Charles D. Kelso
Professor of Law
A.B., J.D., University of Chicago
LL.M., J.S.D., Columbia University
LL.D., John Marshall
E-mail Professor Kelso
Tel: 916.739.7001
Professor Kelso taught for 27 years at Indiana University School of Law after clerking for Justice Sherman Minton of the Supreme Court of the United States. He joined the Pacific McGeorge faculty in 1978. Author of four books and more than 70 articles, Professor Kelso has chaired several committees for the Association of American Law Schools, the American Bar Association, and the Law School Admissions Council. He has been a consultant to more than a dozen ABA law schools on various topics, including the design of facilities, curriculum, and clinical education programs. Professor Kelso served for 22 years as a member of the contracts drafting committee for the multi-state bar examination.
Courses: Constitutional Law | American Legal History | First Amendment
Recent Publications: "Swing Votes on the Current Supreme Court: The Joint Opinion in Casey and its progeny", 29 Pepperdine Law Review 637 (2002).
Curriculum Vitae:
Born in 1928, I grew up in New Albany, Indiana, a city of 35,000 across the Ohio River from Louisville, Kentucky. In high school I played in the band (clarinet), ran the 200 and 100 (fourth at the state track meet), and in my senior year was a reserve on the football team. My college days were spent at the University of Chicago, where I also earned my J.D. In the 1960s I attended Columbia University School of Law, earning the LL.M. and the J.S.D.
After graduating from law school, I served as a law clerk to Justice Minton of the Supreme Court of the United States. Then, at age 22, in 1951, I became a professor at Indiana University School of Law in Indianapolis, Indiana. At that time I was the youngest law professor in the country - by 4 years! I remained on the Indiana faculty until 1978, when I came to Pacific McGeorge School of Law. Between 1966 and 1968 I was Associate Dean at the University of Miami School of Law. Also, I have taught as a visitor at Antioch Law School and the George Washington University Law School. In the practice, my only big case involved desegregating the Indianapolis public schools, where I represented the victorious African-American intervening plaintiffs.
For many years I was active in various national organizations related to legal education. Between 1965 and 1975 I served on the Council of the American Bar Association's Section of Legal Education, and was its Chair in 1974. For four years I was editor of its magazine, "Learning and the Law." For 22 years I was on the committee that drafted Contracts questions for the Multi-State Bar. For the Law School Admissions Council I was a trustee, the chair of an adjunct committee on test development, and a long-time member of the Research and Test Development Committee. The now-abandoned Issues and Facts item type was my invention. For the Association of American Law Schools I have served as a member or chair of many committees, round tables, sections, and task forces. I was on the original board of trustees of the CALI organization. I was Secretary, Treasurer, and President of the Law and Society Association. I have consulted at more than 20 different law schools on physical facilities and various aspects of teaching. I have visited or inspected more than 120 law schools. And I have served as a consultant to the California Committee of Bar Examiners, with reference primarily to the performance test.
At Pacific McGeorge, I serve on the Curriculum Committee, the Teaching Methods Committee, the Technology Committe, and the Employment, Tenure, and Promotion Committee. For 24 years I have been secretary-treasurer of the Pacific McGeorge Chapter of the Order of the Coif. I have been a member of the UOP faculty council and the UOP task force on information technology.
Presently I am teaching Constitutional Law, First Amendment, and American Legal History. At sometime in the past I have taught most of the curriculum, with over 30 years in Contracts.
I have written three books: "A Programmed Introduction to the Study of Law" (1968); "The AALS Study of Part-Time Legal Education" (1972)(with Jane Kelso); "Studying Law: An Introduction" (1984, with R. Randall Kelso). I have published eight monographs and over 70 law review articles - many on constitutional law and legal education.
Jane Kelso, the recenty retired Pacific McGeorge Dean of Students, is my wife. We have four children. The oldest, Kevin, is a partner in a large law firm in Sacramento. The next, Randall, is a Professor of Law at South Texas School of Law. Then comes Paige, a school teacher who lives in Sutter Creek and is married to a Pacific McGeorge graduate. And, finally, Clark, who is a professor at Pacific McGeorge. We have 11 grandchildren.
Jane and I have traveled throughout the United States (visiting every state except Maine), and we have been to Canada, Mexico, Japan, China, England, France, Switzerland, Austria, Hungary, and Germany. Our interests include the theater (opera, musicals, plays - in Sacramento, Davis, Roseville, and Woodland, with regular trips to the opera in San Francisco, and occasional trips to Ashland, Seattle, and even New York), music concerts (such as Chanticleer, the Sacramento Philharmonic, the Auburn Symphony, and the Sacramento Chamber Music Society), TV viewing (sports, news, comedy shows, and millionaire), and gaming (as in Reno and the horses at Cal Expo). My office radio is tuned all day to KXPR. My regular reading includes the Bee, the Wall Street Journal, the National Law Journal, the ABA Journal, and U.S. News. In addition, I read Supreme Court advance sheets and the advance sheets for federal court of appeals cases on Constitutional Law. I have been a life-long Republican (but I don't force my politics on students).
My recent publications have been co-authored with a son. With Randall I wrote "Our Nine Tribunes: A Review of Professor Lusky's Call for Judicial Restraint," 1995 Seton Hall Const. L.J. 1289; "Politics and the Constitution: A Review of Judge Malcolm Wilkey's Call for a Second Constitutional Convention," 27 Pacific Law Journal 1213 (1996); and "Standing to Sue: Transformations in Supreme Court Methodology, Doctrine and Results," 28 Univ. of Toledo Law Review 93 (1996); and " How the Supreme Court is Dealing with Precedents in Constitutional Law," 62 Brooklyn Law Review 1 (1997). "Sandra Day O'Conner: A Justice who has made a Difference in Constitutional Law", 32 McGeorge Law Review 915 (2001). Randall and I are currently working on a book to be entitled "The Path of Constitutional Law."
With Clark I wrote "Four Theories of Interpretation: The Supreme Court in Disarray," recently published in 53 Southern Methodist Law Review 81 (2000). Some years ago I joined with my oldest son, Kevin, to write "Conflict, Emotion, and Legal Ethics," published in 10 Pacific Law Review 69 (1979).
I believe that the legal profession, in any of its branches, is a great place in which to devote one's career. I hope that my students enjoy it as much as I have, and that they experience careers which meet all their expectations. For 55 years I have tried very hard to help make that happen.
