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Renee Knake Jefferson
Professor of Law and the Joanne and Larry Doherty Chair in Legal Ethics
Assistant Dean for Outcomes, Assessments, and Strategies
Biography
Professor Jefferson is an award-winning scholar and educator known for her expertise in legal and judicial ethics. Her research, published in top journals including the Michigan Law Review and the Yale Law Journal Forum, has been cited in court proceedings and major media outlets such as The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, National Public Radio, and The Washington Post.
She has provided expert testimony and opinions on judicial ethics and lawyer professional responsibility matters before the United States Congress and twice before the Texas Supreme Court of Special Review. In litigation, she is regularly retained as an expert witness for cases involving attorney conflicts of interest, professional misconduct, disqualification motions, and legal malpractice claims. Her expert work has included the successful defense of an AmLaw 100 law firm in an $800 million legal malpractice action, as well as the dismissal of a motion to disqualify the general counsel and in-house legal department of a major genetics company. Jefferson has taught Professional Responsibility more than 50 times and delivered more than 130 ethics presentations to major law firms, state bar continuing legal education programs, and law schools across the United States and internationally.
Professor Jefferson is also a proven leader in higher education. As an assistant dean, she successfully guides law school accreditation efforts. She also serves as an elected member of the American Bar Association’s Council for the Section on Legal Education and Admission to the Bar (the sole national accreditor of J.D. programs) and a subject matter expert for the National Conference of Bar Examiners on the Multistate Professional Responsibility Exam. In addition, she serves as vice chair of the board of trustees for a major R-1 research university.
She is the author of five books and more than 40 academic articles. Her book, Shortlisted: Women in the Shadows of the Supreme Court, has been called “an excellent contribution” by the Library Journal and praised in numerous reviews. Professor Jefferson has been a scholar-in-residence at Stanford Law School's Center on the Legal Profession and a visiting scholar at the American Bar Foundation. In 2019, she was awarded the Fulbright Distinguished Chair in Entrepreneurship and Innovation at Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology University in Australia, where she conducted research for her most recent book, Law Democratized: A Blueprint for Solving the Justice Crisis, described by one reviewer as “the best book on access to justice in many years.”
Professor Jefferson has been selected for a range of leadership roles. She currently serves on the board of directors for the International Association of Legal Ethics. She is a past-chair for the Association of American Law Schools Section on Professional Responsibility. She was appointed as a reporter for the American Bar Association Presidential Commission on the Future of Legal Services, and is a past-delegate to the World Economic Forum Global Agenda Councils on Justice and Rule of Law. She was elected to the American Law Institute in 2017.
At the Law Center, she currently teaches Professional Responsibility, Legal Methods, and the seminar Law, Leadership & Power. Other courses previously taught include Constitutional Law, Entrepreneurial Lawyering, Federal Jurisdiction, the First Amendment and Lawyer Speech, and 21st Century Law Practice.
Prior to joining the University of Houston faculty, Jefferson held the Foster Swift Professorship of Legal Ethics and was co-director of the Frank J. Kelley Institute of Ethics and the Legal Profession at Michigan State University College of Law, where she taught for a decade. During her time at Michigan State, she co-founded and secured substantial external funding for the law school's inaugural program on technology, entrepreneurship, and innovation in legal services, recognized as a top program in the nation.
Before entering academia, Professor Jefferson practiced law with the international law firms Mayer Brown and Hunton & Williams and served as an Assistant City Attorney for Charlottesville, Virginia. She is a graduate of the University of Chicago Law School.
She has provided expert testimony and opinions on judicial ethics and lawyer professional responsibility matters before the United States Congress and twice before the Texas Supreme Court of Special Review. In litigation, she is regularly retained as an expert witness for cases involving attorney conflicts of interest, professional misconduct, disqualification motions, and legal malpractice claims. Her expert work has included the successful defense of an AmLaw 100 law firm in an $800 million legal malpractice action, as well as the dismissal of a motion to disqualify the general counsel and in-house legal department of a major genetics company. Jefferson has taught Professional Responsibility more than 50 times and delivered more than 130 ethics presentations to major law firms, state bar continuing legal education programs, and law schools across the United States and internationally.
Professor Jefferson is also a proven leader in higher education. As an assistant dean, she successfully guides law school accreditation efforts. She also serves as an elected member of the American Bar Association’s Council for the Section on Legal Education and Admission to the Bar (the sole national accreditor of J.D. programs) and a subject matter expert for the National Conference of Bar Examiners on the Multistate Professional Responsibility Exam. In addition, she serves as vice chair of the board of trustees for a major R-1 research university.
She is the author of five books and more than 40 academic articles. Her book, Shortlisted: Women in the Shadows of the Supreme Court, has been called “an excellent contribution” by the Library Journal and praised in numerous reviews. Professor Jefferson has been a scholar-in-residence at Stanford Law School's Center on the Legal Profession and a visiting scholar at the American Bar Foundation. In 2019, she was awarded the Fulbright Distinguished Chair in Entrepreneurship and Innovation at Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology University in Australia, where she conducted research for her most recent book, Law Democratized: A Blueprint for Solving the Justice Crisis, described by one reviewer as “the best book on access to justice in many years.”
Professor Jefferson has been selected for a range of leadership roles. She currently serves on the board of directors for the International Association of Legal Ethics. She is a past-chair for the Association of American Law Schools Section on Professional Responsibility. She was appointed as a reporter for the American Bar Association Presidential Commission on the Future of Legal Services, and is a past-delegate to the World Economic Forum Global Agenda Councils on Justice and Rule of Law. She was elected to the American Law Institute in 2017.
At the Law Center, she currently teaches Professional Responsibility, Legal Methods, and the seminar Law, Leadership & Power. Other courses previously taught include Constitutional Law, Entrepreneurial Lawyering, Federal Jurisdiction, the First Amendment and Lawyer Speech, and 21st Century Law Practice.
Prior to joining the University of Houston faculty, Jefferson held the Foster Swift Professorship of Legal Ethics and was co-director of the Frank J. Kelley Institute of Ethics and the Legal Profession at Michigan State University College of Law, where she taught for a decade. During her time at Michigan State, she co-founded and secured substantial external funding for the law school's inaugural program on technology, entrepreneurship, and innovation in legal services, recognized as a top program in the nation.
Before entering academia, Professor Jefferson practiced law with the international law firms Mayer Brown and Hunton & Williams and served as an Assistant City Attorney for Charlottesville, Virginia. She is a graduate of the University of Chicago Law School.
