Professor of Law
Paul F. Kirgis began teaching at St. John's University
School of Law in 1998. His primary field of interest is
Dispute Resolution. He is Faculty Chair of the Hugh
L. Carey Center for Dispute Resolution, which he founded
pursuant to a gift from former New York Governor and St. John's
Alumnus
Hugh L. Carey.
Professor Kirgis teaches Negotiation, Alternative Dispute
Resolution, and Evidence. His scholarship focuses
on dispute resolution both within and outside of the traditional
civil litigation paradigm. He has published widely on topics
ranging from the civil jury to arbitration to negotiation pedagogy.
His articles have appeared in the
Negotiation Journal, the Oregon
Law Review, the William & Mary Law Review, the
Ohio State Law Review, and the Georgia
Law Review, among others.
A member of the American Law Institute, Professor Kirgis also
serves on the Executive Committee of the AALS Section on Dispute
Resolution. He is a regular contributor to Indisputably, the ADR Prof
Blog. A section of his commentary is available
here.
Professor Kirgis received his J.D., magna cum laude, from
Washington & Lee University School of Law, where he served as
Editor-in-Chief of the Washington & Lee Law Review and was
elected to the Order of the Coif. He received his B.A. from Colgate
University. Prior to coming to St. John's, Professor Kirgis
practiced with two major law firms in Washington, D.C., where he
had extensive litigation experience in areas including defamation,
insurance coverage, commercial disputes, antitrust, government
contracts, and tax.
Professor Kirgis was awarded the Faculty Outstanding Achievement
Medal by St. John's University in 2012 in recognition of his work
with the Hugh L. Carey Center for Dispute Resolution. He has twice
been voted the Law School's Professor of the Year by the students,
first in 2001-02 and again in 2011-12.
He was a Visiting Professor at William & Mary School of Law
in the fall of 2004.