Distinguished Professor of Law
B.A., Brandeis University
J.D., UCLA School of Law
E-mail:
aegarfield@widener.eduPhone: 302.477.2140
Alan E. Garfield is a distinguished professor of law on Widener’s Delaware campus. He received his Bachelor of Arts, magna cum laude, from Brandeis University, and his Juris Doctorate from UCLA School of Law, where he was a member of the UCLA Law Review and the Order of the Coif (top 10%). Prior to joining the Widener faculty, Professor Garfield worked for three years in the litigation department of Weil, Gotshal & Manges in New York City. He is licensed to practice in California and New York.
Professor Garfield has received awards for both his teaching and scholarship, including the 2004 Outstanding Faculty Award and the 2006 Douglas E. Ray Excellence in Faculty Scholarship Award. He served as the H. Albert Young Fellow in Constitutional Law from 2005 to 2007, and he currently holds a three-year appointment as a Distinguished Professor. He has also been a visiting professor at American University Washington College of Law and Bryn Mawr College.
Professor Garfield writes and teaches in the areas of Constitutional Law, Copyright, and Contracts. His articles have appeared in numerous journals including the Cornell Law Review, the Washington University Law Review, the Georgia Law Review, and the Columbia Business Law Review. Professor Garfield has also published numerous op-eds in the Philadelphia Inquirer and the Wilmington News Journal. In 2009, he began writing a monthly column for The News Journal on the Supreme Court (“Bench Press”). In 2012, the column received the first place award for a personal opinion column in both state and national press association competitions.
Professor Garfield is the founder and coordinator of “The First State Celebrates Constitution Day,” a project run in collaboration with The News Journal editors since 2006. Each year experts are asked to submit essays on a selected constitutional law theme. These essays are published in The News Journal on or around Constitution Day (September 17th) and are permanently housed on the Widener Law School website.
Professor Garfield is a past chair of the Association of American Law Schools Section on Mass Communication Law and is currently on the Section’s Executive Committee. He has also served on the Board of Directors of the Delaware ACLU since 2006 and is currently the Board’s Vice President.
Selected Recent Publications
Articles
- To Swear or Not to Swear: Using Foul Language during a Supreme Court Oral Argument, 90 WASH. U. L. REV. ___ (2012) (forthcoming)
- “Reasoning-Lite” in the Violent Video Game Case, 1 WAKE FOREST L. REV. ONLINE 124 (2011)
- Calibrating Copyright Statutory Damages to Promote Speech, 38 FLA. ST. U. L. REV. 1 (2010)
- What Should We Celebrate on Constitution Day?, 41 GA. L. REV. 453 (2007).
- The Case for First Amendment Limits on Copyright Law, 35 HOFSTRA L. REV. 1169 (2007) (Symposium)
- Protecting Children from Speech, 57 FLA. L. REV. 565 (2005) (reprinted in THE FIRST AMENDMENT LAW HANDBOOK (Rodney Smolla, ed., 2005-2006 ed.))
- Basic Assumption (A Poem Based on Sherwood v. Walker), 57 SMU L. REV. 137 (2004)
- The Mischief of Cohen v. Cowles Media Co., 35 GA. L. REV. 1087 (2001)
- The First Amendment as a Check on Copyright Rights, 23 HASTINGS COMM/ENT L.J. 587 (2001) (Symposium)
- Promises of Silence: Contract Law and Freedom of Speech, 83 CORNELL L. REV. 261 (1998).