Emily Hughes
Overview
Professor Hughes joined the University of Iowa College of Law faculty in 2011 and served as Associate Dean from 2015 to 2025. She began as Associate Dean for Faculty then served as both Associate Dean for Faculty and Associate Dean for Academic Affairs before becoming Senior Associate Dean for Academic Affairs. During her decade of service, she continued to teach a full teaching load, often teaching more students each year than any other faculty member.
In the past ten years alone, Professor Hughes has given more than 80 presentations in her areas of expertise, including criminal law, the death penalty, and legal ethics. She has been interviewed by regional and national media outlets, from local TV stations, newspapers, and public radio to The New York Times and Rolling Stone. Her scholarship has appeared in a variety of law reviews and presses, including Cambridge University Press, Georgetown Journal of Legal Ethics, Iowa Law Review, Michigan State Law Review, North Carolina Law Review, Rutgers University Law Review, Washington University Law Review, Yale Law Journal, Carolina Academic Press, and West Academic Press. She is the co-author of two casebooks (Federal Habeas Corpus and The Law and Ethics of Law Practice), as well as the forthcoming editions of Mastering Criminal Procedure (Volumes I and II).
Before joining the Iowa Law faculty, she was a professor at Washington University in St. Louis School of Law, where she co-directed the Criminal Justice Clinic and taught criminal law, criminal procedure, and the death penalty.
Professor Hughes also served as Associate Director of the Center for Justice in Capital Cases at DePaul University College of Law, worked as an Iowa state public defender, was a Sacks Fellow at Harvard Law School’s Criminal Justice Institute, and clerked for the Honorable Michael J. Melloy, then Chief Judge of the Northern District of Iowa before he joined the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals.
Research areas
- Criminal law and procedure
- Death penalty
- Professional responsibility
- Evidence
Teaching areas
- Criminal Law
- Criminal Procedure Investigation and Adjudication
- Evidence
- Professional Responsibility
- Death Penalty
- Trial Advocacy
- Negotiation
Professional affiliations and memberships
- American Law Institute, Elected Member
- National Association for Public Defense, Co-Chair of Amicus Committee
- Darrow Death Penalty Defense College, Director
- National Criminal Defense College, Faculty
- Foundation for the Iowa City Community School District, President
- Graceland University, Trustee
- Admitted to practice in Iowa, Illinois, and Missouri; the United States District Court for the Northern District of Iowa; and the United States Supreme Court
Awards and honors
- Association of American Law Schools Pro Bono Honor Roll (2025)
- Hubbard-Walder Award for Excellence in Teaching (2024)
- President & Provost Award for Teaching Excellence Nominee (2014, 2015, and 2023)
- Selected by graduating class to hood at commencement (2012-2019, 2021-2026)
- University of Iowa Collegiate Teaching Award (2015)
- Faculty Speaker for University of Iowa College of Law Senior Banquet (2012)
- Iowa State Bar Association, Young Lawyers Division Award of Merit (2005)
