Vincent C. Alexander, Professor of Law Emeritus

Professor of Law Emeritus
B.A., Yale University (magna cum laude)J.D., St. John's University (cum laude)LL.M., J.S.D., Columbia University

As a law student at St. John's, Professor Alexander was the Editor-in-Chief of the Law Review. Before joining the St. John's faculty in 1977, he practiced law in the litigation department of Mudge Rose Guthrie & Alexander in New York. He was the former Charles Sparacio Professor of Law and taught Evidence and New York Civil Practice.

He is co-author of the treatise Evidence in New York State and Federal Courts (Thomson/West), the second edition of which was published in 2011. In addition to annual updates for the Evidence treatise, other publications include the Practice Commentaries on the New York Civil Practice Law and Rules ("CPLR") in seventeen volumes of McKinney's Consolidated Laws of New York Annotated, also with annual updates. His writings have been cited by the U.S. Supreme Court on two occasions (Swidler & Berlin v. United States (1998); and Shady Grove Orthopedic Associates, P.A. v. Allstate Insurance Co. (2010)). He was a frequent lecturer for judges and bar groups on the topics of evidence and civil procedure, including the 2006 U.S. Judicial Conference of the Second Circuit; the 2005 and 2006 Winter Bench and Bar Conferences of the Federal Bar Council; the 2010 Annual Meeting of the New York State Bar Association; the 2015 New York Judicial Institute on Complex Commercial Litigation; and the 2012 and 2016 Joint Seminars of the Appellate Division of New York.  In March 2013, he participated in a symposium on the fiftieth anniversary of the CPLR for the Institute of Judicial Administration of New York University School of Law.  His remarks at that event appear as an article, "The CPLR at Fifty:  A View from Academia," 16 N.Y.U. J. Legis. & Pub. Policy 664 (2013).

Professor Alexander is a continuing member of the Advisory Committee on Civil Practice to the Chief Administrative Judge of the State of New York. He has also served as a member of the New York City Mayor's Advisory Committee on the Judiciary and the Continuing Legal Education Board of the State of New York. He served as Interim Dean of the School of Law during the 1999-2000 academic year. The students of the Law School named him "Professor of the Year" on nine occasions. For over 25 years, Professor Alexander was a national lecturer on Evidence for BAR BRI Bar Review. He and his wife Anne, also a St. John's law graduate, are the donors of the Alexander-Dillon Fire, Police and Military Scholarship, which provides scholarship assistance to St. John's law students who are veterans of, or whose parents are veterans of, the FDNY, NYPD or U.S. military. He was awarded the President's Medal of St. John's University in 2000; the St. John's Law Alumni Association's 2007 Dean John J. Murphy Award for Distinguished Service to the Public, the Profession and the Rule of Law; in 2010, the University’s Pietas Medal “in celebration of his exemplary career and loyalty to alma mater;” and he received the Law School's Lifetime Achievement Award in 2018.  Also in 2018, the New York State Bar Association's Torts, Insurance and Compensation Section and its Trial Lawyers Section bestowed a joint award for Professor Alexander's Outstanding Contributions to the Profession.

Books

Evidence in New York State and Federal Courts (co-authored with Prof. Robert A. Barker) (Thomson/West, 2d edition 2011), and annual updates.

Practice Commentaries on the New York Civil Practice Law and Rules, in McKinney's Consolidated Laws of New York Annotated (Thomson/West):

Articles 70-75 (Habeas Corpus, Replevin, Arbitration) (2013).

Articles 10-20 (Intervention, Interpleader, Third-Party Practice, Contribution) (2012).

Article 3 (Jurisdiction) (2010).

Articles 62-65 (Provisional Remedies) (2010).

Article 78 (Judicial Review of Administrative Action) (2008).

Article 45 (Evidence) (2007).

Articles 5-10 (Venue, Joinder of Claims, Class Actions, Parties) (2006) (Commentary on Class Actions (C901:11) cited in all three opinions of the U.S. Supreme Court in Shady Grove Orthopedic Associates, P.A. v. Allstate Insurance Co., 130 S. Ct. 1431 (2010)).

Annual Pocket Parts for Articles 1-21, 45 and 60-98.

Articles and Book Chapters

"The CPLR at Fifty:  A View from Academia," 16 N.Y.U. J. Legis. & Pub. Policy 664 (2013).
Columnist on New York Practice, New York Law Journal, 2000 - 2004.  Illustrative Articles: "New Legislation" (Sept. 20, 2004); "The Perils of the Summons with Notice" (July 19, 2004); "Standing to Challenge Administrative Action" (May 17, 2004); "Opposing Summary Judgment with Hearsay" (March 15, 2004); "Purging of the Ad Damnum Clause from the Complaint" (Jan. 20, 2004).

"The Corporate Attorney-Client Privilege: A Study of the Participants," 63 St. John's Law Review 191 - 432 (1989) (book-length empirical study), cited by the U. S. Supreme Court in Swidler & Berlin v. United States, 524 U.S. 399 (1998).

Chapter 1 ("General Instructions") and Chapter 7 ("Defenses in Contract Actions") in New York Forms of Jury Instruction (vol. 1) (Matthew Bender 1992) (model jury instructions and commentary).

"Administration of the Real Property Tax: Assessment Standards and the Principle of Uniformity," Chapter 3 in 8 Rohan, Real Estate Tax Appeals (Matthew Bender 1984).

"The Hearsay Exception for Public Records in Federal Criminal Trials," 47 Albany Law Review 699 (1983).

"Screening Former Government Attorneys to Prevent Disqualifying Their Law Firms," 53 New York State Bar Journal 552 (1981).

"State Medical Malpractice Screening Panels in Federal Diversity Actions," 21 Arizona Law Review 959 (1980).

Other Publications

Principal author of "Civil RICO Case Statements," a report of the Federal Procedures Committee of the Commercial and Federal Litigation Section of the New York State Bar Association, reprinted in full in the May 5, 1990 release of the CCH RICO Business Disputes Guide.

Editor, 1985 - 2004, Second Circuit Redbook, a handbook on personnel and procedures in the U.S. Courts in the Second Judicial Circuit (published by the Federal Bar Council).

Editor, Second Circuit Digest, a monthly publication of the Federal Bar Council, highlighting the principal opinions of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit (1982 - 1986).

Editor, One on One, a quarterly publication of the General Practice Section of the New York State Bar AssociatPanelist, "The CPLR at Fifty: Its Past, Present and Future," Institute of Judicial Administration, New York University School of Law, March 12, 2013.ion (1985 - 1988).

Selected Speaking Engagements

"Commercial Litigation: Jurisdiction Developments," at the 2016 Joint Seminar of the Appellate Divisions of New York.
"Jurisdiction and the U.S. Supreme Court: Daimler and Beyond," New York Judicial Institute on Complex Commercial Litigation, White Plains, New York, 2015.

Panelist, "The CPLR at Fifty: Its Past, Present and Future," Institute of Judicial Administration, New York University School of Law, March 12, 2013.

Evidence Update at the 2012 Joint Seminar of the Appellate Divisions for the First and Second Judicial Departments of New York.

Seminars on Evidence for the Newly-Elected and Newly-Appointed Judges of the State of New York, New York State Judicial Institute, White Plains, New York, annually 2006-2016.

Update on Evidence for Judges and Court Attorneys, New York State Judicial Institute, White Plains, New York, 2013, 2014, 2015.

Panelist, "He Said, She Said: Getting Hearsay Right in Civil and Criminal Trials," Program of the Evidence Committee of the Commercial and Federal Litigation Section, Annual Meeting of the New York State Bar Association, New York City, January 2010.

Update on New York Practice, Nassau Academy of Law, Nassau County Bar Association, New York, annually 2007-2015.
“Evidence Roundup in the Second Circuit,” Second Circuit U.S. Judicial Conference, New York, September 2006.

“Privileges: Journalists, Government Attorneys, and Psychotherapists,” Panel Coordinator and Speaker, 2006 Winter Bench and Bar Conference of the Federal Bar Council, St. Thomas, V.I.

“Expert Testimony and the Impact of Crawford v. Washington,” Panel Coordinator and Speaker, 2005 Winter Bench and Bar Conference of the Federal Bar Council, Kona, Hawaii.