New Faculty for Fall '18
In the coming academic year, Associate Professors Tara I. Allen and Christopher J. Ryan, Jr., will bring fresh expertise to RWU's world-class faculty.
RWU Law is pleased to introduce the two latest additions to its faculty, both of whom will be joining the school as associate professors in July.
Associate Professor Tara I. Allen will be teaching Criminal Law, Criminal Procedure, and Evidence. She joins us from the Federal Public Defenders Office for the District of Rhode Island, where she has served as an Assistant Federal Public Defender since 2012, representing indigent defendants in federal criminal proceedings of all kinds. She has also worked in Federal Public Defender Offices in the Western District of Pennsylvania and the Eastern District of California. Prior to her work as a trial lawyer Professor Allen was a staff attorney in the U.S. Courts of Appeals for the Ninth and Second Circuits.
Professor Allen will be a familiar face to many in the RWU Law family, as she has been teaching as an adjunct here (to rave reviews) for several years, and has served as an externship supervisor for RWU Law students placed in the federal defenders office. She also has teaching experience at U.C. Hastings and McGeorge School of Law. Professor Allen earned her B.A. from Wesleyan University and her J.D. from Northeastern.
Associate Professor Christopher J. Ryan, Jr., will teach Property, Wills and Trusts, and Statistics for Lawyers. He joins us from an American Bar Foundation Fellowship, where he conducted research on the job market for law school graduates. He is also in a Ph.D. program in Policy Studies at Vanderbilt University, and his dissertation focuses as well on the economics of attending law school.
Professor Ryan served as a law clerk to Judge Joseph M. Hood of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky, and he was Director of Development at the University of Kentucky. He has also taught courses in business at the University of Louisville.
In addition to his scholarship about law schools and law school graduates Professor Ryan has written about a variety of intellectual property topics. He has a B.A. from Dartmouth College, a Master’s in Education from Notre Dame, and a law degree from the University of Kentucky.
Please join us in welcoming Professor Allen and Professor Ryan to our community!