Name Stephen Sheppard | ||
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Red Mass 2018
Stephen M Sheppard (born 1963) is Dean and Charles E. Cantu Distinguished Professor of Law at St. Mary's University School of Law, in the City of San Antonio, Texas. He teaches international law, environmental law, professional responsibility, and legal history. His writings are often published under his familiar name, Steve Sheppard.
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Education
Sheppard received a B.A. from the University of Southern Mississippi followed by a J.D., L.L.M., and J.S.D. from Columbia University. He has also received a post-J.D. certificate in International Law from Columbia University and was made Master of Letters by Oxford University.
Scholarship
Though active in other fields, Sheppard is a legal historian, with a focus on the development of the common law and of legal institutions, particularly legal education in the United States. He was elected a fellow of the Royal Historical Society especially for his work on early modern English law, including his three-volume anthology, The Selected Writings of Sir Edward Coke. He is also a member of the Selden Society. His work in the law has been widely cited by courts including the Utah Supreme Court, (in State v. Reyes, 116 P.3d 305 (2005)) it changed the burden of proof for felonies in Utah citing Sheppard's law review article, The Metamorphoses of Reasonable Doubt: How Changes in the Burden of Proof Have Weakened the Presumption of Innocence, as its only academic authority. He wrote a new edition of the great American legal dictionary by John Bouvier, The Wolters Kluwer Bouvier Law Dictionary. An active scholarly editor, he has prepared new editions of several classic lawbooks, including the massive "Opera Omnia of John Selden and the contemporary classics, Bramble Bush by Karl Llewellyn and Introduction to the Legal System of the United States by E. Allan Farnsworth.
Professional career
Until 2014, he was the William H. Enfield Distinguished Professor of Law at the University of Arkansas School of Law, where he was also the Associate Dean for Research and Faculty Development.