Justin Simard is an Associate Professor of Law at MSU College of Law, where he teaches Contracts, Professional Responsibility, Commercial Law, and legal history, and directs the Kelley Institute for Ethics and the Legal Profession. Prof. Simard received his bachelor's degree in history from Rice University, and he completed his J.D. and Ph.D. in history at the University of Pennsylvania.
Prof. Simard’s research reveals the importance of routine legal work from drafting transactional documents to citing cases. Focusing on legal routine helps explain the profession’s economic influence and reveals how hidden professional assumptions and ideas have been incorporated into the fabric of American law and the values of the legal profession. Understanding these assumptions helps account for the legal profession’s economic influence and reveals perspectives the profession has taken for granted. His scholarship has appeared in the Stanford Law Review, the California Law Review, the Law and History Review, the Journal of Southern History, Law and Social Inquiry, and other journals.
Prof. Simard also founded and directs the Citing Slavery Project, which tracks the influence of the law of slavery on American law. His team’s research can be found on the project’s website.
Download Curriculum Vitae (PDF)
J.D., Ph.D. University of Pennsylvania
B.A. Rice University
Contracts
(Formerly LAW500D and LAW500E)
A study of the basic law relating to the formation of a contract. Additional topics include: the Statute of Frauds; the avoidability of contracts; performance obligations; contract breach and remedies for breach. Article 2 of the Uniform Commercial Code covering sales of goods will be introduced; however, the primary focus of the course is on the common law.
Professional Responsibility
(Formerly DCL 260)
A course designed to acquaint the law student with many of the obligations owed by the lawyer, both individually and as a member of the legal profession, to the society in which he/she lives. In addition to a discussion of ethical problems involved in the practice of law, an overview of all phases of the profession will be undertaken, including disciplinary proceedings, the functions of Bar organizations and unauthorized practice. Students who have already taken Lawyer Regulation and Ethics in a Technology-Driven World may not take this course.
Sales and Secured Transactions
The course is designed for students interested in some of the basic issues arising under Articles 2 and 9 of the Uniform Commercial Code. The course will begin with Sales, and will cover issues to which students are not exposed in the first-year Contracts course, including title and risk of loss. The class also will examine UCC remedies in more depth. The second half of the course will cover Secured Transactions. Students will learn about creation and perfection of security interests, as well as the various rules determining priority among secured creditors. The course also will cover the intersection between Article 9 and the Bankruptcy Code, e.g., preferences.
The Law of American Chattel Slavery: Origins and Development
Law played a critical role in creating and perpetuating American chattel slavery. This course examines the origins, development, and legacy of the laws that built and sustained a slave society. It will explore the legal efforts that slaveowners made to protect their property and the role of judges and lawyers in treating people as property. This class will also examine resistance to slavery through the legal system, following abolitionists, politicians, and enslaved people as they attempted to make a legal case for freedom. The historical law of slavery will be placed into context in light of its continued relevance for American law.
