University of St. Thomas

Joel Nichols is Associate Professor of Law at the University of St. Thomas (Minneapolis) and a Senior Fellow at the Center for the Study of Law and Religion at Emory University. He recently convened a project of nineteen leading scholars from the U.S., Canada, South Africa, and the United Kingdom to consider the future of marriage and divorce jurisdiction. That project will culminate in a major anthology in 2011 to be published by Cambridge University Press, titled Marriage and Divorce in a Multi-Cultural Society: Multi-Tiered Marriage and the Boundaries of Civil Law and Religion. Professor Nichols is also a co-author (with John Witte, Jr., Emory Law School) of Religion and the American Constitutional Experiment, 3d ed. (Westview, 2010). He has also written more than a dozen book chapters and articles, which have appeared in NYU Law Review, Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law, Journal of Law and Religion, and others. His current research involves the engagement of evangelical Christians in human rights.

Professor Nichols served as a law clerk for Judge Gerald Bard Tioflat on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit in Jacksonville, Florida, and then practiced complex civil litigation in Washington, D.C. at Wilmer, Cutler & Pickering (now WilmerHale). He previously taught at Pepperdine Law School, where he was Assistant Professor from 2003-2006, and Associate Professor and Rick J. Caruso Research Fellow in Law in 2006-2007. He has served on the Executive Committee of the AALS Section on Family and Juvenile Law and the Executive Committee of the AALS Section on Law and Religion, and he serves as a reviewer for the Journal of Law and Religion and Aspen Publishers.

Professor Nichols is also heavily invested in human rights, especially through Viva North America. He serves as Chair and Secretary of the Board of Directors for Viva North America and as a Trustee for Viva International (U.K.); assists the International Center in Oxford with organizational strategic planning (for both program and governance); and has provided human rights and leadership training to Viva’s partners in Nairobi, Kenya.

Courses Taught

Contracts
International and Comparative Family Law
International Human Rights

Mailing Address

MSL 400
1000 LaSalle Avenue
Minneapolis, Minnesota 55403-2015