Courses
Nootbaar Courses
This Fall ‘25, our Co-Director, Jennifer Lee Koh is teaching a new course entitled, "Faith, Injustice, and the Law". In this writing intensive, upper-level seminar, students will explore the complex and dynamic ways in which "Faith, Injustice and Law" interact. For instance, faith can fuel efforts to challenge injustice and reimagine law. At a personal level, the practice of law can involve confronting injustice, and may be intertwined with the individual lawyer’s faith commitments. In this class, we will first explore a set of legal, religious and ethical themes at the intersection of faith, injustice and law. Students will then have an opportunity to teach class sessions based on their interests, and to challenge and learn from each other. Each student will select a topic consistent with the course theme, and write a rigorous, in-depth research paper that is prepared under close faculty supervision and satisfies the law school’s Upper Division Writing Requirement.
Brenden Mann Foundation Annual Course: Current Issues on Law and Religion
Sponsored by the Brenden Mann Foundation in partnership with the Nootbaar Institute, this annual fall semester course explores complex and timely issues at the intersection of law and religion. Through a biweekly series of presentations, the colloquium features distinguished professors from universities across the country who share their scholarship and perspectives on topics ranging from religious liberty and constitutional interpretation to ethics, public policy, and pluralism. The course fosters rich dialogue and exposes students to a wide range of ideas, traditions, and legal frameworks.
2025 - 2026
Nicole Stelle Garnett, Associate Dean for External Engagement, John P. Murphy Foundation Professor of Law
Notre Dame Law School
Associate Clinical Professor, Director, Lindsay and Matt Moroun Religious Liberty Clinic
Notre Dame Law School
Nathan Chapman, Lecturer; Associate Dean for Faculty Development, Cleveland Distinguished Chair
University of Georgia School of Law
Chris Lund, Professor of Law
Wayne State University Law School
Romano Stancroff Research Scholar
Branton Nestor, Non-resident Fellow
Stanford Constitutional Law Center
Rabea Benhalim, Associate Professor
University of Colorado Law School
Jessie Hill, Judge Ben C. Green Professor of Law
Case Western Reserve University
Professor Hill presented “The Puzzling Submergence and Reemergence of Religious Freedom Arguments in the Abortion Cases” in Current Issues of Law, Faith, and Religion course in Fall ‘24.
James Nelson, Vinson & Elkins Professor
University of Houston Law Center
Professor Nelson presented “Disestablishment at Work” in Current Issues of Law, Faith, and Religion course in Fall ‘24.
Stephan McDaniel, Associate Professor of Law
University of Notre Dame
Professor McDaniel presented “Disclosing the Ministerial Exception” in Current Issues of Law, Faith, and Religion course in Fall ‘24.
Stephanie Barclay, Professor of Law and Faculty, Co-Director, Georgetown Center for the Constitution
Georgetown University Law Center
Professor Barclay presented “A Crust of Bread: Religious Resistance and the Fourteenth Amendment” in Current Issues of Law, Faith, and Religion course in Fall ‘24. Professor Barclay also joined the larger student body in an event entitled “The Past, Present, and Future of Religious Liberty.”
Marc DeGirolami, St. John Henry Newman Professor of Law, Co-Director, Center for Law and the Human Person
Columbus School of Law, The Catholic University of America
Professor DeGirolami presented “Establishment as Religion” in Current Issues of Law, Faith, and Religion course in Fall ‘24.
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Elizabeth Katz, Professor of Law University of Florida Levin College of Law Professor Katz presented “Baptized by Law” in Current Issues of Law, Faith, and Religion course in Fall ‘24.
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Sherif Girgis, Professor of Law
University of Notre Dame Law School
Professor Girgis presented “Fragility, not Superiority? Assessing the "Fairness of Special Religious Protections” in Current Issues of Law, Faith, and Religion course in Fall ‘23.
Netta Barak-Corren, Professor of Law, Lecturer
The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Professor Barak-Corren presented “Constitutional Consequences” in Current Issues of Law, Faith, and Religion course in Fall ‘23. She also presented at our event entitled “Israel’s Constitutional Crisis” to a full auditorium during Diversity Week.
Steven Smith, Warren Distinguished Professor of Law
University of San Diego
Professor Smith presented a segment from Atheism and the Constitution in Current Issues of Law, Faith, and Religion course in Fall ‘23.
Robert Chao Romero, Vice Chair, Director of Graduate Studies, & Associate Professor
University of California, Los Angeles
Professor Romero presented “Brown Theology as Public Theology: César Chávez, the Sanctuary Movement, and Latina/o/x Theology” in Current Issues of Law, Faith, and Religion course in Fall ‘23.
John Inazu, Sally D. Danforth Distinguished Professor of Law & Religion
Washington University, St. Louis
Professor Inazu presented a segment from Confident Pluralism in Current Issues of Law, Faith, and Religion course in Fall ‘23. He also spoke at our Dean’s Speaker Series in addition to speaking in our Religious Liberty Clinic Seminar during the same semester.
Andrew Hayashi, Class of 1948 Professor of Scholarly Research in Law
University of Virginia School of Law
Fall 2022: Property, Taxes, and Theology: Render Unto Caesar
Amelia Uelman, Lecturer; Special Advisor to the Dean; Director for Mission & Ministry
Georgetown School of Law
Fall 2022: Theology, Professional Life and Popular Culture
David Flatto, Professor of Law
Hebrew University Law School
Fall 2022: Jewish Law
Robert Cochran, Louis D. Brandeis Emeritus Professor
Pepperdine Caruso School of Law
Spring 2023: The Role of Law Practice in the Life of a Person of Faith
Masua Sagiv, Koret Visiting Assistant Professor of Jewish and Israel Studies
Berkeley Law School
Spring 2023: Law and Religion
Chaim Saiman, Chair in Jewish Law
Villanova University, Charles Widger School of Law
Spring 2021: Jewish Law
Nathan Chapman, Pope F. Brock Associate Professor in Professional Responsibility University of Georgia School of Law
Fall 2021: Christian Perspectives on Law
Robert Cochran, Louis D. Brandeis Emeritus Professor
Pepperdine Caruso School of Law
Spring 2022: The Role of the Law Practice in the Life of a Person of Faith
Brant Lee, Professor of Law; Assistant Dean of Diversity & Social Justice Issues
University of Akron School of Law
Spring 2022: Racial Inequality, Law and Democracy: Questions of Faith
Yehonatan Givati, Sylvan M. Cohen Chair in Law
Hebrew University Law School
Spring 2022: Law and Economics