Michael Vitiello
Distinguished Professor and Scholar and Professor of Law
Director of the Center for Advocacy and Dispute Resolution
B.A., Swarthmore College
J.D., University of Pennsylvania
E-mail Professor Vitiello
Tel: 916.739.7323
Professor Vitiello clerked for three years for Judge J. Sydney Hoffman of the Superior Court of Pennsylvania, that state’s intermediate appellate court. He taught at Loyola University Law School in New Orleans for more than a decade and has also been a visiting professor of law at Tulane University and the University of Mississippi. While at Loyola, he helped establish the Loyola Death Penalty Resource Center, a federally funded institute. Professor Vitiello also was involved in pro bono litigation in Louisiana on behalf of appellants and indigent defendants. His law review articles have appeared in journals at schools such as Ohio State, Michigan and the University of California, Berkeley and have been widely cited by scholars around the country. He and Professor Miller are the co-authors (with Michael Fontham) of Persuasive Written and Oral Advocacy: In Trial and Appellate Courts and three companion case file books. Professor Vitiello was elected to the American Law Institute in 2002. He has been active in the campaign to reform California’s Three Strikes Law and California’s sentencing laws.
Courses: Civil Procedure | Criminal Law | Criminal Procedure | White Collar Crime
Recent Publications:
Persuasive Written and Oral Advocacy: In Trial and Appellate Courts (Aspen, 2d. ed. 2007) (with Michael R. Fontham and David W. Miller); "Punishing Sex Offenders: When Good Intentions Go Bad," 40 Ariz. St. L. J. (2008); "Liberal Bias in the Legal Academy: Overstated and Undervalued," 77 Miss. L. J. 507 (2007); "Introduction, Symposium on Sentencing Guidelines and Practice in a Post-Booker World," 37 McGeorge L. Rev. 487-512 (2006); "Teaching Effective Oral Argument Skills: Forget about the Drama Coach," 75 Miss. L. J. 869 (2006)
Curriculum Vitae:
EDUCATION:
Law School
University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA
Degree: J.D. (May, 1974)
Undergraduate
Swarthmore College, Swarthmore, PA
Degree: B.A. (June, 1969)
Honors: BA awarded with Honors in English and Philosophy
University of Keele, Keele, Staffordshire, England, (1966-67)
BAR ADMISSIONS :
Pennsylvania State Bar, October, 1974
New Jersey State, May, 1975
United States District Court, Eastern District of Pennsylvania, January, 1976
United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, October, 1986
Supreme Court of the United States, June, 1987
EMPLOYMENT:
Fall 1990 - Present
Professor of Law
Pacific McGeorge School of Law
Spring Semester 1990
Visiting Professor of Law
Law Center, University of Mississippi
Fall Semester 1989
Visiting Professor of Law
Tulane University School of Law
1977 - 1990
Loyola University Law School
New Orleans, La. 70118
August, 1974 - July, 1977
The Honorable J. Sydney Hoffman
Superior Court of Pennsylvania
364 City Hall
Philadelphia, PA 19108
(Judicial clerkship)
Courses:
Criminal Law, Criminal Procedure, Federal Courts, Moot Court, Torts, Evidence, Law and Medicine, Civil Procedure, Constitutional Law, Advanced Criminal Criminal Procedure, White Collar Crime, Director of Appellate Advocacy
PUBLICATIONS:
Professor Kingsfield: The Most Misunderstood Character in Literature, 33 Hofstra L. Rev. 955 (2005).
Practicing Persuasive Legal Written and Oral Advocacy: Case File III (co-authored with David W. Miller and Michael R. Fontham) (Aspen Publishing Co., 2005).
"A Proposal for a Wholesale Reform of California's Sentencing Practice and Policy," 38 Loyola L. Rev. 101 (2004) (with J. Clark Kelso, contributors E. Chemerinsky, K. Reitz, J. Turley and F.E. Zimring)
"Reforming Three Strikes' Excesses," 82 Washington U. Law Quarterly 1 (2004).
"Calfornia's Three Strikes and We're Out: Was Judicial Activism Caifornia's Best Hope?," 37 U. C. Davis L Rev 1025 (2004).
Practicing Persuasive Legal Written and Oral Advocacy: Case File II (co-authored with David W. Miller and Michael R. Fontham) (Aspen Publishing Co., 2003).
Persuasive Written and Oral Advocacy: In Trial and Appellate Courts (co-authored with Michael R. Fontham and David W. Miller) (Aspen Publishing Co., 2002).
Practicing Persuasive Legal Written and Oral Advocacy: Case File I (co-authored with David W. Miller and Michael R. Fontham) (Aspen Publishing Co., 2002).
"Reform of California's Grand Jury System," 35 Loyola L. Rev. 513 (2002) (with J. Clark Kelso).
"Punishment and Democracy: A Hard Look at Three Strikes' Overblown Promises," 90 Cal. L. Rev. 257 (2002).
"The Nuremberg Files: Testing the Outer Limits of the First Amendment," 61 Ohio St. L. J. 1175 (2000)
"How Imperial Is the Supreme Court? An Analysis of Supreme Court Abortion Doctrine and Popular Will," 34 U.S.F. L. Rev. 49 (1999)
"Article III Judges and the Initiative Process: Are Article III Judges Hopelessly Elitist?, 31 Loyola (Los Angeles) Law Review 1275 (1998) (co-authored with Andrew J. Glendon).
"Proposition 215: De Facto Legalization of Pot and the Shortcomings of Direct Democracy," 31 U. Mich. J. L. Reform 707 (1998).
"Three Strikes: Can We Return to Rationality?" 87 J. Crim. L. & Criminology 395 (1997)
"Three Strikes and the Romero Decision: the Supreme Court Restores Democracy," 30 Loyola Los Angeles Law Review 1643 (1997).
"The Firm Revisited: Somebody at the Justice Department Has Been Reading John Grisham," 4 Nat'l Italian Am. Bar Ass'n J. 73 (1996).
"More Noise from the Tower of Babel: Making 'Sense' out of Revees v. Ernst & Young, 56 Ohio State L. J. 1363 (1995).
"Has the Supreme Court Really Turned RICO Upside Down?: An Examination of NOW v. Scheidler", 85 J. Crim. Law & Criminology 1223 (1995).
"Payne v. Tennessee: 'A Stunning Ipse Dixit,'" 8 Notre Dame Journal of Law, Ethics & Public Policy 165 (1994).
"Does Culpability Matter?: Statutory Construction Under 42 U.S.C. §6928," 6 Tulane Env. L. J. 187 (1993).
"Reconsidering Rehabilitation," 65 Tulane L. Rev. 1011 (1991).
"Journal Wars," 22 St. Mary's L.J. 927 (1991).
"The Appellate Lawyer's Role in the Caseload Crisis," 58 Miss. L.J. 437 (1988).
"Do We Really Want To Curtail Appeals?" 6 Fifth Cir. Rep. 133 (1988).
"In Defense of Student-Run Law Reviews," 17 Cumberland L. Rev. 859 (1987).
"Baby Jane Doe: Stating a Cause of Action Against the Officious Intermeddler," 17 Hastings Law Journal 863 (1986).
"Louisiana's Natural Death Act and Dilemmas in Medical Ethics," 46 La. L. Rev. 259 (1985).
"An Analysis of Mississippi's Natural Death Act," 54 Miss. L. J. 459 (1984).
"Letting Seriously Ill Minors Die: A Review of Louisiana's Natural Death Act," 31 Loyola L. Rev. 67 (1985).
"The Senate's Report on HEREIU: Will RICO Take A Walk on the Boardwalk with Local 254?" 16 Rutgers L.J. 671 (1985).
"Fifth Circuit Symposium: Criminal Law and Procedure", 30 Loyola L. Rev. 671 (1984).
"The Baby Jane Doe Litigation: An Exercise in Raw Executive Power", 17 Conn. L. Rev. 95 (1984).
"The Ethics of BRILAB", 27 How. L. J. 905 (1984).
"The Power of State Legislatures to Subpoena Federal Officials", 58 Tulane L. Rev. 548 (1983).
"Congressional Withdrawal of Jurisdiction from Federal Courts: A Reply to Professor Uddo," 28 Loyola L. Rev. 61 (1982).
"Mapp's Exclusionary Rule: Is the Court Crying Wolf?" 86 Dickinson L. Rev. 15 (1981) (lead author; co-authored with Jane C. Burger).
Trial Manual (1980; a book length volume co-authored with Arthur Lemann and Gerard Rault, for the East Baton Rouge District Attorney's office; funded by a grant from L.E.A.A.) (revised, 1983).
"Independent and Adequate State Grounds: A Stone Unturned by Louisiana's Criminal Defense Bar?" 25 Loyola L. Rev. 745 (1979).
"Fifth Circuit Symposium: Civil Procedure and Federal Jurisdiction;" 24 Loyola L. Rev. 529 (1978).
"Speedy Trial Under Rule 1100: Administrative Ease or Administrative Agony?" 50 Temple L.Q. 513 (1977).
"Constitutional Safeguards for Juvenile Transfer Procedure: The Ten Years Since Kent v. United States," 26 DePaul L. Rev. 23 (1976).
