Brooke Coleman, vice dean for Academic Affairs and the Fredric C. Tausend Professor of Law at Seattle University School of Law, has been elected to the prestigious American Law Institute (ALI), an organization composed of lawyers, judges, and legal scholars that advocates for the clarification and simplification of common law.
“Professor Coleman is richly deserving of this significant honor,” Dean Anthony E. Varona said. “She has a brilliant legal mind and is one of the nation’s foremost experts on civil procedure. In addition, she is a talented and dedicated professor who is driving innovation in legal education at our law school and throughout the nation.”
Founded in the 1920s and headquartered in Philadelphia, the ALI counts all nine U.S. Supreme Court justices among its membership of 4,500 legal professionals. According to its website, the ALI publishes Restatements of the Law, Model Codes, and Principles of Law that influence courts, governing bodies, and legal scholarship.
“I don’t know that there is another independent organization that has as much influence on how law develops,” Coleman said.
New members can only be nominated by current members and are voted on by the ALI Council in a process that takes place three times per year. Coleman was elected with 46 other new members.
“I was really honored to find out I’d been elected. Being nominated by people in my field felt very gratifying and special,” Coleman said. “To be nominated and to be voted in by people whom I respect so much means a lot.”
Other ALI members from Seattle U Law include Professors Steve Bender, Margaret Chon, John Kirkwood, Charles O’Kelly, Professor Emeritus Mark Reutlinger, and Varona.
Coleman’s first ALI meeting is next month, with additional meetings taking place around the U.S. at different points throughout the year.
“I’m excited to learn more about how the ALI works and getting involved in some of the projects that might dovetail with my scholarship in civil procedure,” Coleman said. “It’s another avenue for me to try to have an impact with respect to my scholarship that I haven’t had before.”
Before becoming vice dean for Academic Affairs last year, Coleman served as special assistant to Natasha Martin, Seattle University’s vice president for Diversity and Inclusion. She also previously served as associate dean of Research and Faculty Development.
Prior to joining the faculty of Seattle U Law, Coleman was a Thomas C. Grey Fellow at Stanford Law School. She also clerked for Judge David F. Levi, district judge in the Eastern District of California and then-chair of the Standing Committee on the Federal Rules of Practice and Procedure. Before her clerkship, she practiced as an attorney at two law firms: Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, and Gunderson Dettmer Stough Villeneuve Franklin & Hachigian, both in Palo Alto, California.
Coleman’s writing has been published in the New York University Law Review, Northwestern University Law Review, William & Mary Law Review, Boston College Law Review, Indiana Law Journal, and Cardozo Law Review. She is the co-editor of an anthology of critical legal perspectives, “A Guide to Civil Procedure: Integrating Critical Legal Perspectives,” and the lead author of an innovative civil procedure casebook, “Learning Civil Procedure.”