Thomas C. Berg: Professor of law
Thomas Berg has a B.S. in journalism from Northwestern University, an M.A. in philosophy and politics from Oxford University, and both an M.A. in religious studies and a J.D. from the University of Chicago, all with honors. He was a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford.
Berg practiced law in Chicago with Mayer, Brown and Platt. In addition to handling general commercial litigation, Berg specialized in writing briefs in the U.S. Supreme Court and federal courts of appeals, and also handled a range of legal matters for the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Chicago and other religious institutions. Berg has written more than 35 articles in law reviews and religion journals on religious freedom, constitutional law and the role of religion in modern society, and has established himself as one of the most-respected constitutional scholars in the United States.
Representative scholarship:
Religious Liberty with Michael McConnell and John Garvey (forthcoming).
The Structures of American Churches with James Serritella, Cole Durham, Edward Gaffney and Craig Mousin, eds. (forthcoming 2001).
Edmund P. Edmonds: Director of the law library and professor of law
Edmund Edmonds received his undergraduate degree from the University of Notre Dame, a master’s degree in library science from the University of Maryland, and a juris doctor from the University of Toledo. Prior to coming to St. Thomas, Edmonds worked at the University of Toledo Law Library, the Marshall-Wythe School of Law Library at the College of William and Mary, and as the director of the law library and professor of law at the Loyola University New Orleans School of Law.
Edmonds is past president of the New Orleans Association of Law Librarians, the Southeastern Chapter of the American Association of Law Libraries, and the Conference of Law Libraries of the Association of Jesuit Colleges and Universities. He has more than 15 years of teaching experience in legal education, and has been involved in teaching legal research, antitrust law and criminal law, as well as seminars on the regulation of the sports and entertainment industries.
Representative scholarship:
"The Curt Flood Act of 1998: A Hollow Gesture After All These Years?" 9 Marq. Sports L.J. 315 (1999).
"Over Forty Years in the On-Deck Circle: Congress and the Baseball Antitrust Exemption," 19 T. Marshall L. Rev. 627 (1994).
Neil W. Hamilton: Professor of law
Neil Hamilton graduated cum laude in economics and as a member of Phi Beta Kappa from Colorado College in 1967. He graduated magna cum laude from the University of Minnesota Law School as a member of Order of the Coif in 1970. He served as research editor of the Minnesota Law Review. Hamilton received his M.A. in economics (industrial organizations) from the University of Michigan in 1979.
Hamilton taught at Case Western Reserve University School of Law from 1977 to 1980. He joined the William Mitchell College of Law faculty in 1980, where he was named Trustees Professor of Regulatory Policy in 1982. He also was selected as a Fulbright Scholar at the University of Singapore in 1987. Hamilton is the author of two books and more than 50 articles, and is a columnist on professionalism and ethics for Minnesota Lawyer. He is nationally known for his work on academic freedom and academic ethics.
Representative scholarship:
"The Ethics of Peer Review in the Academic and Legal Professions" (forthcoming in a symposium in the South Texas Law Review).
"Academic Tradition and the Principles of Professional Conduct" (forthcoming in a symposium on academic freedom in the Journal of College and University Law).
David T. Link: Dean of University of St. Thomas School of Law and associate vice president for academic affairs
David Link received both his B.S. and law degrees from the University of Notre Dame. After serving in the office of the chief counsel of the Internal Revenue Service during the Kennedy Administration, Link became a partner in the Chicago firm of Winston & Strawn. In 1970, Link took a leave of absence from Winston & Strawn to become associate dean and professor of law at Notre Dame Law School. Five years later, he was appointed dean.
Link served as dean of Notre Dame Law School for more than 24 years. In 1999, following his retirement, Link agreed to serve as the founding dean of the St. Thomas School of Law and as associate vice president for academic affairs at St. Thomas. He simultaneously serves as the deputy vice chancellor (academic) and provost of St. Augustine University College of South Africa. Link is the Joseph A. Matson Dean Emeritus of the Notre Dame Law School and the president-vice chancellor emeritus of the University of Notre Dame Australia.
Representative scholarship:
"The Pervasive Method of Teaching Ethics," Journal of Legal Education.
Law of Federal, Estate and Gift Taxation, Volumes I, II & III (with Soderquist), published by Callaghan & Co.
Michael P. O'Connor: Assistant professor of law
Michael O’Connor graduated summa cum laude from Pennsylvania State University, where he was a member of Phi Beta Kappa. At Yale Law School, O’Connor served as student director of the Green Haven Prison Project and Jerome N. Frank Prison Legal Services. After graduating from Yale, O’Connor began his career as a staff attorney with the Alabama Capital Representation Resource Center. He subsequently served as a trial attorney with the Federal Defenders of San Diego, as a senior litigator with the Arizona Capital Representation Project, as a deputy federal public defender in Los Angeles, and as a solo practitioner in Arizona and California.
In 1993, O’Connor was a co-finalist for Trial Lawyer of the Year based upon his work in the capital case of Alabama vs. Walter McMillian. Three years later, O’Connor received the St. Thomas More Award for his work on behalf of death-sentenced prisoners in Arizona.
Representative scholarship:
The History and Efficacy of Legislative Efforts to Combat Terrorism in Northern Ireland with Celia Rumann, (in progress).
"Unbalancing the Separation of Powers: Clinton vs. Jones," in Leading Cases of the Twentieth Century (2000).
Jerome M. Organ: Professor of law
Jerome Organ graduated magna cum laude from Miami University and attended Vanderbilt University School of Law as a Patrick Wilson Scholar, where he graduated as a member of Order of the Coif. After clerking for Justice William G. Callow of the Wisconsin Supreme Court, Organ entered private practice with Foley and Lardner in Milwaukee.
Organ’s scholarship has focused primarily on environmental law and, in particular, on developing more efficient means of resolving environmental disputes. His scholarship also addresses environmental federalism — that is, the balance of authority in environmental matters between the federal government and state governments.
Representative scholarship:
Property and Lawyering (with two coauthors), to be published by West Publishing in 2002.
Elizabeth R. Schiltz: Associate professor of law
Elizabeth Schiltz graduated magna cum laude from Yale University and received her juris doctor from Columbia Law School. After law school, she spent a year in Germany as a Robert Bosch Foundation Fellow. Schiltz was in private practice for nine years with law firms in Washington, D.C., and Minneapolis, focusing on banking regulation, general corporate law and international law. Most recently, she practiced banking law at Faegre & Benson, Minnesota’s second largest law firm.
Schiltz has served on the boards of directors of various community organizations, including Minnesota Advocates for Human Rights, Feminists for Life of Minnesota, Notre Dame’s Early Childhood Development Center, Indiana’s Council of Volunteers and Hoosiers with Disabilities, and the South Bend Down Syndrome Support Group.
Representative scholarship:
"Discrimination in Lending to People with Disabilities: Does the Americans with Disabilities Act Fill the Gap in the Equal Credit Opportunity Act?" (in progress).
"Too Many Holes in the Old Patchwork Quilt: The Disintegration of the Structural Framework of Consumer Lending Law" (in progress).
Patrick J. Schiltz: Associate dean and professor of law
Patrick Schiltz graduated summa cum laude from the College of St. Scholastica and magna cum laude from Harvard Law School. After serving as a law clerk to U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, Schiltz practiced for six years as an associate and two years as a partner at Faegre & Benson. Schiltz left private practice in 1995 to join the faculty of Notre Dame Law School. One of Schiltz’s articles — "On Being a Happy, Healthy, and Ethical Member of an Unhappy, Unhealthy, and Unethical Profession" — has become, in the words of one reviewer, "a minor classic."
In July 2000, Schiltz left Notre Dame to become the founding associate dean of the St. Thomas School of Law. Schiltz also continues to serve as reporter to the Advisory Committee on the Federal Rules of Appellate Procedure, a position to which he was appointed by Chief Justice William Rehnquist in 1997.
Representative scholarship:
Federal Practice and Procedure with Charles Alan Wright, Arthur R. Miller and Edward H. Cooper, (3d ed. Supp. forthcoming 2001).
Employment in The Structures of American Churches with Douglas Laycock (Carolina Academic Press, 2001).
Ursula H. Weigold: Director of legal writing and associate professor of law
Ursula Weigold graduated magna cum laude (in history) and cum laude (in journalism) from the University of Texas at Austin, and also received her juris doctor from the University of Texas School of Law. After practicing briefly with a small civil law firm in Houston, she began a judicial clerkship with the chief justice of the Texas Court of Appeals in Houston. She then was a research attorney on the court’s central legal staff and was later promoted to senior staff attorney.
Weigold joins St. Thomas from South Texas College of Law in Houston, where she has taught for 10 years and served as the director of its legal research and writing program for seven years. In addition to her own pro bono legal work, Weigold has conducted writing seminars and tutorials to help lawyers in public service become more effective advocates for their clients.
Representative scholarship:
Assessing the Right of Individual Petition in Enforcing International Human Rights Law (in progress).
Integrating Ethics Instruction into Legal Research & Writing Courses (in progress).
Rev. D. Reginald Whitt: Professor of law
The Rev. D. Reginald Whitt, O.P., earned his B.A. from Loyola College in Baltimore and his S.T.B. from the Dominican House of Studies in Washington, D.C. He was ordained a priest in 1976. Whitt served in campus ministry before enrolling in Duke Law School, from which he received his J.D. in 1982.
Whitt practiced law with Duane, Morris & Heckscher in Philadelphia. He left the firm in 1985 to begin his teaching career, which has included positions as a visiting instructor at Villanova University School of Law, assistant professor of law at the University of Kentucky College of Law, senior lecturing fellow at Duke Law School, and associate professor of law at Notre Dame Law School.
Representative scholarship:
Just Choose Your Seat: Historical, Pastoral, and Canonical Reflections on African American Catholicism (forthcoming).
A Complex and Specialized Particular Church: The Canonical Distinction of the Military Ordinariate (forthcoming).
Related LinksThe above information on St. Thomas School of Law faculty can be found at https://www.stthomas.edu/lawschool/ar/ar_fac.htm.