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Professor Steinman Named the Robert W. Hodgkins Endowed Chairholder in Law

January 28, 2023

Professor Steinman, Robert W. Hodgkins Endowed Chairholder in Law at The University of Alabama School of Law, poses in front of the Law School.

The University of Alabama School of Law has named Professor Adam Steinman as the Robert W. Hodgkins Endowed Chairholder in Law. This endowed position offers distinction and meaningful support to aid Professor Steinman in his research, teaching, and service to the School of Law.

Professor Steinman joined the University of Alabama School of Law faculty in 2014. ­­He is an award-winning teacher and scholar, whose articles have been published in dozens of prominent law journals including the Stanford Law Review, N.Y.U. Law Review, and Virginia Law Review among many others.

Professor Steinman is a co-author of two leading casebooks — Civil Procedure: Cases and Materials (13th edition) (with Jack Friedenthal, Arthur Miller, John Sexton, Helen Hershkoff & Troy McKenzie) and Federal Courts: Cases, Comments and Questions (9th edition) (with Martin Redish, Suzanna Sherry, James Pfander & Steven Gensler). In addition, he is an elected member of the American Law Institute and an author on the Wright & Miller Federal Practice & Procedure treatise—one of the most respected legal treatises in the United States. Professor Steinman has taught a range of courses, including Civil Procedure, Complex Litigation, Federal Courts, and International Human Rights Law.

Professor Steinman earned his J.D. from Yale Law School and his B.A. from Yale University. After law school, he served as a clerk to federal judges at both the trial and appellate levels — Judge Emilio M. Garza of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit and Chief Judge Jerry Buchmeyer of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas. Following his clerkships, Professor Steinman spent two years as a teaching fellow and supervising attorney in the Appellate Litigation Program at Georgetown University Law Center, earning a Master of Laws degree (LL.M). Professor Steinman then practiced at the law firm of Perkins Coie LLP in Seattle, Washington, focusing on complex civil litigation (principally product liability, commercial, and international matters) and appellate litigation. Prior to joining the University of Alabama faculty, he was a Professor of Law at Seton Hall University and the University of Cincinnati. During the Fall 2022 semester, he taught at Yale Law School as the Sidley Austin–Robert D. McLean Visiting Professor of Law. He has now returned to Alabama Law where he plans to continue his research and teaching efforts.

About the Robert W. Hodgkins Endowed Chair in Law

The Robert W. Hodgkins Endowed Chair in Law was funded by the late Robert and Joanne Hodgkins who desired to attract and retain outstanding faculty members at Alabama Law. Mr. Hodgkins was a 1953 graduate of the University of Alabama School of Law, who had a distinguished career with the State Farm Insurance Company. Mr. Hodgkins and his wife Joanne S. Hodgkins established a professorship in Mr. Hodgkins’s name in 2001.


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