Michelle S. Simon

Professor Michelle Simon served as the dean of the Elisabeth Haub School of Law at Pace University from 2008–2014, after serving as interim Dean during the 2007–2008 academic year. She has been a member of the Haub Law faculty since 1985 and also served as Associate Dean of Academic Affairs for six years. Professor Simon is one of the primary architects of an innovative legal writing curriculum that integrates doctrinal law with skills training. She currently teaches Civil Procedure, Torts, Federal Courts and Conflict of Laws. Her other teaching areas include Criminal Law Legal Skills, and Education Law.

Prior to joining the Haub Law faculty, Professor Simon served a law clerk for U.S. Magistrate Judge Honorable A. Simon Chrein (EDNY) and practiced law for several years at Wilson, Elser, Moskowitz, Edelman & Dicker LLP, where she specialized in products liability litigation. She is an honors graduate of Syracuse University College of Law, where she served as Senior Lead Articles Editor of the Syracuse Law Review.

Professor Simon’s substantive expertise lies in the areas of civil procedure, torts, conflict of laws, federal courts, criminal law and matters concerning secondary and higher education. She is the faculty director of the first-year legal skills program, and specializes in studying how first-year students learn. Professor Simon has written numerous articles and book chapters on these topics.

• BA, State University of New York at Albany
• JD, Syracuse University College of Law

• Civil Procedure LAW 610A
• Conflict of Laws LAW 678
• Law and Education LAW 725
• Legal Skills I LAW 622C
• Torts LAW 631

• Festschrift in Honor of Dean Michelle S. Simon, 35 Pace L. Rev. 4 (2015)
• Richard L. Ottinger Award for Faculty Achievement, 2001, 2007, 2015 (for outstanding service to law school and outside communities)
• President’s Award for Excellence, 2004, 2012

View all of Professor Simon’s publications on SSRN, Digital Commons or download her CV (PDF).

• Against a Uniform Law on the Income Taxation of Trusts (Accepted for publication, cite pending.)
• Law Faculty Experiences Teaching During the Pandemic, 43 St. Louis L.J. 1 (2021) (invited paper) (with Bridget J. Crawford)
• The Supreme Court, Due Process and State Income Taxation of Trusts, 67 UCLA L. Rev. Disc. 2 (2019) (with Bridget J. Crawford)
• Walking Out: Schools, Students and Civil Disobedience, 69 Syracuse L. Rev. 83 (2019)
• Hogan vs. Gawker II: A Statutory Solution to Fraudulent Joinder, 70 Baylor L. Rev. 1 (2018)
• “Commentary on Gebser v. Lago Vista Independent School District,” in Feminist Judgments: Rewritten Opinions of the United States Supreme Court (Kathryn M. Stanchi, Linda L. Berger & Bridget J. Crawford, eds.) Cambridge University Press 2016
• Reliable Science: Overcoming Public Doubts in the Climate Change Debate, 37 William & Mary Envtl. L. & Pol’y Rev. 219 (2012) (with William Pentland)
• Celebrating Thirty Years of the Pace Law Review, 30 Pace L. Rev. 1146 (2010)
• Women and the Law: How Far We’ve Come and Where We Need to Go, 29 Pace L. Rev. 223 (2009)
• Defining the Limits of Supplemental Jurisdiction Under 28 U.S.C. § 1367: A Hearty Welcome to Permissive Counterclaims, 9 Lewis & Clark L. Rev. 295 (2005)

Law School, Law School Experience, First-year Curriculum, Torts, Tort Issues, Civil Procedure, Higher Education, Federal Courts, Supreme Court Decisions, Primary and Secondary Education, Mental Health Issues, Legal Skills, Law School Curriculum