Our faculty are famous for having equally strong commitments to teaching and to undertaking scholarship that matters. In fact, the Iowa Law faculty is nationally recognized for its scholarly productivity and well-known for its interdisciplinary interests. A number of faculty members have Ph.D.s, and the faculty publishes regularly in history, social science, and general humanities journals as well as traditional law reviews.
Our faculty list includes those temporarily away on visits to other institutions, on reduced teaching loads, and on phased retirement. Separately listed are members with emeritus status; adjunct and visiting faculty who are scheduled to teach during the academic year, or have taught during the previous two academic years and are expected to have a continuing relationship with Iowa Law; and our courtesy faculty who hold complimentary appointments at the College of Law.
Full-time Faculty
Patricia Nassif Acton
Title/Position
Clinical Professor of Law Emerita
Professor Acton has taught Clinical Law, Commercial Transactions, Arts & Entertainment Law, Trusts and Estates, and the Legal History of Iowa.
Gail Agrawal
Title/Position
Dean Emerita and F. Wendell Miller Professor of Law
Dean Agrawal was the 17th dean of The University of Iowa College of Law serving from 2010 - 2018.
John S. Allen
Title/Position
Clinical Professor
Professor Allen and his students represented clients before courts and administrative agencies in a broad range of civil matters. Much of his work has focused on employment law, including employment discrimination, wrongful discharge, and unemployment insurance cases.
Patrick B. Bauer
Title/Position
Professor of Law Emeritus
Professor Bauer studies Iowa Debt Collection Law and Iowa Real Estate Financing Law. His current research includes appellate review of findings of fact, mortgage foreclosure deficiency judgments, Iowa's homestead exemption, federal farm bankruptcy legislation in the 1930s, and federalization of debt collection law in the 1990s.
Arthur E. Bonfield
Title/Position
Allan D. Vestal Chair and Associate Dean Emeritus
Professor Bonfield joined the Iowa Law School faculty in 1962 and has been a visiting professor at the University of Michigan, North Carolina, and Tennessee Law Schools, and at the Law Schools of Hofstra University and Lewis and Clark. Until August 2014, Professor Bonfield served as Associate Dean for Research, building the Iowa Law Library into the best public law library in the nation.
Patricia A. Cain
Title/Position
Aliber Family Chair Emerita
After graduating from law school, Professor Cain practiced law in Montgomery, Alabama, specializing in tax law. In 1974, she joined the faculty of the University of Texas School of Law, where she taught for 17 years. During this period of time she taught as a Visiting Professor at a number of different law schools, including Wisconsin, Tulane, and the University of Southern California. In 1991, she joined the law faculty at the University of Iowa. She was Associate Dean for Academic Affairs from 1996 to 1999 and Associate Dean for Admissions from 2001-2003. In the 2003-2004 academic year, Professor Cain served as Interim Provost of the University and then as Vice Provost until her retirement.
Ann Laquer Estin
Title/Position
Aliber Family Chair in Law Emerita
Professor Estin focused primarily in family law and international family law. As a member of the International Society of Family Law, she has served as an expert observer at the Hague Conference on Private International Law in connection with several of the Hague Children’s Conventions. In addition, she teaches courses in contracts and Federal Indian Law.
Thomas P. Gallanis
Title/Position
Allan D. Vestal Chair in Law Emeritus
Professor Thomas P. Gallanis held the Allan D. Vestal Chair in Law. He became an emeritus faculty member in 2023. Professor Gallanis specializes in trust, succession, property, and fiduciary law, with a particular interest in their comparative and cross-border aspects, and also is a historian of English and European law.
N. William Hines
Title/Position
Joseph F. Rosenfield Professor and Dean Emeritus
Professor Hines completed his phased retirement in 2014, but he continues teaching part-time.
Herbert Hovenkamp
Title/Position
Ben and Dorothy Willie Chair Emeritus
Professor Hovenkamp is a recognized expert and prolific author in the area of Antitrust law. He joined the Iowa law faculty in 1986. Before coming to Iowa, Professor Hovenkamp was Professor of Law at the University of California, Hastings College of the Law, and prior to that he was Instructor, Department of History and American Civilization, University of Texas.
Nicholas Johnson
Title/Position
Retired Adjunct Faculty Member
Nicholas Johnson is among roughly 700 individuals listed in The Yale Biographical Dictionary of American Law (2009), described by the publisher as “leading figures in the history of American law, from the colonial era to the present day.” He taught at the College of Law from 1981 until his retirement in 2014.
Carolyn Jones
Title/Position
Dean Emerita and Orville L. and Ermina D. Dykstra Chair in Income Tax Law Emerita
Carolyn Jones joined the University of Iowa College of Law in 2004 as the 16th Dean of the College. She served as Dean until 2010 when she returned to the faculty of Iowa Law. The period on which much of her works focuses is World War II and the postwar era when much of the current income tax system developed. She has contributed to eight books on tax law and is the author of numerous scholarly articles on the issue. Dean Jones took emerita status in 2021.
Sheldon F. Kurtz
Title/Position
David H. Vernon Professor of Law Emeritus
Professor Kurtz joined the University of Iowa College of Law Faculty in 1973. Since then, he has been teaching at the College of Law, except for a one year visiting professorship at the University of Virginia Law School and a two-year stint as Dean of the Florida State University College of Law. He also holds an appointment in the University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine. Professor Kurtz became an emeritus faculty member in 2022 and continues teaching part-time.
Paul M. Neuhauser
Title/Position
Professor of Law Emeritus
Professor Neuhauser joined the faculty of the College of Law in 1963. Prior to that he was in private practice with the New York City law firm of Simpson, Thatcher & Bartlett. A former Associate Dean of the College of Law, he was also Director of the College of Law's Summer Program in International and Comparative Law. In addition to his regular courses in the corporate law field, he teaches a course in Comparative Corporation Law. He also has been active in using United States corporation law to influence American corporations doing business in South Africa and in various other nations that deny human rights. Professor Neuhauser is a member of the Iowa and New York bars.
Mark J. Osiel
Title/Position
Aliber Family Chair in Law Emeritus
Professor Osiel has served as consultant in several, high-profile international trials and advised the Department of Defense on anti-terrorism prosecutions. He regularly addresses international organizations and governments in post-conflict societies on issues of transitional justice. His regular courses include International Criminal/Humanitarian Law, Judicial Remedies, International Law, as well as seminars on Transitional Justice and on The Law of Armed Conflict.
John C. Reitz
Title/Position
Edward Carmody Professor of Law Emeritus
Professor Reitz's love of foreign languages led him to focus his professional career on comparative law and transnational transactions. Prior to joining the faculty of the College of Law in 1983, Professor Reitz served as an American Fellow to the faculty of the Salzburg Seminar on American Law and Institutions.
Leonard A. Sandler
Title/Position
Clinical Professor of Law Emeritus
Clinical Professor Len Sandler joined the faculty in 1990 to direct one of the first HIV/AIDS law school clinics in the U.S. with students providing holistic representation to individuals, their families, and allies. He founded and directs the award-winning Law and Policy in Action Clinic to give law students experience solving recurring, systemic problems that cannot be addressed through litigation. They provide no-cost consultant services, technical assistance, legislative advocacy, and representation to nonprofits, community groups, governments, and businesses on disability, civil rights, housing, healthcare, elder abuse, LGBTQ, and other issues. Sandler and his clinic students also represented and provided transactional services for families and present workshops on estate planning, guardianship, and other legal issues.
Affiliated Faculty
Patricia Nassif Acton
Title/Position
Clinical Professor of Law Emerita
Professor Acton has taught Clinical Law, Commercial Transactions, Arts & Entertainment Law, Trusts and Estates, and the Legal History of Iowa.
Gail Agrawal
Title/Position
Dean Emerita and F. Wendell Miller Professor of Law
Dean Agrawal was the 17th dean of The University of Iowa College of Law serving from 2010 - 2018.
John S. Allen
Title/Position
Clinical Professor
Professor Allen and his students represented clients before courts and administrative agencies in a broad range of civil matters. Much of his work has focused on employment law, including employment discrimination, wrongful discharge, and unemployment insurance cases.
Patrick B. Bauer
Title/Position
Professor of Law Emeritus
Professor Bauer studies Iowa Debt Collection Law and Iowa Real Estate Financing Law. His current research includes appellate review of findings of fact, mortgage foreclosure deficiency judgments, Iowa's homestead exemption, federal farm bankruptcy legislation in the 1930s, and federalization of debt collection law in the 1990s.
Arthur E. Bonfield
Title/Position
Allan D. Vestal Chair and Associate Dean Emeritus
Professor Bonfield joined the Iowa Law School faculty in 1962 and has been a visiting professor at the University of Michigan, North Carolina, and Tennessee Law Schools, and at the Law Schools of Hofstra University and Lewis and Clark. Until August 2014, Professor Bonfield served as Associate Dean for Research, building the Iowa Law Library into the best public law library in the nation.
Patricia A. Cain
Title/Position
Aliber Family Chair Emerita
After graduating from law school, Professor Cain practiced law in Montgomery, Alabama, specializing in tax law. In 1974, she joined the faculty of the University of Texas School of Law, where she taught for 17 years. During this period of time she taught as a Visiting Professor at a number of different law schools, including Wisconsin, Tulane, and the University of Southern California. In 1991, she joined the law faculty at the University of Iowa. She was Associate Dean for Academic Affairs from 1996 to 1999 and Associate Dean for Admissions from 2001-2003. In the 2003-2004 academic year, Professor Cain served as Interim Provost of the University and then as Vice Provost until her retirement.
Ann Laquer Estin
Title/Position
Aliber Family Chair in Law Emerita
Professor Estin focused primarily in family law and international family law. As a member of the International Society of Family Law, she has served as an expert observer at the Hague Conference on Private International Law in connection with several of the Hague Children’s Conventions. In addition, she teaches courses in contracts and Federal Indian Law.
Thomas P. Gallanis
Title/Position
Allan D. Vestal Chair in Law Emeritus
Professor Thomas P. Gallanis held the Allan D. Vestal Chair in Law. He became an emeritus faculty member in 2023. Professor Gallanis specializes in trust, succession, property, and fiduciary law, with a particular interest in their comparative and cross-border aspects, and also is a historian of English and European law.
N. William Hines
Title/Position
Joseph F. Rosenfield Professor and Dean Emeritus
Professor Hines completed his phased retirement in 2014, but he continues teaching part-time.
Herbert Hovenkamp
Title/Position
Ben and Dorothy Willie Chair Emeritus
Professor Hovenkamp is a recognized expert and prolific author in the area of Antitrust law. He joined the Iowa law faculty in 1986. Before coming to Iowa, Professor Hovenkamp was Professor of Law at the University of California, Hastings College of the Law, and prior to that he was Instructor, Department of History and American Civilization, University of Texas.
Nicholas Johnson
Title/Position
Retired Adjunct Faculty Member
Nicholas Johnson is among roughly 700 individuals listed in The Yale Biographical Dictionary of American Law (2009), described by the publisher as “leading figures in the history of American law, from the colonial era to the present day.” He taught at the College of Law from 1981 until his retirement in 2014.
Carolyn Jones
Title/Position
Dean Emerita and Orville L. and Ermina D. Dykstra Chair in Income Tax Law Emerita
Carolyn Jones joined the University of Iowa College of Law in 2004 as the 16th Dean of the College. She served as Dean until 2010 when she returned to the faculty of Iowa Law. The period on which much of her works focuses is World War II and the postwar era when much of the current income tax system developed. She has contributed to eight books on tax law and is the author of numerous scholarly articles on the issue. Dean Jones took emerita status in 2021.
Sheldon F. Kurtz
Title/Position
David H. Vernon Professor of Law Emeritus
Professor Kurtz joined the University of Iowa College of Law Faculty in 1973. Since then, he has been teaching at the College of Law, except for a one year visiting professorship at the University of Virginia Law School and a two-year stint as Dean of the Florida State University College of Law. He also holds an appointment in the University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine. Professor Kurtz became an emeritus faculty member in 2022 and continues teaching part-time.
Paul M. Neuhauser
Title/Position
Professor of Law Emeritus
Professor Neuhauser joined the faculty of the College of Law in 1963. Prior to that he was in private practice with the New York City law firm of Simpson, Thatcher & Bartlett. A former Associate Dean of the College of Law, he was also Director of the College of Law's Summer Program in International and Comparative Law. In addition to his regular courses in the corporate law field, he teaches a course in Comparative Corporation Law. He also has been active in using United States corporation law to influence American corporations doing business in South Africa and in various other nations that deny human rights. Professor Neuhauser is a member of the Iowa and New York bars.
Mark J. Osiel
Title/Position
Aliber Family Chair in Law Emeritus
Professor Osiel has served as consultant in several, high-profile international trials and advised the Department of Defense on anti-terrorism prosecutions. He regularly addresses international organizations and governments in post-conflict societies on issues of transitional justice. His regular courses include International Criminal/Humanitarian Law, Judicial Remedies, International Law, as well as seminars on Transitional Justice and on The Law of Armed Conflict.
John C. Reitz
Title/Position
Edward Carmody Professor of Law Emeritus
Professor Reitz's love of foreign languages led him to focus his professional career on comparative law and transnational transactions. Prior to joining the faculty of the College of Law in 1983, Professor Reitz served as an American Fellow to the faculty of the Salzburg Seminar on American Law and Institutions.
Leonard A. Sandler
Title/Position
Clinical Professor of Law Emeritus
Clinical Professor Len Sandler joined the faculty in 1990 to direct one of the first HIV/AIDS law school clinics in the U.S. with students providing holistic representation to individuals, their families, and allies. He founded and directs the award-winning Law and Policy in Action Clinic to give law students experience solving recurring, systemic problems that cannot be addressed through litigation. They provide no-cost consultant services, technical assistance, legislative advocacy, and representation to nonprofits, community groups, governments, and businesses on disability, civil rights, housing, healthcare, elder abuse, LGBTQ, and other issues. Sandler and his clinic students also represented and provided transactional services for families and present workshops on estate planning, guardianship, and other legal issues.
Visiting and Adjunct Faculty
Patricia Nassif Acton
Title/Position
Clinical Professor of Law Emerita
Professor Acton has taught Clinical Law, Commercial Transactions, Arts & Entertainment Law, Trusts and Estates, and the Legal History of Iowa.
Gail Agrawal
Title/Position
Dean Emerita and F. Wendell Miller Professor of Law
Dean Agrawal was the 17th dean of The University of Iowa College of Law serving from 2010 - 2018.
John S. Allen
Title/Position
Clinical Professor
Professor Allen and his students represented clients before courts and administrative agencies in a broad range of civil matters. Much of his work has focused on employment law, including employment discrimination, wrongful discharge, and unemployment insurance cases.
Patrick B. Bauer
Title/Position
Professor of Law Emeritus
Professor Bauer studies Iowa Debt Collection Law and Iowa Real Estate Financing Law. His current research includes appellate review of findings of fact, mortgage foreclosure deficiency judgments, Iowa's homestead exemption, federal farm bankruptcy legislation in the 1930s, and federalization of debt collection law in the 1990s.
Arthur E. Bonfield
Title/Position
Allan D. Vestal Chair and Associate Dean Emeritus
Professor Bonfield joined the Iowa Law School faculty in 1962 and has been a visiting professor at the University of Michigan, North Carolina, and Tennessee Law Schools, and at the Law Schools of Hofstra University and Lewis and Clark. Until August 2014, Professor Bonfield served as Associate Dean for Research, building the Iowa Law Library into the best public law library in the nation.
Patricia A. Cain
Title/Position
Aliber Family Chair Emerita
After graduating from law school, Professor Cain practiced law in Montgomery, Alabama, specializing in tax law. In 1974, she joined the faculty of the University of Texas School of Law, where she taught for 17 years. During this period of time she taught as a Visiting Professor at a number of different law schools, including Wisconsin, Tulane, and the University of Southern California. In 1991, she joined the law faculty at the University of Iowa. She was Associate Dean for Academic Affairs from 1996 to 1999 and Associate Dean for Admissions from 2001-2003. In the 2003-2004 academic year, Professor Cain served as Interim Provost of the University and then as Vice Provost until her retirement.
Ann Laquer Estin
Title/Position
Aliber Family Chair in Law Emerita
Professor Estin focused primarily in family law and international family law. As a member of the International Society of Family Law, she has served as an expert observer at the Hague Conference on Private International Law in connection with several of the Hague Children’s Conventions. In addition, she teaches courses in contracts and Federal Indian Law.
Thomas P. Gallanis
Title/Position
Allan D. Vestal Chair in Law Emeritus
Professor Thomas P. Gallanis held the Allan D. Vestal Chair in Law. He became an emeritus faculty member in 2023. Professor Gallanis specializes in trust, succession, property, and fiduciary law, with a particular interest in their comparative and cross-border aspects, and also is a historian of English and European law.
N. William Hines
Title/Position
Joseph F. Rosenfield Professor and Dean Emeritus
Professor Hines completed his phased retirement in 2014, but he continues teaching part-time.
Herbert Hovenkamp
Title/Position
Ben and Dorothy Willie Chair Emeritus
Professor Hovenkamp is a recognized expert and prolific author in the area of Antitrust law. He joined the Iowa law faculty in 1986. Before coming to Iowa, Professor Hovenkamp was Professor of Law at the University of California, Hastings College of the Law, and prior to that he was Instructor, Department of History and American Civilization, University of Texas.
Nicholas Johnson
Title/Position
Retired Adjunct Faculty Member
Nicholas Johnson is among roughly 700 individuals listed in The Yale Biographical Dictionary of American Law (2009), described by the publisher as “leading figures in the history of American law, from the colonial era to the present day.” He taught at the College of Law from 1981 until his retirement in 2014.
Carolyn Jones
Title/Position
Dean Emerita and Orville L. and Ermina D. Dykstra Chair in Income Tax Law Emerita
Carolyn Jones joined the University of Iowa College of Law in 2004 as the 16th Dean of the College. She served as Dean until 2010 when she returned to the faculty of Iowa Law. The period on which much of her works focuses is World War II and the postwar era when much of the current income tax system developed. She has contributed to eight books on tax law and is the author of numerous scholarly articles on the issue. Dean Jones took emerita status in 2021.
Sheldon F. Kurtz
Title/Position
David H. Vernon Professor of Law Emeritus
Professor Kurtz joined the University of Iowa College of Law Faculty in 1973. Since then, he has been teaching at the College of Law, except for a one year visiting professorship at the University of Virginia Law School and a two-year stint as Dean of the Florida State University College of Law. He also holds an appointment in the University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine. Professor Kurtz became an emeritus faculty member in 2022 and continues teaching part-time.
Paul M. Neuhauser
Title/Position
Professor of Law Emeritus
Professor Neuhauser joined the faculty of the College of Law in 1963. Prior to that he was in private practice with the New York City law firm of Simpson, Thatcher & Bartlett. A former Associate Dean of the College of Law, he was also Director of the College of Law's Summer Program in International and Comparative Law. In addition to his regular courses in the corporate law field, he teaches a course in Comparative Corporation Law. He also has been active in using United States corporation law to influence American corporations doing business in South Africa and in various other nations that deny human rights. Professor Neuhauser is a member of the Iowa and New York bars.
Mark J. Osiel
Title/Position
Aliber Family Chair in Law Emeritus
Professor Osiel has served as consultant in several, high-profile international trials and advised the Department of Defense on anti-terrorism prosecutions. He regularly addresses international organizations and governments in post-conflict societies on issues of transitional justice. His regular courses include International Criminal/Humanitarian Law, Judicial Remedies, International Law, as well as seminars on Transitional Justice and on The Law of Armed Conflict.
John C. Reitz
Title/Position
Edward Carmody Professor of Law Emeritus
Professor Reitz's love of foreign languages led him to focus his professional career on comparative law and transnational transactions. Prior to joining the faculty of the College of Law in 1983, Professor Reitz served as an American Fellow to the faculty of the Salzburg Seminar on American Law and Institutions.
Leonard A. Sandler
Title/Position
Clinical Professor of Law Emeritus
Clinical Professor Len Sandler joined the faculty in 1990 to direct one of the first HIV/AIDS law school clinics in the U.S. with students providing holistic representation to individuals, their families, and allies. He founded and directs the award-winning Law and Policy in Action Clinic to give law students experience solving recurring, systemic problems that cannot be addressed through litigation. They provide no-cost consultant services, technical assistance, legislative advocacy, and representation to nonprofits, community groups, governments, and businesses on disability, civil rights, housing, healthcare, elder abuse, LGBTQ, and other issues. Sandler and his clinic students also represented and provided transactional services for families and present workshops on estate planning, guardianship, and other legal issues.
John-Mark Stensvaag
Title/Position
Charlotte and Frederick Hubbell Professor of Environmental and Natural Resources Law Emeritus
James J. Tomkovicz
Title/Position
Edward Howrey Professor Emeritus
Professor Tomkovicz joined the faculty in 1982 after serving as a Visiting Professor at Iowa in the spring of 1981 and an Adjunct Professor at UCLA during the 1981-82 academic year. Since joining the Iowa faculty, Professor Tomkovicz has taught Criminal Law, Criminal Procedure: Investigation, Criminal Procedure: Adjudication and Evidence. He became an emeritus faculty member in 2021.
Kevin K. Washburn
Title/Position
Dean Emeritus
Professor of Law Emeritus
Kevin Washburn joined Iowa Law as its 18th dean on June 15, 2018 and served in that role through the end of 2024. Prior to entering academia, he clerked for a judge on the Ninth Circuit, worked as a trial attorney and then a prosecutor with the U.S. Department of Justice, and served as the general counsel of the National Indian Gaming Commission. As an academic, he has held faculty positions at Minnesota Arizona, and New Mexico, and taught for a year as a visitor at Harvard.
Retired and Emeriti Faculty
John-Mark Stensvaag
Title/Position
Charlotte and Frederick Hubbell Professor of Environmental and Natural Resources Law Emeritus
James J. Tomkovicz
Title/Position
Edward Howrey Professor Emeritus
Professor Tomkovicz joined the faculty in 1982 after serving as a Visiting Professor at Iowa in the spring of 1981 and an Adjunct Professor at UCLA during the 1981-82 academic year. Since joining the Iowa faculty, Professor Tomkovicz has taught Criminal Law, Criminal Procedure: Investigation, Criminal Procedure: Adjudication and Evidence. He became an emeritus faculty member in 2021.
Kevin K. Washburn
Title/Position
Dean Emeritus
Professor of Law Emeritus
Kevin Washburn joined Iowa Law as its 18th dean on June 15, 2018 and served in that role through the end of 2024. Prior to entering academia, he clerked for a judge on the Ninth Circuit, worked as a trial attorney and then a prosecutor with the U.S. Department of Justice, and served as the general counsel of the National Indian Gaming Commission. As an academic, he has held faculty positions at Minnesota Arizona, and New Mexico, and taught for a year as a visitor at Harvard.