2019) (reviewing BRIAN MCCALL, THE ARCHITECTURE OF LAW) (invited)
• Legislatures Cannot Abolish Marriage, Public Discourse (November 20, 2018)
• Where Do Our Rights Come From? An Evaluation of American Patent Law, Starting Points Journal (October 22, 2018)
• How Legislatures Can Combat the Problem of Judicial Supremacy and Protect Human Rights, Public Discourse (September 24, 2018) (reviewing Webber et al, LEGISLATED RIGHTS: SECURING HUMAN RIGHTS THROUGH LEGISLATION)
• Racism, the Legacy Museum, and the Costs of Self-Deception, Public Discourse (August 1, 2018)
• The Human Element in Property, The American Project (April 2, 2018)
• Review of INSIDE THE MIND OF THOMAS MORE: THE WITNESS OF HIS WRITINGS, 11 Journal of Faith & the Academy 112 (2018)
• Our Universal and Particular Constitution, Public Discourse (October 4, 2018)
• The Thousands-Year Old Constitution, Public Discourse (October 2, 2018)
• Equal Property Rights for All, Including Christian Wedding Cake Bakers, Public Discourse (November 30, 2017)
• The Impoverishment of Law and the Loss of Ordered Liberty, Public Discourse (November 6, 2017) (Part 2 of a review ofJohn Corvino, Ryan T. Anderson, and Sherif Girgis, DEBATING RELIGIOUS LIBERTY AND DISCRIMINATION)
• Debating Liberty, Public Discourse (November 5, 2017) (Part 1 of a review of John Corvino, Ryan T. Anderson, and Sherif Girgis, DEBATING RELIGIOUS LIBERTY AND DISCRIMINATION)
• Law Schools Guard Entry Into the Profession and Should Teach Virtue, James G. Martin Center (July 26, 2017)
• Kuyper and Pope Leo as Christian Thinkers, Public Discourse (May 12, 2017)
• Legal Fictions Matter: A Reply to S. Adam Seagrave, Public Discourse (February 7, 2017)
• (Natural) Law Matters, Public Discourse (February 2, 2017) (A review of Richard Helmholz, NATURAL LAW IN COURT)
• That Time I Turned a Routine Traffic Ticket Into the Constitutional Trial of the Century, Public Discourse (January 13, 2017)
• (Natural) Law Matters, Public Discourse (February 2, 2017) (A review of Richard Helmholz, Natural Law in Court)
• That Time I Turned a Routine Traffic Ticket Into the Constitutional Trial of the Century, Ars Technica (January 20, 2017)
• The Third Amendment: A Neglected Measure for a Skeptical Age, Washington Times Special Bill of Rights Anniversary Edition (December 15, 2016)
• Banking on the Margins or the Core of Human Flourishing?, Public Discourse (December 7, 2016)
• The Double Mommy Trap, Public Discourse (October 31, 2016)
• Texas Lawmen and the Lawless Court, Public Discourse (July 7, 2016)
• The Right to Be Differently Excellent, Public Discourse (May 5, 2016)
• Federal Courts, Government Agencies, and Bathroom Policy, Public Discourse (April 25, 2016)
• What’s Wrong With Rights?, Public Discourse (April 21, 2016)
• State Supreme Court: SCOTUS Majority is ‘Illegitimate Opinion’ (But Still Law?), New Boston Post (March 4, 2016)
• A Catechesis for the Tolerant, Public Discourse (February 9, 2016)
• Injuring the Health of the Legal Profession, New Boston Post (January 21, 2016)
• ISIS’s War on Civilization is Motivated by Law, New Boston Post (November 17, 2015)
• Assisted Suicide and the Corruption of Lawyers, New Boston Post (November 16, 2015)
• Marriage is For Children, Respectful Conversation (November 13, 2015)
• Birth Certificates, Fatherhood, and Same-Sex Marriage: Sotomayor v. Sotomayor, Public Discourse (November 5, 2015)
• With Robert McFarland, Did the Supreme Court Take Tennessee Courts Out of the Marriage Business?, Public Discourse (September 24, 2015)
• The Ambiguous Quest for Marriage Equality, Public Discourse (June 25, 2015)
• There is a Fundamental Right to Marriage, and We Must Preserve It, Public Discourse (June 16, 2015)
• Modest Conscience Protections in Louisiana Elicit Hysteria, Public Discourse (May 13, 2015)
• Religious Freedom and Sexual Identity: A Proposal for Peace, Public Discourse (May 8, 2015)
• The Common Law: Ginsburg Gets It Wrong, Library of Law and Liberty (May 4, 2015)
• Yes, Tyranny is a Fitting Word, Public Discourse (March 31, 2015)
• Judicial Tyranny UnMoored, Public Discourse (March 30, 2015)
• Judging What?: A Review of Robert Katzmann, Judging Statutes, Library of Law and Liberty (March 2015)
• The Hidden Costs of Legalized Suicide, Public Discourse (October 27, 2014)
• C.S. Lewis’ Meditation in a Toolshed and the Inviolability of Life, Canon & Culture (August 27, 2014)
• Gordon College and Pluralism in Higher Education, Public Discourse (July 30, 2014)
• How to Support Religious Liberty, Canon & Culture (July 18, 2014)
• Have Christian Colleges Lost Their Way?, Canon & Culture (June 9, 2014)
• What’s at Stake at the Bakery: How Property Rights Got Sexy, Public Discourse (March 4, 2014)
• Who’s Afraid of Legislative Intent?: A Review of RICHARD EKINS, THE NATURE OF LEGISLATIVE INTENT, Library of Law and Liberty (February 2014)
• No Interest in Fathers, Public Discourse (January 14, 2014)
• What Will Become of Equal Protection for Women?, Public Discourse (September 13, 2013)
• Principled Entitlement Reform: Private Ordering Needs Room to Grow, Public Discourse (August 8, 2013)
• A Moral Foundation for Entitlement Reform, Public Discourse (August 7, 2013)
• Euphemisms: The Modus Operandi of Death Rights Advocates, Public Discourse (June 20, 2013)
• Marriage, Religious Liberty, and the Ban Myth, Public Discourse (April 2, 2013)
• Property Viewed From the Inside, Public Discourse (March 22, 2013)
• Property and the Regulatory State at the Supreme Court, Public Discourse (March 21, 2013)
• With Andrew Beckwith, Sky Fall: Gender Ideology Comes to the Schoolhouse, Public Discourse (March 1, 2013)
• At and Along: A Review of THE LAW AND ETHICS OF MEDICINE by John Keown, 34 ADELAIDE LAW REVIEW 211 (2013)
• Review of WHAT IS MARRIAGE: MAN AND WOMAN—A DEFENSE, Journal of Faith and the Academy (2013)
• Law’s Logic at the End of Life, Public Discourse (January 15, 2013)
• At and Along: A Review of The Law and Ethics of Medicine by John Keown, 34 Adelaide Law Review 211 (2013)
• Economic Justice and the Internal Point of View, 17 Journal Jurisprudence 11 (2013)
• Moral Neutrality, Marriage, and the Supreme Court, Public Discourse (December 10, 2012)
• The Right to Do Good, Public Discourse (October 16, 2012)
• Judging Human Worth, Public Discourse (May 9, 2012)
• Rediscovering Property, Public Discourse (April 19, 2012)
• Marriage Decisions and the Importance of Judicial Reason, Public Discourse (March 5, 2012)
• Social Justice, Institutions, and Communities, Public Discourse (January 27, 2012)
• Purpose, Palliative Care, and Respect for Human Life, Public Discourse (January 11, 2012)
• Private Property and Human Flourishing, Public Discourse (October 25, 2011)
• Assisted Suicide: The Forgotten Front in the Fight for Life, Public Discourse (September 14, 2011)
• Review of JEAN PORTER, MINISTERS OF THE LAW, 4 Journal of Faith and the Academy 68 (2011)
• The (Contingent) Value of Autonomy and the Reflexivity of (Some) Basic Goods, 5 Journal Jurisprudence 11 (2010)
• The Law as Bard: Extolling a Culture’s Virtues, Exposing Its Vices, and Telling Its Story, 1 Journal Jurisprudence 11 (2008)
• The Groningen Protocol: Legalized Infanticide in the Netherlands and Why it Should Not be Adopted in the United States, 10 Michigan State Journal of Medicine & Law 557 (2006)

Representative Presentations

• Classical Legal Solutions to the Problems of the Information Age, Mathias Corvinus Collegium, Budapest, Hungary (December 1, 2022)
• The Jury in the Age of Public Rights, LSU Law Center and Eric Voegelin Institute, Louisiana State University (January 22, 2019)
• Jus Gentium as the Solution to Transnational Phobias, Sallux ECPM Foundation, Brussels, Belgium (December 2, 2018)
• Fundamental Rights, IESE Business School, University of Navarra, Munich, Germany (November 29, 2018)
• Trespass and Intention, Boston University School of Law, Property Works in Progress workshop (October 19, 2018)
• IP as a Property Doctrine, Center for Innovation, Intellectual Property and Competition, National Law University, Delhi India (March 22, 2018)
• Self-governance and Intellectual Property, Conference on Voluntary Governance, Michigan State University, James Madison College (December 2, 2017)
• Property and Charity, Queen’s University, Ontario, Visiting Speaker Series lecture (March 2, 2015)
• What Marriage (Still) Is, Suffolk University School of Law, American Constitution Society, Suffolk Law School chapter (October 16, 2012)
• RLUIPA and Federalism, panelist at Association for Law, Property and Society annual conference (March 4, 2011)

Representative Appearances in New Media

• Interviewed in Gérard Mordillat documentary, Le Monde et sa Propriété, ARTE TV Europe (2022)
• With Becky Dummermuth, A Test in Virginia of the Right to Remain Silent, Washington Post (June 10, 2022)
• Justice Thomas at 30: Principle Over Precedent, National Review Online (October 22, 2021)
• With Ryan T. Anderson, Clarence Thomas is Right About Big Tech, National Review Online (April 19, 2021)
• Executive Power in a Pandemic, The Birmingham News (April 24, 2020)
• Interviewed on Fox & Friends, Fox News Channel, to discuss educating young law students (November 29, 2017)
• Neil Gorsuch, The Scholar and the Man, Washington Times (March 28, 2017)

Biography

Professor Mather joined the St. Mary’s faculty in 1985, after practicing law in a civil practice firm in Illinois and studying for her LLM degree. She teaches and writes in the areas of Property, Family Law and Wills and Trusts. She also taught Population Law and Policy several times for the St. Mary’s Institute on World Legal Problems in Innsbruck Austria and has served as co-director of the Institute. She has been a visiting professor at the University of Texas and the University of Illinois.

She served as the Associate Dean for Academic and Student Affairs at the law school from 1999 – 2002 and 2006 to 2016. In her capacity as Associate Dean she worked with students and faculty on assessment, curriculum development, student disability services, academic standards, and student academic issues.
She currently sits on the Texas Lawyer’s Assistance Program Committee for the State Bar of Texas and the Board of Trustees for the Texas Center for Legal Ethics.

• Appointed as the Chair Texas Lawyers’ Assistance Program Committee, 2018 to 2021
• Appointed to the Board of Trustees for the Texas Center for Legal Ethics, 2018 to 2020
• Appointed to the State Bar of Texas’s Texas Lawyers’ Assistance Program Committee, 2015-2020
• Phi Delta Phi Outstanding Professor Award, 1988-89, (shared award); 1993-94
• St. Mary’s University Alumni Association Distinguished Faculty Award, 2010-11
• Taught as a visiting professor at the University of Illinois and the University of Texas
• Taught in the St. Mary’s Institute on World Legal Problems, Innsbruck, Austria

Book Chapters

• “Testamentary Transfers,” for Thompson on Real Property (Michie, 1994).
• “Planned Unit Developments” and “Subdivision Controls” for The American Law of Real Property (Matthew Bender, 1991).
• “Adult Entertainment Zoning,” for Rohan, Zoning and Land Use Controls (Matthew Bender, 1990).

Essays and Articles

• Population Law and Policy: From Control and Contraception to Equity and Equality, 50 St. Mary’s L.J. (2019)
• Evolution and Revolution in Family Law, 25 ST. MARY’S L.J. 405 (1993).
• No Harm, No Foul Pornography (Violent and Otherwise), 14 UALR L.J. 455 (1992).
• Review Essay, A Scary Tale:  Battered Women Who Kill Their Abusers, 18 OHIO N.U.L. REV. 601 (1992).
• The Magic Circle: Inclusion of Adopted Children in Testamentary Class Gifts, 31 S. TEX. L.J. 223 (1990).
• The Skeleton in the Closet: The Battered Woman Syndrome, Self-Defense, and Expert Testimony, 39 MERCER L. REV. 545 (1988).
• The Antitrust Implications of Municipal Land Use Planning, 33 WAYNE L. REV. 965 (1987).

Speeches and Presentations

• Moderator, SEALS 2015, panel on Gender Issues in Law Schools
• Discussant, SEALS 2014, panels on Wills and Trusts, Property issues and Bar Admissions practices, Moderator, panel on land use issues
• Lecture on Takings Jurisprudence, St. Mary’s Homecoming CLE program, 2005.
• Lecture on Vested Property Rights for Developers in Texas to local Homeowner’s Association, Fall 2004.
• Lecture on Preparation for and the Practice of Law, PREP program,
• St. Mary’s University, Summers 2002-04.
• Lecture on Domestic Partnership Legislation for the Sexual Orientation and Gender Identification Issues Section of the state Bar of Texas, Summer 2000.
• Mini Bar-Review on Property Issues for St. Mary’s Students, Spring 1999.
• Adolescent Pregnancy Program, presentations in various high schools on Legal Issues Affecting Pregnant and Parenting Teens, Fall 1996, 1998.
• Training Session on Wills for Participants in the Wills Clinic for low-income elderly in San Antonio, Fall 1997, co-sponsored by St. Mary’s University School of Law, the Women’s Law Association, and the Bexar County Women’s Bar Association.
• Moderator, debate on U.S. military policy regarding gays and lesbians in the military, Fall 1997, St. Mary’s University School of Law
• Lecture, Universidad de Estodios de Posgrado en Derecho, for the Diplomado en Derecho Anglosajon Program in Mexico City. Lecture on U.S. Property Law, July 1997.
• Panel Discussion, St. Mary’s University, Spring 1996, “Legal Implications of Same-Sex Marriages.”
• San Antonio Legal Secretaries Association, Fall 1993, “A Summary of Texas Family Law.”
• Bexar County Women’s Political Caucus, Fall 1992, “Changing Times: Women in the Legal Profession.”
• St. Mary’s University Family Life Center, Spring 1992, “Some Key Legal Issues for the Family Counselor.”
• Seminar on Intellectual Property for Artists, Spring 1991, “Trademark, Copyright and Moral Rights for Artists.”

Teaching Materials

• Population Law and Policy (for Innsbruck program as needed).
• Human Rights and Population Law and Policy (for Innsbruck program as needed).

Biography

Prior to joining St. Mary’s, Pepi practiced immigration, family law, estate planning and elder law. She joined St. Mary’s in 2000 and continues to supervise second- and third-year law students as they represent low-income clients with family law and probate matters. Pepi teaches the corollary course required of all Civil Justice Clinic students.

She also teaches practice skills courses in the areas of depositions, probating estates and divorce. She has published work in the area of legal ethics and lectured nationally and internationally on the issues facing survivors of domestic violence.

Pepi is a leader in the legal community through her membership and service in myriad bar associations. She is a past President of the Bexar County Women’s Bar Association/Foundation and the Mexican American Bar Association of San Antonio.

• San Antonio Women’s Chamber of Commerce Constellation of Stars Comet Award, Nov. 2014
• St. Mary’s University Alice Wright Franzke Feminist Award, March 2014
• Bexar County Women’s Bar Foundation Belva Lockwood Outstanding Young Lawyer Award, Oct. 2000

Articles in a Periodical

Dayla S. Pepi and Donna D. Bloom,Take the Money or Run: The Risky Business of Acting As Both Your Client’s Lawyer and Bail Bondsman, 37 St. Mary’s L.J. 933 (2006).

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

Erica Schommer, J.D., is a Clinical Professor of Law and the South Texas Professor (a professorship dedicated to problems facing South Texas) at the St. Mary’s University School of Law. She teaches at 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

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 an Assistant Professor of Law and an Englehardt Research Fellow at the St. Mary’s University School of Law who specializes in Territorial Law, Criminal Law and Negotiations. She joined St. Mary’s Law in August 2017 as a Law Success Instructor.

Her 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 work has been published in the Brooklyn Law Review, City University of New York Law Review, Stetson Law Review and her forthcoming research will be published in the University of Denver Law Review. She also has a forthcoming book to be published this year with Carolina Academic Publishing titled “The Law of the US Territories.”

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

• No Remedy for Colonization, 28 CUNY L. Rev. 1 (2025)
• Checks, Balances, and Territories: The Founders’ Vision and the Reality of U.S. Territorial Governance, 54 Stetson L. Rev. 2 (2025)
• The Law of the United States Territories, Carolina Academic Publishing, co-authored with Neil Weare Weare, Anthony Ciolli and Adriel Cepeda (forthcoming, 2025)
• Puerto Rican Presidential Voting Rights: Why Precedent Should be Overturned, and Other Options for Suffrage, 89 Brook. L. Rev. (2024)

Presentations

• “Courtroom Colonialism,” University of Denver Law Review Symposium on Modern Interpretations of the Fourteenth Amendment, April 2025
• “Courtroom Colonialism: Navigating Federal Criminal Prosecution and Local Autonomy in U.S. Territories” (Nominated New Scholar Panelist), Southeastern Association of Law Schools Annual Meeting, Fort Lauderdale, Florida, July 2024
• “No Remedy for Colonization in Puerto Rico” (Accepted Speaker), Southeastern Association of Law Schools Annual Meeting, Fort Lauderdale, Florida, July 2024
• “Territorial Law Across the Curriculum” (Invited Speaker) Stetson Law Review Symposium, Stetson University College of Law, Gulf Port, Florida, March 2024
• “Exploring Latinas in Academia,” (Invited Panelist) 2nd Annual Lawtina Network Summit, St. Mary’s University School of Law, San Antonio, Texas, October 2023
• “Puerto Rican Presidential Voting Rights,” 8th Annual ACS Constitutional Law Scholars Forum, University of Oklahoma College of Law, Norman, Oklahoma, February 2023
• “Building Communities for the Bar Exam,” Tenth Annual Association of Academic Support Educators Conference, May 2022

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).