Biography
Brooke Coleman is the Vice Dean for Academic Affairs and Fredric C. Tausend Professor of Law at Seattle University School of Law. Prior to her position as Vice Dean, she served as the Special Assistant to the Vice President for Diversity & Inclusion. Her research and teaching interests focus on procedure and procedural justice. Her work has been published in the New York University Law Review, Northwestern Law Review, Indiana Law Journal, William & Mary Law Review, and Boston College Law Review, among others. 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. In addition to her scholarship, she is the co-founder of the Civil Procedure Workshop.
Professor Coleman's teaching interests include civil procedure, advanced litigation, and federal courts. She has received numerous honors for her teaching, including the 2020-2021 Provost's Award for Excellence in Teaching for Tenure/Tenure Track Faculty, and the law school's Outstanding Faculty Award in 2013, 2015, 2016, and 2020.
Before joining the faculty of Seattle University, Professor Coleman was a Thomas C. Grey Fellow at Stanford Law School. She also clerked for Honorable 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 Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati and Gunderson Dettmer Stough Villeneuve Franklin & Hachigian in Palo Alto, California.
Publications
Law Review Articles
- Managerial Rulemaking, 42 REV. OF LITIG. 101 (2023)
- Endangered Claims, 63 WILLIAM & MARY L. REV. 345 (2021)
- Selected for peer review in JOTWELL (2022)
- #SoWhiteMale: Federal Procedural Rulemaking Committees, 68 UCLA L. REV. DISC. 370 (2020)
- Selected for peer review in JOTWELL (2021)
- Janus-Faced Rulemaking, 41 CARDOZO L. REV. 921 (2019)
- #SoWhiteMale (federal civil Rulemaking), 113 NW. U.L. REV. 407 (2018)
- A Legal Fempire?: Women in Complex Civil Litigation, 93 IND. L. J. 1 (2018)
- Selected for peer review in JOTWELL (2017) & for the Ninth Annual Federal Courts Workshop
- Reinvigorating Commonality: Gender & Class Actions, 92 N.Y.U. LAW REV. 895 (2017) (with E. Porter)
- Republished in WOMEN & THE LAW (2018 Thomson Reuters)
- One Percent Procedure, 91 WASH. L. REV. 1005 (2016)
- The Efficiency Norm, 56 B.C. L. REV. 1777 (2015)
- Selected for peer review in JOTWELL (2016)
- Civil-izing Federalism, 89 TUL. L. REV. 307 (2014)
- Selected for the Seventh Annual Federal Courts Workshop
- Prison is Prison, 88 NOTRE DAME L. REV. 2399 (2013)
Books
- A GUIDE TO CIVIL PROCEDURE: INTEGRATING CRITICAL LEGAL PERSPECTIVES (NYU PRESS) (2022) with Suzette Malveaux, Portia Pedro, & Elizabeth Porter
- LEARNING CIVIL PROCEDURE (4TH ED. WEST, 2022) with Jeffrey W. Stempel, Michael J. Kaufman, David F. Herr, & Steven Baicker-McKee
- Q & A CIVIL PROCEDURE (CAROLINA ACADEMIC PRESS) with Elizabeth Thornburg (5th ED. 2022)
Activity
In the News
7 Seattle hotels sued for alleged violations of Americans With Disabilities Act June 13, 2019 | KIRO 7
Professor Brooke Coleman says lawsuits are an effective enforcement mechanism but are vulnerable to "perverse incentives."
Accountability Requires Tenacity April 23, 2019 | JOTWELL
Professor Brooke Coleman reviews proposed changes to the code of conduct for federal judges.
Midterm takeaway: Women voters are more diverse than given credit for November 07, 2018 | KIRO Radio
Professor Brooke Coleman discusses victories by women in the 2018 midterm elections.
The Committee That Dictates the Rules of American Courts Looks Nothing Like America—or the Federal Judiciary October 24, 2018 | Slate
Professor Brooke Coleman argues for more diversity on the Federal Civil Rules Committee.
Seattle University Professor Brooke Coleman - What's Really on Trial in the Kavanaugh Confirmation October 01, 2018 | KIRO Radio
Professor Brooke Coleman explains the difference between the Kavanaugh hearings and a criminal or civil trial.
From Anita Hill to Christine Blasey Ford, what's changed? October 01, 2018 | KUOW
Professor Brooke Coleman and law student Akua Asare-Konadu talk about how the U.S. Senate is handling sexual assault allegations against a Supreme Court nominee.
'History in the making': Kavanaugh hearing becomes the day’s lesson for law students and others September 27, 2018 | The Seattle Times
Professors Brooke Coleman and Deborah Ahrens, along with law students, comment on the hearing.
VIDEO: Tackling the Kavanaugh hearing September 27, 2018 | KIRO
Professors Brooke Coleman and Deborah Ahrens debrief with students after the Senate committee hearing.
Seattle U law students disappointed with the politics of the Kavanaugh hearing September 27, 2018 | KOMO News
Professors Brooke Coleman and Deborah Ahrens lead students in a legal discussion after the hearing.
Deceptive Wine Pricing Parties Reach Out-of-Court Deal August 14, 2018 | Bloomberg Law
Bypassing the court could become the new normal, says Professor Brooke Coleman.
