Kate Schaffzin is the Director of the Institute for Professional Leadership and the Douglas A. Blaze Professor of Law at the University of Tennessee Winston College of Law.  She is the former Dean of the University of Memphis Cecil C. Humphreys School of Law.  She has been teaching law students for over two decades at four different public, research universities.  In addition to her roles as professor and dean, she has served as associate dean for academic affairs, director of faculty development, and even on the board of trustees at prior institutions.

Professor Schaffzin focuses her teaching and research in the areas of evidence and leadership.  Her most recent research explores the experiences and characteristics of women attorneys serving in leadership positions in collaboration with the Association of American Law Schools.  She also examines evidentiary privileges, breaking ground in defining the common interest doctrine, which was adopted by the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court.

Prior to teaching, Professor Schaffzin’s legal practice focused on construction litigation at Pepper Hamilton, LLP, in Philadelphia, and Mazur, Carp & Rubin, P.C., in New York.  She also served as law clerk to the Honorable James Knoll Gardner of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.  She earned her J.D. and her LLM degrees from Temple University, where she served as a Freedman Fellow, and her B.A. from LaSalle University.

Professor Schaffzin is a proud native of Philadelphia, but she has resided in Tennessee since 2009.  She is raising two teenagers with her husband, Professor Danny Schaffzin, and can often be found walking Maisy, her golden retriever.

 

• Education & Experience
• Publications

LL.M. in Legal Education, May 2006, Temple University Beasley School of Law
Juris Doctor, May 2000, LaSalle University
Bachelor of Arts, magna cum laude, May 1997

Curriculum Vitae

Social Science Research Network (SSRN)

Full list of SSRN scholarly papers