I am an attorney, law professor, and historian. I was a visiting professor at the University of Florida Levin College of Law for three of the last four semesters (fall 2023, fall and spring of 2022). I was a visiting professor at Washington University in St. Louis School of Law in the spring of 2023. I was previously Professor of Law and History at The University of Texas at Austin and have been a visiting professor at the University of California, Berkeley and the University of California College of the Law, San Francisco.
I hold a Ph.D. in History and a law degree from Stanford University and an undergraduate degree from Northwestern University.
Ireland was my home for the 2012-13 academic year when I was a visiting professor in the Department of Law at what is now called Maynooth University.
I'm an empirical legal scholar, whether doing history or work on current legal issues. Recently, I published "Blood on the Tracks," an empirical study of personal litigation in Alameda County, California in which I criticize empirical work and assumptions of Judge Richard Posner and the late Professor Gary Schwartz.
Recently, I published "Frivolous Defenses," which analyzes 355 answers by insurance defense mill attorneys to 298 complaints in car crash cases, and "Disrupting Frivolous Defenses," which looks closely at the work of Judge Milton Shadur. I plan several related pieces.
Other of my scholarly work has focused on race and law in the 19th and 20th centuries, particularly slavery and the desegregation and integration of American universities.
I teach Torts at Denver Law. I also teach American Legal History, Contracts, Remedies, and a seminar about litigation.
I am a lawyer licensed to practice law in Colorado and California. In one way or another, most of my practice involves transportation. Before 2013, I represented startup taxi companies before the Colorado Public Utilities Commission. I was also co-counsel on Colorado's first marriage equality lawsuit, which overturned statutory and constitutional bans on same-sex marriage.
The House of Russell includes all of my classes, public talks, and current and former students.
In January 2018, I performed the role of Plaintiff’s Counsel in Gilbert & Sullivan’s Trial by Jury as part of the Sturm Theatre’s inaugural production. CNN.com identified me as one of the most intriguing people for July 16, 2010 after I wrote a piece that was a catalyst in the renaming of a dormitory at The University of Texas. I once was a candidate for the Colorado House of Representatives and have been active in health-care reform.
See my work on SSRN.