Michael A. Simons
Dean and John V. Brennan Professor of Law and Ethics
Michael A. Simons joined the St. John's faculty in 1998 and was
appointed
Dean of the School of Law in 2009.
Dean Simons teaches in the areas of criminal law and evidence, and
he has been a frequent lecturer to the bench and bar on both
topics. He was selected by the students as "Professor of the Year"
in 2000 and 2011. From 2005 through 2008, he served as Associate
Dean for Faculty Scholarship. His own
scholarship has focused on sentencing, prosecutorial
decision-making, and punishment theory. His articles have appeared
in the New York University Law Review, the Vanderbilt
Law Review, the George Mason Law Review, the
Villanova Law Review, the St. John’s Law Review,
The Catholic Lawyer, the Journal of Catholic Legal
Studies, the Journal of Civil Rights and Economic
Development, and the Temple Political and Civil Rights Law
Review.
Since 2001, he has been a Fellow with the Vincentian Center for Church and
Society. During 2005 and 2006, he was a member of the New
York City Mayor's Advisory Committee on the Judiciary. He has also
been involved with St. John's efforts to increase the diversity of
the legal profession, including by organizing and hosting the
annual Catholic Middle Schools Mock Trial Program, by teaching in
the Ronald H. Brown Center's Summer Prep Program, and by lecturing
for Legal Outreach.
Dean Simons graduated magna cum laude from the College of
the Holy Cross in 1986 and magna cum laude from the
Harvard Law School in 1989, where he was an editor of the Harvard
Law Review. After law school, Dean Simons clerked for the Honorable
Louis F. Oberdorfer of the United States District Court for the
District of Columbia (1989-90). He later served as a staff attorney
for The Washington Post (1990-91), as an associate at
Stillman, Friedman & Shaw (1991-95), and as an Assistant United
States Attorney in the Southern District of New York
(1995-98).
A graduate of Chaminade High School in Mineola, New York, Dean
Simons resides on Long Island with his wife Karen and their five
children.