Sheldon A. Evans

Associate Professor of Law
J.D. University of Chicago Law SchoolB.A. University of South California (cum laude)

Sheldon A. Evans focuses his teaching and scholarship on criminal sentencing, punishment theory, and its intersection with immigration policies. His work also follows emerging trends in technology and art, and their intersection with criminal and immigration law. His work has appeared in the Columbia Law Review, the University of Pennsylvania Law Review, the California Law Review, the George Washington Law Review, and the Federal Sentencing Reporter among other academic journals. His recent article Punishment Externalities and the Prison Tax won the AALS Criminal Justice Section Junior Scholar Award in 2022 for its contribution to punishment theory and ending mass incarceration. 

Professor Evans joined the faculty in 2018 and teaches Criminal Law, Immigration Law, Professional Responsibility, and seminars on race and literature. After receiving his undergraduate degree with honors from the University of Southern California, he earned his J.D. from the University of Chicago Law School, where he served on The University of Chicago Legal Forum. He has taught courses at NYU School of Law as an adjunct professor and at Emory University School of Law as a visiting professor. Before joining St. John’s, Professor Evans practiced law at Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP, where he focused on legal malpractice, complex contract disputes, and labor and employment law as a senior litigation associate. He also devoted a significant portion of his practice to pro bono advocacy for clients seeking immigration relief. Professor Evans also served as a federal law clerk on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit for the Honorable Lavenski R. Smith.

Professor Evans is also a co-host of the Black Authors Book Club, which furthers his commitment to antiracism by promoting and discussing books written by Black authors that highlight the Black experience in America and across the African diaspora. For more information, please visit the Book Club’s website. Register on our Eventbrite page

You can follow Professor Evans on Twitter @prawfsevans777