Michael A. Simons
Dean and John V. Brennan Professor of Law & Ethics
Michael A. Simons was appointed
Dean of the School of Law on July 1, 2009.
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.
Dean Simons joined the St. John's faculty in 1998, and was
selected by the students as "Professor of the Year" in 2000. 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, and the Journal
of Catholic Legal Studies. He teaches in the areas of
criminal law and evidence, and he has been a frequent lecturer to
the bench and bar on both topics.
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.
After graduating 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).