Susan R Klein

Susan R Klein

  • Alice McKean Young Regents Chair in Law

Faculty Profile: Susan R Klein

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Biography

Susan Riva Klein is the Alice McKean Young Regents Chair in Law at the University of Texas School of Law. Upon graduation from Boalt Hall School of Law second in her class, she clerked for Judge Cynthia H. Hall on the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals and spent four years as a federal criminal prosecutor with the U.S. Dept. of Justice through the Attorney General's Honor Program. While in the Criminal Division, she rotated through the Money Laundering and Asset Forfeiture section, the Public Integrity Unit, Terrorism & Violent Crimes, and the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia. She is now a nationally prominent scholar in the fields of criminal procedure, federal criminal law, sentencing, and prosecutorial ethics. Her many articles have appeared in top ten law journals and have been cited by the SCOTUS. She is co-author of Abrams, Beale, & Klein, "Federal Criminal Law and Its Enforcement (7th ed., West 2020) and 2023 update, a widely adopted casebook at many law schools. Professor Klein is active in educating state and federal judges, prosecutors, and the defense bar. She is the Chief Reporter for the Committee to Redraft the Fifth Circuit Pattern Jury Instructions, Criminal (West 1997, 2001, 2012, 2015, 2019 and forthcoming 2023), and also currently serves on the State Bar of Texas standing committee on Pattern Jury Charges - Criminal (10 volumes published by the State Bar of Texas between 2009 and 2021). Professor Klein has consulted on numerous high-profile criminal cases.

Most Recent Media

Courses for Spring 2024

View Course History

Professional Activities

2019

February 8, 2019

Moderator on Panel III: "Prosecutorial Independence," Reclaiming and Restoring Constitutional Norms, sponsored by the Texas Law Review and The American Constitutional Society

2018

August 5, 2018

Participant in "Policing in a Democracy Without Privacy," Southeastern Association of Law Schools Annual Conference

SEALS Conference 2018 Ft. Lauderdale, FL

2017

October 16, 2017

Debate: Federal Criminal Justice Reform

with Clark Neily, Cato Institute and UT adjunct, sponsored by the Federalist Society

October 6, 2017

Immigration Defense Waivers in Federal Criminal Plea Agreements

Mercer University School of Law

With Donna Lee Elm & Elissa C. Steglich

August 2, 2017

Workshop for New Law School Teachers

Seals 2017 Conference

At SEALS 2017 Conference

July 31, 2017

Southeastern Association of Law Schools 2017 Conference

SEALS Conference 2017

Presenting "Disruptive Innovations in Criminal Defense"

February 21, 2017

Sanctuary Cities panel, moderator

UT Law

Moderated panel discussion with Austin ICE Directors and UT immigration clinic, sponsored by AJCL

2015

September 13, 2015

National Public Defenders Retreat, New Orleans, LA

Can We Reform Plea Bargaining?

Plea Bargaining Conference at the University of Minnesota Law School (with Kate Stith, Yale, and Gabriel Chin, Uni. of AZ).

September 12, 2015

Recap of Current Issues in the U. S. Supreme Court

National Public Defenders Retreat, New Orleans, LA

April 12, 2015

Brady and Discovery: What Works in State and Federal Jurisdictions

National Public Defenders Retreat, New Orleans, LA

Plea Bargaining Conference at the University of Minnesota Law School (with Kate Stith, Yale, and Gabriel Chin, Uni.of AZ).

2012

February 16, 2012

"Improving the Advisory Guideline System"

"Improving the Advisory Guideline System" (with Hon. Gerard Lynch, 2d Cir., Hon. Andre Davis, 4th Cir., Fed. Public Defender Henry Bemporad, Hearing before the U.S. Sentencing Commission, Washington, D.C.

2011

July 28, 2011

“Debunking Claims of Over-Federalization in Criminal Law

Southeastern Association of Law Schools conference paper presented on a panel on Overcriminalization at the Southeastern Association of Law Schools conference held in Hilton Head, South Carolina.

2007

August 31, 2007

Faculty Colloquium

University of Texas at Austin

In September she participated in a faculty colloquium on recent USSC cases, also at UT-Austin.

July 31, 2007

Panel Participant

University of Texas at Austin Law School

Participated in a panel on the first year curriculum in late August at the University of Texas at Austin Law School.

April 6, 2007

Paper Presentation

Citizen Ignorance, Police Deception, and the Constitution Sympsium

Presented a paper, "Lies, Omissions, and Concealment: The Golden Rule in Law Enforcement and the Federal Criminal Code," at a symposium on Citizen Ignorance, Police Deception, and the Constitution at the Texas Tech University School of Law on April 6, 2007. Her paper was published at 39 Texas Tech Law Rev. 1321 - 1354 (Summer 2007).