Professor Russell L. Weaver graduated cum laude from the University of Missouri School of Law in 1978. He was a member of the Missouri Law Review, was elected to the Order of the Coif, and won the Judge Roy Harper Prize. After law school, Professor Weaver was associated with Watson, Ess, Marshall & Enggas in Kansas City, Missouri, and worked for the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of General Counsel in Washington, D.C. Professor Weaver began teaching at the Louis D. Brandeis School of Law in 1982, and holds the rank of Professor of Law and Distinguished University Scholar. He teaches the First Amendment, Constitutional Law, Advanced Constitutional Law, Remedies, Administrative Law, Criminal Law, and Criminal Procedure. He has received the Brandeis School of Law's awards for teaching, scholarship, and service, and has been awarded the President's Award (University of Louisville) for Outstanding Research, Scholarship, and Creative Activity in the Field of Social Science, the President's Award for Outstanding Research, Scholarship, and Creative Activity in the Career Achievement Category, and the President's Award for Distinguished Service. He is an Honorary Associate of Macquarie University Law School (Sydney, Australia). He was named the Judge Spurgeon Bell Distinguished Visiting Professor at South Texas College of Law (affiliated with Texas A&M University) during the 1998-99 academic year, and he held the Herbert Herff Chair of Excellence at the Cecil C. Humphreys School of Law, University of Memphis, during 1992-93.
Professor Weaver is a prolific author who has written dozens of books and articles over the last 25 years. In addition, he has been asked to speak at law schools and conferences around the world, and has been a visiting professor at law schools in France, England, Germany, Japan, Australia, and Canada. Professor Weaver is particularly noted for his work in the constitutional law area, especially his writings on free speech. In addition to authoring From Gutenberg to the Internet: Free Speech, Advancing Technology and the Implications for Democracy, and The Right to Speak Ill, he served as a consultant to the constitutional drafting commissions of Belarus and Kyrgyzstan and as a commentator on the Russian Constitution. He has also authored a Constitutional Law casebook (with Aspen Publishing), a First Amendment casebook (with LexisNexis), Understanding the First Amendment (LexisNexis), a Criminal Procedure casebook (West), a Criminal Law casebook (West), an Administrative Law casebook (West), and a Tort casebook (LexisNexis).
Professor Weaver has served on many community and professional committees. He is the Executive Director and a member of the Board of Trustees (as well as a past president) of the Southeastern Conference of the Association of American Law Schools. He has also served on the American Civil Liberties Union of Kentucky's Legal Panel and Board of Directors. He served on the Louisville Bar Association's (LBA) Professional Responsibility Committee, as Chair of the Association of American Law Schools (AALS) Criminal Justice Section, and has served on the AALS Planning Committee for the New Law Teachers Workshop.
