1
Renée Lettow Lerner
George Washington University Law School Tel.: (202) 994-5776
2000 H Street, N.W. Fax: (202) 994-5654
Washington, DC 20052 rlerner@law.gwu.edu
EXPERIENCE
2017-present George Washington University Law School,
Donald Phillip Rothschild Research Professor of Law
Courses taught: legal history, criminal procedure, comparative law, and conflict
of laws.
2014-2017 Professor of Law
1997-2014 Associate Professor of Law
(on leave of absence 2003-2005)
2003-2005 United States Department of Justice, Office of Legal Counsel,
Deputy Assistant Attorney General
1996-1997 Justice Anthony M. Kennedy, U.S. Supreme Court, law clerk
1995-1996 Judge Stephen F. Williams, U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia
Circuit, law clerk
1994 Kirkland & Ellis, Washington, DC, summer associate
1993 Judge Stephen F. Williams, intern
1991-1992 Magdalen College, Oxford University, Oxford, U.K.
Taught American history course to Oxford undergraduates.
EDUCATION
Yale Law School, J.D., 1995
Yale Law Journal, Articles Editor, 1994-95
Joseph Parker Prize (best paper on legal history or Roman law), 1995
Judge William E. Miller Prize (best paper on the Bill of Rights), 1994
Yale Journal on Regulation, Submissions Editor, 1993-94; Lead Editor, 1993
New Haven TRO Project for Battered Women
2
Magdalen College, Oxford University, M. Litt., Modern History, 1993 (Rhodes
Scholar)
Thesis: Codification and Consolidation of English Law in the Early Nineteenth
Century
Princeton University, A.B., History, summa cum laude, 1990
Phi Beta Kappa
Class of 1883 English Prize, 1987
William Koren, Jr. Memorial Prize in History, 1989
Walter Phelps Hall Prize in European History (hon. men.), 1990
BOOKS
THE JURY: A VERY SHORT INTRODUCTION (New York: Oxford University Press 2023).
HISTORY OF THE COMMON LAW: THE DEVELOPMENT OF ANGLO-AMERICAN LEGAL
INSTITUTIONS (with John H. Langbein and Bruce P. Smith) (New York: Aspen
Publishers 2009).
OTHER PUBLICATIONS
He Who Pays the Piper Calls the Tune, in CONSTITUTIONAL JOURNEY IN THE UNITED
STATES, ed. Lénárd Sándor (Budapest: Mathias Corvinus Collegium Press, 2022)
(originally published in Hungarian under the title ALKOTMÁNYJOGI UTAZÁS
AMERIKÁBAN).
The Resilience of Substantive Rights and the False Hope of Procedural Rights: The Case
of the Second Amendment and the Seventh Amendment, 116 NORTHWESTERN
UNIVERSITY LAW REVIEW 275 (2021).
The Surprising Views of Montesquieu and Tocqueville about Juries: Juries Empower
Judges, 81 LOUISIANA LAW REVIEW 1 (2020).
Federalism in the United States, MANDINER 42 (Aug. 19, 2020) (translated into
Hungarian with the title Arra intem az európai népeket, hogy legyenek résen).
Essay, The Second Amendment and the Spirit of the People, 43 HARVARD JOURNAL OF
LAW & PUBLIC POLICY 319 (2020).
Book review, Amalia D. Kessler, Inventing American Exceptionalism: The Origins of
American Adversarial Legal Culture, 1800-1877, 67 JOURNAL OF LEGAL
EDUCATION 888 (2018).
3
How the Creation of Appellate Courts in England and the United States Limited Judicial
Comment on Evidence to the Jury, 40 JOURNAL OF THE LEGAL PROFESSION 215
(2016).
A Family Tradition: Clerking at the U.S. Supreme Court (with Charles F. Lettow and
Kristen Silverberg), in OF COURTIERS AND KINGS: MORE STORIES OF SUPREME
COURT LAW CLERKS AND THEIR JUSTICES 360-365 (Todd C. Peppers and Clare
Cushman eds., University of Virginia Press 2015).
The Troublesome Inheritance of Americans in Magna Carta and Trial by Jury, in MAGNA
CARTA AND ITS MODERN LEGACY 77-98 (Robert Hazell and James Melton eds.,
Cambridge University Press 2015).
The Failure of Originalism in Preserving Constitutional Rights to Civil Jury Trial, 22
WILLIAM & MARY BILL OF RIGHTS JOURNAL 811 (2014).
The Rise of Directed Verdict: Jury Power in Civil Cases Before the Federal Rules of
1938, 81 GEORGE WASHINGTON LAW REVIEW 448 (2013).
Enlightenment Economics and the Framing of the U.S. Constitution, 35 HARVARD
JOURNAL OF LAW & PUBLIC POLICY 37 (2012).
Thomas Nast’s Crusading Legal Cartoons, THE GREEN BAG 2011 ALMANAC (2011).
From Popular Control to Independence: Reform of the Elected Judiciary in Boss Tweed’s
New York, 15 GEORGE MASON LAW REVIEW 109 (2007).
Unconstitutional Conditions, Germaneness, and Institutional Review Boards, 101
NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY LAW REVIEW 775 (2007).
The Worldwide Popular Revolt Against Proportionality in Self-Defense Law, 2 JOURNAL
OF
LAW, ECONOMICS & POLICY 331 (2006).
Judicial Review Before Marbury, Comment, 72 GEORGE WASHINGTON LAW REVIEW 45
(2003).
The Intersection of Two Systems: An American on Trial for an American Murder in the
French Cour d’Assises, 2001 UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS LAW REVIEW 791.
International Pressure to Harmonize: The U.S. Civil Justice System in an Era of Global
Trade, 2001 B.Y.U. LAW REVIEW 229.
The Transformation of the American Civil Trial: The Silent Judge, 42 WILLIAM & MARY
LAW REVIEW 195 (2000).
4
Renée B. Lettow, New Trial for Verdict Against Law: Struggles Between Judges and
Juries in Early Nineteenth-Century America, 71 NOTRE DAME LAW REVIEW 505
(1996).
Akhil Reed Amar & Renée B. Lettow, Fifth Amendment First Principles: The Self-
Incrimination Clause, 93 MICHIGAN LAW REVIEW 857 (1995).
Renée B. Lettow, Note, Reviving Federal Grand Jury Presentments, 103 YALE LAW
JOURNAL 1333 (1994).
WORKS IN PROGRESS
“The Seventh Amendment’s Right to Civil Jury Trial” and “The Seventh Amendment’s
Re-examination Clause,” essays in THE HERITAGE GUIDE TO THE CONSTITUTION,
Third Edition, forthcoming 2024.
“Aspirational versus Operational Rights,” in RESCUING OUR INALIENABLE RIGHTS:
INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON THE 75
TH
ANNIVERSARY OF THE UNIVERSAL
DECLARATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS, (Budapest: Mathias Corvinus Collegium Press,
forthcoming 2024).
Critiques of the Civil Jury in the Early Twentieth Century (article).
The American Civil Jury (book).
The Divergence of Jury Selection Practices in England and the United States (article).
The Inquisitorial Advantage in Criminal Procedure (book chapter).
ONLINE ACTIVITIES
“The Jury: A Very Short Introduction,” synopsis of my book published by Oxford
University Press in 2023, in volume 9, issue 1 of Jury Matters, the newsletter for
the Civil Jury Project at NYU School of Law.
https://myemail.constantcontact.com/January-Newsletter-of-the-Civil-Jury-
Project.html?soid=1127815376566&aid=_wizKxBoK-s
Interview with Kinga Kincső Antal about federalism, the European Union, minority
rights, and academic freedom, Constitutional Discourse, published October 9,
2023.
https://constitutionaldiscourse.com/european-governments-should-be-cautious-
about-the-terms-under-which-they-accept-eu-funding-an-interview-with-prof-
renee-lerner/
5
“James Oldham’s Revelations About Juries,” in Forum: Essays in Honor of James
Oldham, in The Docket, website of Law and History Review, published June
2023.
https://lawandhistoryreview.org/article/renee-lettow-lerner-james-oldhams-
revelations-about-juries/
“Son of Liberty, Man of Law: John Adams & the Boston Massacre Trial,” expert
interviewed for documentary, premiered July 15, 2022.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X0zGzH5hmmc
“The Second Amendment vs. the Seventh Amendment: Substantive vs. Procedural
Rights,” guest blog series of five posts for The Volokh Conspiracy, posted
October 18-22, 2021.
https://reason.com/volokh/2021/10/18/the-second-amendment-vs-the-seventh-
amendment-substantive-vs-procedural-rights-part-1-similarities-and-differences/
https://reason.com/volokh/2021/10/19/the-second-amendment-vs-the-seventh-
amendment-accountability-and-understanding-of-gun-owners-and-civil-jurors/
https://reason.com/volokh/2021/10/20/the-second-amendment-vs-the-seventh-
amendment-the-distinction-between-substantive-and-procedural-rights/
https://reason.com/volokh/2021/10/21/the-second-amendment-vs-the-seventh-
amendment-procedural-rights-and-the-problem-of-incorporation/
https://reason.com/volokh/2021/10/22/the-second-amendment-vs-the-seventh-
amendment-the-terminal-decay-of-the-seventh-amendment-and-the-revival-of-
the-second-amendment/
“The Inquisitorial Advantage in Criminal Procedure,” guest blog series of three posts for
GW Law, International Law and Policy Brief, posted October 21 and November
18, 2021, and January 24, 2022.
https://studentbriefs.law.gwu.edu/ilpb/2021/10/21/the-inquisitorial-advantage-in-
criminal-procedure/
https://studentbriefs.law.gwu.edu/ilpb/2021/11/18/the-inquisitorial-advantage-in-
criminal-procedure-part-ii-the-defendant-as-a-source-of-information/
https://studentbriefs.law.gwu.edu/ilpb/2022/01/24/the-inquisitorial-advantage-in-
criminal-procedure-part-iii-adjudicating-pleas/
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“Magna Carta & Due Process of Law,” posted October 2020, as of October 2021, over
55,000 views.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K6L_Jflr4vw
“The Seventh Amendment,” video for Khan Academy, posted October 2018.
https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/us-government-and-civics/us-gov-the-
national-constitution-center/us-gov-the-bill-of-rights-ncc/v/the-seventh-
amendment
“The Seventh Amendment,” with Suja A. Thomas, National Constitution Center,
Interactive Constitution, posted September 2015.
http://constitutioncenter.org/interactive-constitution/amendments/amendment-vii
“The Problem of the Seventh Amendment and Civil Jury Trial,” National Constitution
Center, Interactive Constitution, posted September 2015.
http://constitutioncenter.org/interactive-constitution/amendments/amendment-
vii/the-problem-of-the-seventh-amendment-and-civil-jury-trial-renee-lettow-
lern/interp/7
“The Collapse of Jury Trial and What To Do About It,” The Jury Expert, a publication of
The American Society of Trial Consultants, posted August 2015.
http://www.thejuryexpert.com/2015/08/collapse-of-civil-jury-trial-and-what-to-
do-about-it/
“The Uncivil Jury,” guest blog series of five posts for The Volokh Conspiracy, posted
May 26-29, 2015.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/volokh-conspiracy/wp/2015/05/26/the-
uncivil-jury-part-1-americans-misplaced-sentiment-about-the-civil-jury/
http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/volokh-conspiracy/wp/2015/05/27/the-
uncivil-jury-part-2-the-unromantic-origins-of-the-jury-and-the-continuous-need-
for-an-alternative/
http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/volokh-conspiracy/wp/2015/05/27/the-
uncivil-jury-part-3-the-perils-of-jury-trial-efforts-to-control-juries-and-the-
deceptive-allure-of-nullification/
http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/volokh-conspiracy/wp/2015/05/28/the-
uncivil-jury-part-4-the-collapse-of-the-civil-jury/
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http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/volokh-conspiracy/wp/2015/05/29/the-
uncivil-jury-part-5-what-to-do-now-repeal-and-redesign/
“The Troublesome Inheritance of Americans in Magna Carta and Trial by Jury,” guest
blog for Concurring Opinions, posted April 16, 2015.
http://concurringopinions.com/archives/2015/04/the-troublesome-inheritance-of-
americans-in-magna-carta-and-trial-by-jury.html
SELECTED PRESENTATIONS
“Obscenity Law in an Artificially Intelligent Age,” 25
th
Annual Faculty Conference,
Washington, DC, January 2024.
“Of the Freedom of the Artificially Intelligent Press,” Constitutional Law Colloquium,
Loyola University School of Law, Chicago, IL, November 2023.
“Discussion on Juries” with Judge Jennifer Elrod, George Washington University Law
School, Washington, DC, October 2023.
“Juries Around the World from Socrates to Johnny Depp,” George Washington
University Law School International and Comparative Law, with comments from
Professors Máximo Langer, Anna Offit, and Francesca Bignami, Washington,
DC, October 2023.
“Presidents Accused: Historical Background, Correlations, and Stakes,” Mathias
Corvinus Collegium, Zalaegerszegi Képzési Központ, Zalaegerszeg, Hungary,
September 2023.
“Aspirational versus Operational Rights,” Conference: Rescuing Our Inalienable Rights:
International Conference on the 75
th
Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of
Human Rights, Mathias Corvinus Collegium, Budapest, Hungary, September
2023.
“The Divergence of Jury Selection Practices in England and the United States,” Notre
Dame Conference on English Legal History, London, U.K., August 2023.
“Text, History, and the Second Amendment,” Conference: Text and (What Kind of)
History?, Stanford Constitutional Law Center, Stanford Law School, Palo Alto,
CA, May 2023.
“Should Civil Juries Be Abolished?” Debate with trial lawyer Shanin Spector, Crowell &
Moring, Washington, DC, April 2023.
8
“The State of Law Schools,” Patrick Henry College, Purcellville, VA, March 2023.
“The Role of Law Schools in Promoting Civility,” Webinar: The Freedom of Thought
Project and Professional Responsibility and Legal Education Practice Group,
Federalist Society, February 2023.
“James Oldham and the Eighteenth-Century Jury,” Symposium: James Oldham: The
Love and Labor of Archival Research, Georgetown University Law Center,
Washington, DC, January 2023.
“Critiques of the Civil Jury in the Early Twentieth Century,” American Society for Legal
History Annual Meeting, Chicago, IL, November 2022.
“Immunized Witnesses in Comparative Perspective,” Delegation from the Dutch Ministry
of Justice, Washington, DC, October 2022.
“Judicial Guidance to Juries on Damages,” Sixteenth Annual Judicial Symposium on
Civil Justice Issues, Law & Economics Center, Arlington, VA, October 2022.
“Comparative Criminal Justice Systems and the Jury,” Training of Argentine Judiciary,
Judicial Council of Argentina, September 2022.
“Comparative Perspectives on Civilian Arms Ownership, Populist Support, and Elite
Resistance,” Global Meeting on Law & Society, Law and Society Association,
Instituto Universitário de Lisboa, Lisbon, Portugal, July 2022.
“Understanding Criminal Punishment,” Colloquium, Phoenix, AZ, February 2022.
“The Inquisitorial Advantage in Criminal Procedure,” Works in Progress Virtual
Conference, January 2022.
“The Failure of Antebellum Civil Juries to Protect Wage Workers and the Quest for
Alternatives,” American Society for Legal History Annual Meeting, New Orleans,
LA, November 2021.
“The Inquisitorial Advantage in Criminal Procedure,” Colloquium: Catholic Perspectives
on Criminal Justice Reform, Lumen Christi Institute, Seattle University, Seattle,
WA, October 2021.
“The Civil Jury: Past, Present, and Future,” University of Kansas School of Law, online
presentation, October 2020.
“The Second Amendment and the Seventh Amendment,” 2020 Symposium: The Second
Amendment’s Next Chapter, Northwestern University Law Review, online
symposium, October 2020.
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Commentator: Philip Hamburger’s Purchasing Submission, Conference at Columbia Law
School, New York, NY, March 2020.
“The Civil Jury,” Northwestern University, Pritzker School of Law, Chicago, IL, March
2020.
“Juries and Revolutionaries in America and France,” Symposium on We the Jury:
Conversations on the American Jury’s Past, Present, and Future, Louisiana Law
Review, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA, January 2020.
Commentator: Carlton F.W. Larson’s The Trials of Allegiance: Treason, Juries, and the
American Revolution, American Society for Legal History Annual Meeting,
Boston, MA, November 2019.
Originalism, Populism, and the Second Amendment Right to Keep and Bear Arms,
debate, National Lawyers Convention, Federalist Society, November 2019.
“The Civil Jury: Constitutional Liberty or Unhealthy Romance?”, debate with Shanin
Specter, Third Circuit Chapters Conference, Philadelphia, PA, October 2019.
“Tradeoffs in the History and Current Practice of Voir Dire,” Academic Roundtable, The
Civil Jury Project, New York University School of Law, New York, NY, April
2019.
“The Second Amendment and the Spirit of the People,” keynote address, Conference on
the Second Amendment in the New Supreme Court, National Press Club,
Washington, DC, January 2019.
“The Disappearing Civil Jury Trial,” 2018 Eighth Circuit Judicial Conference, U.S.
Courts, Des Moines, IA, August 2018.
“The American Civil Jury 1850-1915: A Medieval Institution in the Age of Steam
Engines,” faculty workshop, Washington University Law School, St. Louis, MO,
February 2018.
“The Past and Future of the Criminal and Civil Jury in America,” debate with Suja
Thomas, Georgetown University Law Center, Washington, DC, November 2017.
“Civil Law, Common Law, and U.S. Courts,” Judicial Advisory Board of the American
Society of International Law, Annual Meeting, Washington, DC, November 2017.
Commentator: “Patent Equity Lost,” Conference on Perspectives on the PTAB: The New
Role of the Administrative State in the Innovation Economy, Center for the
Protection of Intellectual Property and Center for the Study of the Administrative
10
State, Antonin Scalia Law School, George Mason University, Arlington, VA,
November 2017.
Commentator: “Transatlantic Influences and the Reconfiguration of the European Legal
Tradition under Totalitarianism,” American Society for Legal History Annual
Meeting, Las Vegas, NV, October 2017.
“Why Do Juries Matter?” debate with Suja Thomas, Antonin Scalia Law School, George
Mason University, October 2017.
“The Future of Jury Trial,” debate with Stephen D. Susman, plenary session, American
Constitution Society National Convention, Washington, DC, June 2017.
“Comparative Legal Systems: Civil Law in Comparative Perspective,” Rule of Law
Collaborative, U.S. Department of State and Justice Sector Training, Research &
Coordination Program (JUSTRAC), Washington, DC, January 2017.
“The Past and Future of the Criminal and Civil Jury,” American Association of Law
Schools Annual Meeting/Federalist Society Annual Faculty Conference, San
Francisco, CA, January 2017, available at
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fwshnN__UMU&list=PLWwcngsYgoUXjU3
zb_rcMveHdeoImpyEm&index=2.
“The Seventh Amendment and Jury Trials in Patent Litigation,” Conference on Jury
Trials and Patent Litigation, The Civil Jury Project and The Engleberg Center on
Innovation Law & Policy, New York University School of Law, New York, NY,
September 2016.
“The Disappearance of Civil Jury Trial Despite Constitutional Guarantees,” Conference
on the Right to Trial by Jury, Missouri and Southern Illinois Chapter of the
American Board of Trial Advocates, St. Louis, MO, April 2016.
Commentator: “The History of the Courts and Individual Rights,” Conference on the
History of the Federal Judiciary, Federal Judicial Center, Washington, DC, April
2016.
“Legal Scholarship and Foreign Legal Systems,” Conference on the Fate of Scholarship
in American Law Schools, University of Baltimore School of Law, Baltimore,
MD, March 2016.
“Comment on Evidence to Juries and the Power of Trial Judges,” University of Virginia
Legal History Workshop, Charlottesville, VA, February 2016.
“The Creation of Appellate Courts and the Effect on Trial Judges’ Comment on Evidence
to Juries,” Stanford Law School, Law and Humanities Workshop, Stanford, CA,
February 2016.
11
“Magna Carta and Juries in England and America,” Panel: 800 Years of Comparative
Constitutionalism: The Unique Legacy of Magna Carta, Legal History Section,
Association of American Law Schools Annual Meeting, New York, NY, January
2016.
“The Separation of Trial and Appellate Judges and Judicial Comment on Evidence in
English and U.S. Federal Courts,” American Society for Legal History Annual
Meeting, Washington, DC, October 2015.
“Downsides of Civil Juries,” debate with Suja A. Thomas, sponsored by the Federalist
Society, September 2015, podcast available at: http://www.fed-
soc.org/multimedia/detail/downsides-of-civil-juries-podcast.
“Preserved Where, Preserved How, Preserved Why,” inaugural conference: The State and
Future of Civil Jury Trials, The Civil Jury Project, New York University School
of Law, New York, NY, September 2015, available at:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7PDMt_knNJE&index=1&list=PLJkLD_s9p
YaZqu0jE3n1HUeYrqksyMAiL.
“Ancient Liberties: Magna Carta and Trial by Jury in America,” keynote speech, 2015
Law Day celebration of the Albuquerque Bar Association, Albuquerque, NM,
May 2015.
“Originalism and Constitutional Rights to Civil Jury Trial,” University of San Diego
School of Law and the Center for the Study of Constitutional Originalism, San
Diego, CA, April 2015.
“Magna Carta 800: A Discussion about the Great Charter,” New York University,
Washington, DC, April 2015.
“The Most Sacred Ancient Liberty: Magna Carta and Trial by Jury in the New Republic,”
Symposium on Magna Carta: Muse and Mentor, Library of Congress,
Washington, DC, December 2014.
“The Magna Carta and Juries in the United States,” Workshop on the Influence of the
Magna Carta, Political Studies Association of the United Kingdom, University
College London, U.K., June 2014.
“The Jury Trial Is Dying: Should We Mourn Its Demise?,” Center on Civil Justice, New
York University, New York, NY, April 2014.
“Interpretations of State and Federal Constitutional Rights to Civil Jury Trial,” American
Society for Legal History Annual Meeting, Miami, FL, November 2013.
12
“Novus Ordo Seclorum: Economics and the Framing of the U.S. Constitution,”
University of Oregon School of Law, Eugene, OR, April 2013.
“Oral Trials in the Common Law System,” U.S. Constitutional and Electoral Law
Seminar for the Federal Electoral Court (Mexico), The Washington Center,
Washington, DC, September 2010, April 2011, December 2011, and December
2012.
“The U.S. Legal System in Comparative Perspective,” Inaugural Seminar, American and
Saudi Arabian Dialogue Education Center, George Washington University,
Washington, DC, June 2012.
“Control of Prosecutorial Discretion in Common Law Legal Systems Compared With
Continental European Systems,” Conference on Selective Enforcement of
Criminal Law: Prosecutorial Discretion, University of Florence, Department of
Comparative and Criminal Law, Florence, Italy, May 2012.
“The Development of Due Process of Law,” Lectures on Magna Carta and the
Constitution, National Archives, Washington, DC, February 2012.
“Directed Verdict and the Search for Efficient Jury Control in the United States,”
American Society for Legal History Annual Meeting, Atlanta, GA, November
2011.
“The U.S. Legal System in Comparative Perspective,” Keynote Address, U.S. State
Department, International Visitor Leadership Program, Washington, DC, August
2011.
“Enlightenment Economics and the Framing of the U.S. Constitution,” Thirtieth Annual
National Student Symposium, Federalist Society, Charlottesville, VA, February
2011.
Discussant, The Role of the Legislature in Judicial Selection in England and the United
States, Judges and Judging 2010 Workshop, American University, Washington
College of Law, Washington, DC, September 2010.
“Reform of Judicial Elections After the Civil War,” Washington Area Legal History
Roundtable, American University Washington College of Law, Washington, DC,
April 2010.
Organizer and panel moderator, The George Washington Law Review Symposium on
Judicial Review: Historical Debate, Modern Perspectives, and Comparative
Approaches, Washington, DC, October 2009.
Participant, Colloquium on Law and Judicial Duty, Chicago, IL, October 2009.
13
“Differences Between Inquisitorial and Adversarial Systems of Criminal Procedure,”
D.C. Court of Appeals Judicial Education Speaker Series, Washington, DC,
March 2009.
Discussant, panel on “Judicial Compensation: Contemporary and Historical
Perspectives,” Washington Area Legal History Roundtable, Catholic University,
Washington, DC, November 2007.
“From Popular Control to Independence: Reform of the Elected Judiciary After the Civil
War,” American Society for Legal History Annual Meeting, Tempe, AZ, October
2007.
“Reform of the Elected Judiciary After the Civil War,” New York University Legal
History Colloquium, New York, NY, October 2007.
“Procédures inquisitoires ou accusatoires: le débat sur les politiques pénales aux Etats-
Unis et en France,” Seminar, Institut d'études politiques de Paris (Sciences Po),
Centre d’Etudes et de Recherches Internationales, Paris, May 2007.
“American Judges, English Judges, and the Power to Comment on Evidence,” Law
Faculty, Cambridge University, U.K., May 2007.
“Comparative Law: Inquisitorial vs. Adversarial Systems,” D.C. Superior Court Judicial
Training Conference, Washington, DC, May 2007.
“Restriction of Judicial Comment on Evidence in the United States,” American Society
for Legal History Annual Meeting, Baltimore, MD, November 2006.
“Comparative Criminal Law and Procedure,” Seminar on Criminal Law for Judges,
George Mason University Law and Economics Center, Captiva, FL, November
2006.
“Recent Self-Defense Legislation in the United States,” Firearms Law and the Second
Amendment Symposium, George Mason University, Arlington, VA, October
2006.
“American Judges, English Judges, and the Power to Comment on Evidence,”
Washington Area Legal History Roundtable, George Washington University Law
School, Washington, DC, September 2006.
“Unconstitutional Conditions, Germaneness, and Institutional Review Boards,”
Conference on Censorship and Institutional Review Boards, Northwestern
University School of Law, Chicago, IL, April 2006.
Discussant, panel on “Judicial Review, Public Opinion, and Slavery,” American Society
for Legal History Annual Meeting, Cincinnati, OH, November 2005.
14
“The Worldwide Popular Revolt Against Proportionality in Self-Defense Law,” Bessie
Jones Day Symposium–Modern Issues Involving the Law of Self-Defense,
George Mason University School of Law, Arlington, VA, November 2005.
“‘The Tastes and Habits of an Aristocracy’: The New York Bar and the Elected Judiciary
in the Gilded Age,” American Society for Legal History Annual Meeting, Austin,
TX, October 2004.
“The Aristocratic Tendency in Late Nineteenth-Century Judicial Selection,” George
Mason University School of Law, Arlington, VA, April 2004.
“The English Origins of Judicial Review,” symposium on Marbury v. Madison and its
legacy sponsored by the George Washington Law Review, Washington, DC,
April 2003.
“The New York Bar and Judicial Elections in the Gilded Age,” Yale Legal History
Forum, New Haven, CT, April 2003.
“Changes in the U.S. Criminal Justice System in the Wake of the September 11 Attacks,”
Inaugural Lecture in Honor of Professor Martin Devers, Distinguished Lecturer
Series in Criminal Justice, York College, York, PA, April 2003.
“A Comparison of the U.S. Criminal Justice System with Those of Continental Europe,”
Embassy of the Netherlands, Washington, DC, October 2002.
“Effective Briefs Opposing Certiorari Before the U.S. Supreme Court,” National
Association of Attorneys General, Supreme Court Advocacy Seminar,
Washington, DC, November 2000.
“How American Judges Lost the Power to Comment on Evidence,”University of Virginia
Law School faculty, Charlottesville, VA, June 1999.
Expert testimony before the Cour d’Assises, Paris, in the murder trial of Thierry Gaitaud
(testimony on the differences between American and French criminal procedure),
June 1999.
“The Substantive Due Process and Tenth Amendment Jurisprudence of Justice Anthony
Kennedy,” The Academy for State and Local Government, Annual Meeting,
Washington, DC, October 1998.
LAW SCHOOL AND UNIVERSITY COMMITTEE SERVICE
Intellectual Life Committee (2021-present; 2013-2014; 2006-2009).
15
Clerkship Committee (member 2012-present, 1997-2003; chair 2022-2023).
Appointments Committee (2019-2021; 2009-2011; 2005-2006).
Academic Integrity Committee (2015-2018).
Strategic Planning Committee (2015-2016).
Selection Committee, The Richard and Diane Cummins Legal History Research Grant
(2011-2016).
Dean Search Committee, Vice Chair (2013-2014).
University Committee to select the winner of the Oscar and Shoshana Trachtenberg Prize
for Faculty Scholarship (2011).
Curriculum Committee (2008-2009).
Academic Scholarship Committee (2007-2009; 1997-2003).
Peer Review Committee, Chair (2006-2007).
University Committee on the Status of Women Faculty and Librarians (2000-2002).
Faculty Adviser, Van Vleck Moot Court Competition (1999-2000).
SKILLS AND ACTIVITIES
Founder and organizer, D.C.-Area Legal History Roundtable. Founded in 2006 at
George Washington, the roundtable meets twice a year and rotates among area
law schools. Three meetings have occurred at George Washington.
Chair, Local Arrangements Committee, American Society for Legal History, 2015
Annual Meeting in Washington, DC.
Member, Cromwell Prize Committee, American Society for Legal History (2009-2012).
Fluent French; basic German.
Secretary, Rhodes Scholar Selection Committee of Virginia (2002-2004).
Member, Virginia State Bar; District of Columbia Bar.
Member of the Board of Trustees, The Potomac School, McLean, VA (2001-2007).