Dean Emerita and Professor Michelle S. Simon has been named the recipient of Elisabeth Haub School of Law at ýýs 2025 Faculty Award for Excellence in Teaching. The Faculty Award for Excellence in Teaching recognizes that outstanding pedagogy occurs in a variety of settings at the Law Schoolýit can be found in courses of all sizes and types, in teachers with diverse styles, and across subject matters.

Michelle S. Simon
Biography
Professor Michelle Simon served as the dean of the Elisabeth Haub School of Law at ý from 2008ý2014, after serving as interim Dean during the 2007ý2008 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 Simonýs 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.
Education
- BA, State University of New York at Albany
- JD, Syracuse University College of Law
Honors & Awards
- 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)
- Presidentýs Award for Excellence, 2004, 2012
Selected Publications
View all of Professor Simonýs publications on , or download her CV (PDF).
- Against a Uniform Law on the Income Taxation of Trusts (Accepted for publication, cite pending.)
- , 43 St. Louis L.J. 1 (2021) (invited paper) (with Bridget J. Crawford)
- , 67 UCLA L. Rev. Disc. 2 (2019) (with Bridget J. Crawford)
- , 69 Syracuse L. Rev. 83 (2019)
- , 70 Baylor L. Rev. 1 (2018)
- ýCommentary on Gebser v. Lago Vista Independent School District,ý 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
- , 37 William & Mary Envtl. L. & Polýy Rev. 219 (2012) (with William Pentland)
- , 30 Pace L. Rev. 1146 (2010)
- , 29 Pace L. Rev. 223 (2009)
- , 9 Lewis & Clark L. Rev. 295 (2005)
Areas of Interest
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
Related News and Stories
After taking the LSATýs on a whim during her senior year in college, Professor Michelle Simon found her passion in the law immediately after starting law school at Syracuse University College of Law. Having spent time clerking and in private practice after law school, she was hired as a professor in 1985 by Pace Lawýs first female dean, Janet Johnson. Twenty-two years later, Professor Simon would also serve as dean of the Law School, making her the third female dean in the schoolýs history. During this womenýs history month, learn more about one of Haub Lawýs female trailblazers, Dean Emerita and Professor of Law, Michelle Simon, in this candid Q&A.