Ben Trachtenberg

Associate Dean for Academic Affairs & Isidor Loeb Professor of Law
Director of Undergraduate Studies
University of Missouri School of Law
203 Hulston Hall
Columbia, Missouri 65211
trachtenbergb@missouri.edu
Phone: (573) 882-7293

Publications

Hiring and Training Competent Title IX Hearing Officers, 86 Mo. L. Rev. 261 (2021) [View Article]

Criminal Procedure: A Free Law School Casebook, open educational resources casebook available gratis to students, published in CALI eLangdell series (written with Prof. Anne Alexander) (2020) [View Book]

The People v. Their Universities: How Popular Discontent Is Reshaping Higher Education Law, 108 Ky. L.J. 49 (2019) [View Article]

Show Me Criminal Procedure, open educational resources casebook available gratis to students (written with Prof. Anne Alexander) (2d ed. Spring 2019, with brief supplement for 2019-2020) [View Book]

The 2015 University of Missouri Protests and their Lessons for Higher Education Policy and Administration, 107 Ky. L.J. 61 (2018) [View Article]

"Much of What You Know Is Probably Wrong": A Mizzou Professor Explains the Racial Protests that Toppled a Presidency Washington Post "Grade Point" (July 25, 2018) [View Article]

Why Let the Klan March at a Private Historically Black College? 'This is Not a First Amendment Thing, Man.' Washington Post "Answer Sheet" (May 31, 2018) [View Article]

Private Universities and the First Amendment, 2018 J. Disp. Resol. 71 [View Article]

Advice for a New Faculty Senate Chair, Academe (May-June 2018) [View Article]

Racial Bias in Campus Discipline: When Will Universities Look in the Mirror?, Washington Post "Answer Sheet" (Apr. 22, 2018) [View Article]

The Complexities of Shared Governance and Freedom of Speech (book chapter), in Leading Colleges and Universities (Johns Hopkins Univ. Press 2018) [Buy Book]

How University Title IX Enforcement and Other Discipline Processes (Probably) Discriminate Against Minority Students, 18 Nev. L.J. 107 (2017) [View Article]

How Missouri Used Shared Governance to Preserve Free Speech on Campus, Chronicle of Higher Educ. (May 18, 2017) [View Article]

Choosing a Criminal Procedure Casebook: On Lesser Evils and Free Books, 60 St. Louis U. L.J. 543 (2016) [View Article]

One More Call to Respect the Time of Grand Jurors, 80 Mo. L. Rev. 1127 (2015) [View Essay]

No, You "Stand Up": Why Prosecutors Should Stop Hiding Behind Grand Juries, 80 Mo. L. Rev. 1099 (2015) [View Essay]

Testimonial Is As Testimonial Does, 66 Fla. L. Rev. 467 (2014) [View Essay]

Regulators, Mount Up, 5 Neb. L. Rev. Bulletin 22 (2013) [View Essay]

Law School Marketing and Legal Ethics, 91 Neb. L. Rev. 866 (2013) [View Article]

Confronting Coventurers: Coconspirator Hearsay, Sir Walter Raleigh, and the Sixth Amendment Confrontation Clause, 64 Fla. L. Rev. 1669 (2012) [View Article]

Reducing the Discount Rate, Environmental Forum (Nov.-Dec. 2012) [View Essay]

Rethinking Pro Bono, N.Y. Times (May 14, 2012) [View Op-Ed]

Tinkering with the Machinery of Life, 59 UCLA L. Rev. Discourse 128 (2012) [View Essay]

Health Inflation, Wealth Inflation, and the Discounting of Human Life, 89 Or. L. Rev. 1313 (2011) [View Article | Hear WAMC Academic Minute Radio Segment about Article]

Coconspirators, "Coventurers," and the Exception Swallowing the Hearsay Rule, 61 Hastings L.J. 581 (2010) [View Article]

Incarceration Policy Strikes Out: Exploding prison population compromises the U.S. justice system, A.B.A. Journal, Feb. 2009 (winning entry in Ross Essay Contest) [View Article | View BLS LawNotes Article about Ross Prize]

An Exchange of E-mails (with James J. White), in Bruce W. Frier & James J. White, The Modern Law of Contracts 102-03 (2005) (additional material printed in instructor's supplement) (also printed in 2d ed. 2008) [Order Book]

State Sentencing Policy and New Prison Admissions, 38 U. Mich. J.L. Reform 479 (2005) [View Article]

Courses for 2021-2022 Academic Year at MU

» LAW 1100: Cases and Controversies in American Law (Fall 2021)

  • Undergraduate survey course on American law, first offered during Fall 2020

» Criminal Procedure (Spring 2022)

Prior Courses

» Criminal Law (Fall 2009 and Fall 2008 at Brooklyn Law)

» Criminal Procedure (Most recently: Fall 2019 at DePaul, Spring 2020 and Spring 2021 at MU)

» Environmental Law (Spring 2010 and Spring 2009 at Brooklyn Law)

» Evidence (Most recently: Spring 2020 at MU)

» Professional Responsibility (Fall 2011, Fall 2013, Spring 2013, and Fall 2014 at MU, also Fall 2019 at DePaul)

» Trial Practice (Spring 2011 at MU)

Curriculum Vitae

Download C.V. in PDF file format

» Current Academic Appointment
Associate Dean for Academic Affairs & Director of Undergraduate Studies, University of Missouri School of Law
Isidor Loeb Professor of Law

Previous University Service:
Special Advisor to the Chancellor, University of Missouri, 2020-2021
Chair, MU Faculty Council on University Policy, 2015-2017

University Awards:
Presidents's Award for University Citizenship in Leadership, University of Missouri System, 2019
Selected as Fellow, SEC Academic Leadership Development Program, 2018-2019
Provost's Award for University Citizenship in Leadership, University of Missouri, 2018
Husch Blackwell Distinguished Faculty Award, MU School of Law, 2015
Provost's Outstanding Junior Faculty Teaching Award, University of Missouri, 2014
Gold Chalk Award for excellence in teaching, University of Missouri Graduate Professional Council, 2012

» Education
Columbia Law School, J.D., 2005

Honors:
Columbia Law Review, Articles Editor
James Kent Scholar (2002-03 and 2003-04)
Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar (2004-05)
Class of 1912 Prize (2003) -- given to the first-year student "most proficient" in Contracts
Public Service Fellowship (2003) -- awarded to support internship at United States Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of New York (Criminal Division)

Activity:
Columbia Law Revue, comedy writer for student productions

University of Limerick, Ireland, M.A. in International Studies, 2002

Honors:
First Class Honors
George J. Mitchell Scholarship -- one of twelve Americans selected for a year of study in Ireland based on academics, leadership and character

Thesis:
"Cool Under Fire: Israel During the Persian Gulf War of 1991"

Yale University, B.A. in Political Science, with distinction in the major, 2001

Honors:
Sigma Chi Fraternity, International Balfour Award, 2001 -- selected as the Fraternity's most outstanding senior in the United States and Canada
Ezra Stiles College Heinrich von Staden Cup -- awarded to the senior "who most consistently challenged the social and intellectual conscience of the College"
Yale Daily News Board of 1912 Prize -- for "general excellence in reporting and writing in the News"

» Law Practice
Covington & Burling LLP, Litigation Associate--New York, 2006-2008
Assigned to white collar investigations and civil securities cases. Pro bono representation of a tenant in Bronx Housing Court and of an employment law ("wage & hour") plaintiff in federal district court

» Clerkship
United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, Judge José A. Cabranes,
Judicial Clerk--New Haven, Conn., 2005-2006

» Teaching Experience
University of Missouri School of Law, Associate Professor--Columbia, Missouri, July 2011-present
Teach Criminal Procedure, Evidence, and Professional Responsibility

DePaul University College of Law, Visiting Associate Professor--Chicago, Illinois, Fall 2019
Taught Criminal Procedure I and Legal Profession (Professional Responsibility)

University of Missouri School of Law, Visiting Associate Professor--Columbia, Missouri, 2010-2011
Taught Criminal Procedure, Evidence, and Trial Practice

Brooklyn Law School, Visiting Assistant Professor--Brooklyn, N.Y., 2008-2010
Taught first-year Criminal Law and an elective survey course on Environmental Law

Columbia Law School, Teaching Assistant--New York, N.Y., 2004-2005
Assistant for Professor Melvin Eisenberg's first-year course on Contracts (Fall 2004) and Professor Edward Lloyd's Environmental Law Clinic (Spring 2005)

LLM Bar Exam, Faculty--New York, N.Y., 2010-2016
Taught Criminal Law, Criminal Procedure, Evidence, and Professional Responsibility in bar preparation course

» Bar Admissions
New York State, U.S. District Courts for the Southern and Eastern Districts of New York, U.S. Courts of Appeals for the Second and Fifth Circuits, and Supreme Court of the United States

» Volunteer Activities
Sigma Chi Fraternity, Chairman of Governing Laws Committee, 2007-present
U.S.-Ireland Alliance, George J. Mitchell Scholarship, Applications Reader
Columbia Public Schools, Former member, Policy Committee of Board of Education

» University Service
Mark Twain Fellowship Committee, Chair