Julia L. Ernst and Steven R. Morrison Join Law School Faculty

Document Type

News Article

Publication Date

8-2011

Campus Unit

School of Law

Abstract

The UND School of Law is proud to announce the addition of two new tenure-track faculty members. Julia L. Ernst is new to the UND Law School faculty, while Steven R. Morrison joins on a permanent basis after serving one year as a Visiting Assistant Professor.

Julia Ernst Julia L. Ernst joined the University of North Dakota School of Law in July 2011 as an Assistant Professor of Law. Her courses include Constitutional Law I, Legislation, Health Law, and Gender and the Law.

Prior to her position with UND Law, Professor Ernst taught at Georgetown University Law Center in Washington, DC, as a Visiting Associate Professor of Law and an Adjunct Professor. During that time, she was also the Executive Director of the Women’s Law and Public Policy Fellowship Program (WLPPFP) and the Leadership and Advocacy for Women in Africa (LAWA) Fellowship Program.

Her legal research explores the intersections between religious and cultural rights with women’s human rights under the international human rights system. She is currently focusing on whether the separation of church and state is a fundamental prerequisite for the protection of religious rights under the international human rights system, examining the church-state relationship in Norway as a case-study.

Professor Ernst earned her Master of Laws and Certificate in International Human Rights Law from Georgetown in 2010, her Juris Doctorate (cum laude) and Master of Arts in world politics from the University of Michigan in 1994, and her Bachelor of Arts (magna cum laude) in political science from Yale University in 1991. She is a member of Sharon Lutheran Church in Grand Forks, ND, where she resides with her husband and daughter.

Steven R. Morrison Steven R. Morrison joins the faculty on a permanent basis as an Assistant Professor of Law after serving one year as a Visiting Assistant Professor. He teaches Criminal Procedure I and II, Critical Legal Studies, First Amendment, and Criminal Sentencing.

He obtained his B.A. from St. Louis University, M.A. in modern European history from the University of Bradford in England, and his J.D. from Boston College Law School. He clerked for the Honorable Warren M. Silver of the Maine Supreme Judicial Court.

Before coming to UND Law, Professor Morrison worked at the Boston law firm Carney & Bassil as a criminal defense attorney. He continues to work with firm attorneys for a defendant accused of providing material support to a foreign terrorist organization.

Professor Morrison’s scholarship lies primarily in the fields of criminal law and constitutional law. His goal is to understand the purpose and effect of systems of criminal law, and to propose ways that these systems can reach fairer outcomes in more efficient ways. His current research involves the First Amendment as it applies to speech in cyberspace.

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