Skip Navigation

Academics

Meet the Faculty

Photo of Shelley Ross Saxer, J.D.

Shelley Ross Saxer, J.D.
Professor of Law

Office: School of Law (SOL)
E-mail: shelley.saxer@pepperdine.edu

  • J.D., University of California, Los Angeles, 1989
  • B.S., Pepperdine University, 1980, summa cum laude

While in law school, Professor Saxer served as the chief managing editor of the UCLA Law Review. Upon graduation, she clerked for the Honorable Wm. Matthew Byrne, Jr. of the Federal District Court for the Central District of California and then worked briefly as a corporate associate for the Century City law offices of O'Melveny & Myers.

Professor Saxer enjoys writing articles that address topics where land use issues intersect with constitutional concerns. She has published articles dealing with liquor store overconcentration in urban areas, the use of religious institutions for homeless shelters, conflict between local governmental units over commercial land use decisions that impact surrounding communities, eminent domain, the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act, and zoning conflicts with First Amendment rights.

Since joining the Pepperdine faculty in 1991, she has taught courses in real property, community property, remedies, environmental law, and land use. She has integrated technology into her teaching by using presentation software in the classroom and web-based course materials. Professor Saxer has also spoken at AALS and CALI sessions about the use of technology in the classroom. She enjoys teaching because of the rewarding interaction with law students.

Professor Saxer is a member of the Order of the Coif, the American Bar Association, and the California state bar. She has also been admitted to practice before the U.S. Supreme Court.

Selected Works:
  • Banishment of Sex Offenders: Individual Liberties, National Rights and the Dormant Commerce Clause, Environmental Justice, and Alternatives, WASH. U. L. REV. (forthcoming 2009).
  • Assessing RLUIPA'S Application to Building Codes and Aesthetic Land Use Regulation, ALB. GOV'T L. REV. (forthcoming 2009).
  • Faith in Action: Religious Accessory Uses and Land Use Regulation, 2008 UTAH L. REV. 593 (2008).
  • Shelley Ross Saxer & Daryl Fisher-Ogden, World Religions and Clean Water Laws, 17 DUKE ENVTL. L. & POL'Y F. 63 (2006).
  • A Property Rights View: Commentary on Property and Speech by Robert A. Sedler, 21WASH. U. J.L. & POL'Y 155 (2006) (symposium issue).
  • Government and Religion as Landlord and Tenant, 58 RUTGERS L. REV. 409 (2006).
  • Government Power Unleashed: Using Eminent Domain to Acquire a Public Utility or Other Ongoing Enterprise, 38 IND. L. REV. 55 (2005).
  • Eminent Domain, Municipalization and the Dormant Commerce Clause, 38 U.C. DAVIS L. REV. 1505 (2005).
  • Eminent Domain Actions Targeting First Amendment Land Uses, 69 MO. L. REV. 653 (2004).
  • Shelley Ross Saxer & Gary Thompson, Optimizing a Law School's Course Schedule, 1 PIERCE L. REV. 181 (2003).
  • 'Am I My Brother's Keeper?': Requiring Landowner Disclosure of the Presence of Sex Offenders and Other Criminal Activity, 80 NEB. L. REV. 522 (2001).
  • Planning Gain, Exactions, and Impact Fees: A Comparative Study of Planning Law in England, Wales, and the United States, 32 URB. LAW. 21 (2000).
  • Shelley Ross Saxer & David Callies, Is Fair Market Value Just Compensation? An Underlying Issue Surfaced in Kelo, in EMINENT DOMAIN USE AND ABUSE: KELO IN CONTEXT (ABA 2006).
  • Sidewalk Distribution of Protected Speech and Other Expressive Activities, in PROTECTING FREE SPEECH AND EXPRESSION: THE FIRST AMENDMENT AND LAND USE LAW (David Mandelker & Rebecca Rubin eds., ABA 2001).
  • Sacred Spaces and Planning Law: Property Rights and the Regulation of Religious Activities in the United States, in LAW AND RELIGION IN CONTEMPORARY SOCIETY: COMMUNITIES, INDIVIDUALISM AND THE STATE (Peter W. Edge et al. eds., Ashgate 2000).