Professor Alice Ristroph, an Expert in Criminal Law, to Join Faculty

Brooklyn Law School has announced the appointment of Professor Alice Ristroph, an expert in criminal law, criminal procedure, and constitutional law, as professor of law. Her appointment is effective July 1. Ristroph currently teaches at Seton Hall University School of Law, where her scholarship focuses on the relationships among legal concepts and legal practices.

"It's wonderful to have the opportunity to join the faculty at Brooklyn Law School,” Ristroph said. “There is so much energy and talent at the school – among the criminal law faculty, in faculty working across other fields, and in the students. And of course, there is so much energy and talent in this borough, which has been my home for years. As Brooklyn Law School continues to educate excellent lawyers, I'm honored to become a part of the team."

Ristroph has deep experience as a political theorist. She explores in her scholarship, among other topics, how dominant conceptual assumptions in criminal law and criminal procedure have impeded reform efforts and suggests more promising alternative frameworks to minimize the state’s use of force.

“We are proud to welcome Professor Ristroph to our distinguished faculty,” said Dean Nick Allard. “Her compelling work in criminal law and criminal procedure will further enrich our vibrant intellectual community. I look forward to her contributions to our great tradition of advancing scholarship and teaching that has a powerful impact on the law and society.”

Ristroph’s previous work has addressed various topics in constitutional theory and criminal law theory, and has appeared in the Yale Law Journal, California Law Review, Journal of Criminal Law & Criminology, Duke Law Journal, among other publications. She joined the Seton Hall faculty in 2008 after serving as Associate Professor at the University of Utah, S.J. Quinney College of Law. Prior to that she was an associate in the litigation department of Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison in New York City.

She holds a J.D. and Ph.D. in political theory from Harvard University.