David A. Logan

David A. Logan became Dean of Roger Williams School of Law in 2003, after two decades on the faculty of Wake Forest University School of Law, where he won awards for his teaching of Torts, Media Law, and Professional Responsibility. At the end of his deanship in 2014, he was one of the nation's longest-serving deans. He has also been a visiting professor at UNC, UT-Austin, Florida State, and the University of Arizona law schools.

A graduate of the University of Virginia School of Law, Professor Logan clerked for a federal judge and practiced with a major Washington, D.C., law firm, representing Native American tribes. He served as co-counsel in Havens Realty Corp. v. Coleman, 455 U.S. 363 (1982), a major Supreme Court decision interpreting the Fair Housing Act.

Professor Logan's publications, primarily focusing on the intersection of tort law and the First Amendment, have appeared in major journals, including the Michigan Law Review, the Iowa Law Review, and the Virginia Law Review. His most recent piece, “Rescuing our Democracy by Revisiting New York Times v. Sullivan,” published in the Ohio State Law Journal in late 2020, was cited sixteen times by Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch in his 2021 opinion in Berisha v. Lawson.

Professor Logan has served as an Advisor to the American Law Institute’s Restatement (Third) of Torts, most recently on the ALI’s Defamation and Privacy Law Project; he has also served the American Bar Association and the Association of American Law Schools in various leadership capacities. He has won awards for his “dedication and commitment to equal justice in the law” (Rhode Island Legal Services), his leadership in achieving diversity and inclusiveness in legal education (Rhode Island NAACP), and the Deborah L. Rhode Award for making “an outstanding contribution to increasing pro bono and public service opportunities in law school through scholarship, leadership, or service” (Association of American Law Schools).

Professor Logan is a frequent commentator on legal issues, having appeared on television (Fox News, NBC Evening News, CBS Morning News, the O’Reilly Factor, and Nightline), radio (BBC Radio, Voice of Russia, Morning Edition, All Things Considered, On Point, and Marketplace) and many print media outlets (including the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Washington Post, and the Economist).

He was born in New York City and grew up in Northern Virginia, where he excelled as a violinist and started for the first racially integrated team to win the state AAA basketball championship. He earned his BA from Bucknell, his MA from Wisconsin-Madison, and his JD from Virginia. In college, he was a varsity basketball player, head deejay on the campus radio station, and a music critic for Rolling Stone magazine.

Books 

"Protection of Personality Rights against Invasions by the Mass Media in the United States of America,” in The Protection of Personality Rights Against Invasions by the Mass Media, edited by Helmut Kozel & Alexander Warzilek (Vienna: Springer, 2005) (with Michael D. Green)

North Carolina Torts, 2d ed. (Durham, North Carolina: Carolina Academic Press, 2004) (with Wayne A. Logan)

Selected Articles 

"Rescuing our Democracy by Revisiting New York Times v. Sullivan", 81 Ohio State Law Journal 759 (2020)

"Still Standing After All These Years:  Five Decades of Litigation Under the Fair Housing Act and the Supreme Court Still Can't Say for Sure Who is Protected", 23 Roger Williams U. L. Rev. 169 (2018)

"Juries, Judges, and the Politics of Tort Reform", 83 University of Cincinnati Law Review 903 (2015)

"When the Restatement is Not a Restatement: The Curious Case of the Flagrant Trespasser", 37 William Mitchell Law Review 1448 (2011) (symposium on the Restatement (3d) Torts)

"The Perils of Glasnost", 38 University of Toledo Law Review 565 (2007)

"Teaching Through Tragedy", 34 Case Western Reserve Journal of International Law 181 (2002)

"Libel Law in the Trenches: Reflections on Current Data on Libel Litigation", 86 Virginia Law Review 503 (2001)

"All Monica, All of the Time, The 24-Hour News Cycle and the Proof of Culpability in Libel Actions", 23 University of Arkansas at Little Rock Law Review 201 (2000)

"Upping the Ante: Curricular and Bar Exam Reform in Professional Responsibility", 56 Washington and Lee Law Review 1023 (1999)

"Masked Media: Judges, Juries, and the Law of Surreptitious Newsgathering", 83 Iowa Law Review 161 (1997)

"Of "Sloppy Journalism", "Corporate Tyranny", and "Mea Culpas": The Curious Case of Moldea v. New York Times", 37 William and Mary Law Review 161 (1995)