Prof. Robert F. Williams                 

 CURRICULUM VITAE

HOME:  Haddonfield, New Jersey 08033   AGE: 60
   (856) 354-9747     Married, two children

OFFICE:  Rutgers University School of Law
   217 N. Fifth Street
   Camden, New Jersey   08102
   (856) 225-6372
   FAX (856) 225-6516
   E-Mail rfw@camden.rutgers.edu

   Rutgers Center for State Constitutional Studies
   camlaw.rutgers.edu/statecon/

EDUCATION:

LL.M., Columbia University School of Law, 1980.  Chamberlain Fellowship in Legislation.

LL.M., New York University School of Law, 1971.  Ford Foundation Urban Law Fellow.

J.D.  (Honors),  University of Florida College of Law, 1969.  Order of the Coif; Executive  Editor, University of Florida Law Review.

B.A.  (cum laude, Political Science), Florida State University, 1967.  Phi Beta Kappa, Phi Kappa Phi.

EMPLOYMENT:

Professor II of Law, Rutgers University School of Law/Camden, July 1980 - present (Civil Procedure, Legislation, State Constitutional Law). Tenured, 1984; Professor, 1989;  Distinguished Professor, 1994.  Associate Dean for Lawyering Programs and Curriculum Development, 1995-1997.

Associate Director, Rutgers Center for State Constitutional Studies, 1997-present.

Legislative Advocacy Director, Florida Legal Services, Inc., December 1976 to August 1979.
Legislative drafting, lobbying and administrative practice representing legal services  clients.

International Legal Center Fellow, Kabul, Afghanistan, July 1974 to January 1976.  Advisor,
Legislation Department, Ministry of Justice, and Instructor in statutory interpretation at the Afghan Judicial Training Center.

Executive Director, Florida Legal Services, Inc., March 1973 to June 1974.  Organizational and fundraising work setting up a statewide legal services backup center.

Reporter, Florida Law Revision Council, Landlord and Tenant Law Project, April 1972 to June 1973.  Drafted the Florida Residential Landlord and Tenant Act of 1973 and successfully lobbied for its enactment.

Legislative Assistant to Senator Robert Graham, Florida Legislature, Regular Session, February  to April 1972.  Bill drafting and legislative staff duties.

Staff Attorney, Legal Services of Greater Miami, Inc., July 1971 to March 1973.  Wide range of
practice including landlord-tenant, consumer law, domestic relations, civil rights.  Practiced before state and federal trial and appellate courts.

Law Clerk to Chief Judge T. Frank Hobson, Florida Second District Court of Appeal, December 1969 to June 1970.

Legislative Assistant, Representative Robert Graham, Florida Legislature, Regular and Constitutional Revision Sessions, April to August 1967.

PUBLICATIONS:
                   
BOOKS:

STATE CONSTITUTIONS FOR THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY, VOLUME I: THE POLITICS OF STATE CONSTITUTIONAL REVISION, (G. Alan Tarr and Robert F. Williams, eds., 2006).

FRANK P. GRAD AND ROBERT F. WILLIAMS, STATE CONSTITUTIONS FOR THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY, VOLUME II: DRAFTING STATE CONSTITUTIONS, REVISIONS AND AMENDMENTS (2006).

STATE CONSTITUTIONS FOR THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY, VOLUME III: THE AGENDA OF STATE CONSTITUTIONAL REFORM (G. Alan Tarr and Robert F. Williams, eds., 2006).

FEDERALISM, SUBNATIONAL CONSTITUTIONS AND MINORITY RIGHTS (G. Alan Tarr, Robert F. Williams, and Josef Marko, eds., Praeger 2004).  Coauthored first chapter.

STATE CONSTITUTIONAL LAW:  CASES AND MATERIALS (Charlottesville, Va.: Lexis Law   Publishing, 4th Ed. 2006).

LEGISLATIVE LAW AND PROCESS, with O. Hetzel and M. Libonati:  (Charlottesville, Va.: Lexis Law Publishing, 3d. Ed. 2001).

STATE CONSTITUTIONAL LAW: CASES AND MATERIALS (Washington, D.C.: Advisory  Commission on Intergovernmental Relations, 1988), with 1990 Supplement.

THE NEW JERSEY STATE CONSTITUTION:  A REFERENCE GUIDE (Westport, CT.: Greenwood Press, 1990).

THE NEW JERSEY STATE CONSTITUTION: A REFERENCE GUIDE (revised ed., Trenton, N.J.: Rutgers University Press 1997).

USA MONOGRAPH, INTERNATIONAL ENCYCLOPAEDIA OF LAWS: Constitutional Law, Subnational Constitutions Volume (The Hague,  Netherlands: Kluwer Law Publishers, 1999) (co-authored).

ARTICLES AND CHAPTERS:

Foreword:  Getting From Here to There: Twenty-First Century Mechanisms and Opportunities in State Constitutional Reform, 36 RUTGERS L.J. 1075 (2005) (coauthored with Alan Tarr).

The New Judicial Federalism Takes Root in Arkansas, 58 ARKANSAS L. REV. 883 (2006).

Juristocracy in the American States?  65 MARYLAND L. REV. 68 (2006).

State Courts Adopting Federal Constitutional Doctrine: Case-by-Case Adoptionism or Prospective Lockstepping?  46 WM. & MARY L. REV. 1499 (2005).

Foreword: Continued Commitment to State Constitutional Law, 38 VALPARAISO U.L. REV. 317 (2004).

The New Judicial Federalism in Ohio: The First Decade, 51 CLEVE. ST. L. REV. 415 (2004).

New Hampshire and the Methodology of the New Judicial Federalism, 45 N.H. B.J. 6 (Summer 2004).

Introduction: Celebrating Judge Michael Patrick King's Career, 35 RUTGERS L.J. 1247 (2004) (also solicited and edited the articles).

Introduction: The Third State of the New Judicial Federalism, 59 NYU ANN. SURV. AM.L. 211 (2003).

Shedding Tiers "Above and Beyond" the Federal Floor: Loving State Constitutional Equality Rights to Death in Louisiana, 63 LA. REV. 917 (2003).

The Brennan Lecture: Interpreting State Constitutions As Unique Legal Documents, 27 OKLA. CITY U.L. REV. 189 (2002).

Traces of its Labors": The Constitutional Commission, the Legislature, and Their Influence on the New Jersey State Constitution, 1873-1875, 33 RUTGERS L.J. 929 (2002) (Coauthored).

Foreword: Continuing Developments in State Constitutional Law, 74 TEMPLE L. REV. 573 (2001).

Old Constitutions and New Issues: National Lessons from Vermont's State Constitutional Case on Marriage of Same-Sex Couples, 43 BOSTON COLL. L. REV. 73 (2001).

Foreword: Tort Reform and State Constitutional Law, 32 RUTGERS L.J. 897 (2001).

Foreword: Is Constitutional Revision Success Worth Its Popular Sovereignty Price?  52 FLA. L. REV. 249 (2000).

Comparative Subnational Constitutional Law: South Africa's Provincial Constitutional Experiments, 40 S.TEX. L. REV.625 (1999), reprinted at 63 J. CONTEMP. ROMAN-DUTCH LAW 367 (2000) (South Africa).

The New Judicial Federalism in the United States: Expansive State Constitutional Rights Decisions, in SUBNATIONAL CONSTITUTIONAL GOVERNANCE: SEMINAR REPORT,  P.67 (JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA: KONRAD-ADENAUER FOUNDATION, 1999).

Justice Brennen, The New Jersey Supreme Court, and State Constitutions: The Evolution of a State Constitutional Consciousness, 29 RUTGERS L.J. 763 (1998).

Afterword: The New Jersey State Constitution Comes From Ridicule To Respect, 29 RUTGERS L.J. 1037 (1998).

Rhode Island's Distribution of Powers Question of the Century: Reverse Delegation and Implied Limits on Legislative Powers, 4 ROGER WILLIAMS U.L.REV. 159 (1998).

Foreword: Western State Constitutions in the American Constitutional Tradition, 28 NEW MEX. L. REV. 191 (1998) (CO-AUTHORED).

New Mexico State Constitutional Law Comes of Age, 28 NEW MEX. L. REV. 379 (1998).

New York's State Constitution in National Context, 14 TOURO L. REV. 611 (1998).

State Constitution's Role—A Symposium, 1 DELAWARE L. REV. 193 (1998) (moderator).

The Florida Constitution Revision Commission in Historic and National Context, 50 FLA. L.   REV. 215 (1998).

Comparative State Constitutional Law: A Research Agenda on Subnational Constitutions in   Federal Systems, in LAW IN MOTION (Roger Blanpain, ed. 1997), p. 339. (June1997).

New Jersey's State Constitutions: From Ridicule to Respect, 185 NEW JERSEY LAWYER 8 (June 1997). 

In The Glare of The Supreme Court: Continuing Methodology and Legitimacy Problems in   Independent State Constitutional Rights Adjudication, 72 NOTRE DAME L. REV. 1015  (1997).

Two Visions of State Constitutional Rights Protections, 7 SETON HALL CONST. L.J. 833 (1997).

Are State Constitutional Conventions Things of the Past?  The Increasing Role of the  Constitutional Commission in State Constitutional Change, 1 HOFSTRA LAW & POLICY SYMPOSIUM 1 (1996).

Comment:  On the Importance of a Theory of Legislative Power Under State Constitutions, 15 QUINNIPIAC L. REV. 57 (1995).

The New Jersey Equal Rights Amendment:  A Documentary Sourcebook 16 RUTGERS WOMEN'S RIGHTS L. REPORTER 69 (Winter 1994).

The New Judicial Federalism: The States' Lead in Rights Protection, 65 JOURNAL OF STATE GOVERNMENT 50 (April-June 1992) (Coauthored).

The Claus von Bulow Case, Chutzpah and State Constitutional Law?  26 CONNECTICUT L. REV. 711 (1994).

New York's State Constitution in Comparative Context and The Role of The Constitutional Commission in State Constitutional Change in THE NEW YORK STATE CONSTITUTION: A BRIEFING BOOK (Gerald Benjamin, ed., 1994) p. 17, 73; and in DECISION 1997: CONSTITUTIONAL CHANGE IN NEW YORK (Gerald Benjamin and Henrik N. Dullea, eds., 1997), p. 29, 45.

State Constitutionalism:  Completing the Interdisciplinary Study of Constitutional Law and Political Theory, 22 PERSPECTIVES IN POL. SCI. 110 (Summer 1993).

A "Row of Shadows":  Pennsylvania's Misguided Lockstep Approach to State Constitutional Equality Doctrine, 3 WIDENER J. PUB. L. 343 (1993).

Class Actions in New Jersey State Courts, 24 RUTGERS L. J.  737 (1993) (coauthored).

Foreword, A Research Agenda in State Constitutional Law, 66 TEMPLE L. REV. 1145 (1993).

Introduction: The Stories of State Constitutional Law, 18 NOVA L. REV. 715 (1994).

Review Essay:  A Generation of Change in Florida State Constitutional Law, 5 ST. THOMAS L.
 REV. 133 (1992).

Foreword:  The Importance of an Independent State Constitutional Equality Doctrine in School Finance Cases and Beyond, 24 CONNECTICUT L. REV. 675 (1992).

Foreword:  New York Constitutional Law—The State and Nation Watch, 8 TOURO L. REV.
 I (1992).

State Constitutional Law:  Teaching and Scholarship, 41 J. LEGAL ED. 243 (1991).

Marking The End of Pennsylvania's Revolutionary Constitutional Experiment, 139 PITTSBURGH LEGAL J. 45 (January, 1991).

Selected Bibliography on State Constitutional Law, 1980-1989, 20 RUTGERS L. J. 1093 (1989) (coauthored).

"Government Structure Under State Constitutions," in STATE CONSTITUTIONS IN THE FEDERAL SYSTEM (Advisory Commission on Intergovernmental Relations, 1989), p. 37.

The State Constitutions of the Founding Decade: Pennsylvania's Radical 1776 Constitution and  Its Influences on American Constitutionalism, 62 TEMPLE L. REV. 541 (1989).

Evolving State Legislative and Executive Power in the Founding Decade, 496  ANNALS OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY OF POLITICAL AND SOCIAL SCIENCE 43 (1988).

"Experience Must be Our Only Guide":  The State Constitutional Experience of the Framers of the Federal Constitution, 15  HAST. CONST. L. Q. 403 (1988).

The Influences of Pennsylvania's 1776 Constitution on American Constitutionalism During the Founding Decade, 112 PA. MAG. OF HIST. & BIOG. 25 (1988).

New Jersey's Constitution of 1776: "We Shall have a Republic established by the end of the week," NEW JERSEY LAWYER 21 (Summer, 1987).

Methodology Problems in Enforcing State Constitutional Rights, 3 GA. ST. U. L. REV. 143 (1986-1987).

Farmworkers' Organizational and Collective Bargaining Rights in New Jersey: Implementing   Self-Executing State Constitutional Rights, 18 RUTGERS L. J. 729 (1987) (coauthored).

State Constitutional Limits on Legislative Procedure: Problems of Judicial Enforcement and Legislative Compliance, 17 PUBLIUS: THE JOURNAL OF FEDERALISM 91 (1987), reprinted in 48 U. PITT. L. REV. 797 (1987).

The State Constitutional Roots of the "Separate But Equal" Doctrine: Roberts v. City of Boston, 17 RUTGERS L. J. 537 (1986) (coauthored).

Equality Guarantees in State Constitutional Law, 63 TEXAS L. REV. 1195 (1985).

Equality and State Constitutional Law, Chapter 3 in DEVELOPMENTS IN STATE CONSTITUTIONAL

LAW: THE WILLIAMSBURG CONFERENCE (B. McGraw ed. 1985), and Chapter 2 in   Practicing Law Institute, RECENT DEVELOPMENTS IN STATE CONSTITUTIONAL LAW (P.  Bamberger ed. 1985).

Introduction:  State Constitutional Law in Ohio and the Nation, 16 U. TOLEDO L. REV. 391 (1985).

Special Project:  The Constitutionality of the Death Penalty in New Jersey, 15 RUTGERS L.  J. 261 (1984) (coauthored with a professor and three students).

In the Supreme Court's Shadow: Legitimacy of State Rejection of Supreme Court Reasoning and Result, 35 SOUTH CAROLINA L. REV. 353 (1984).

Statutory Law in Legal Education: Still Second Class After All These Years, 35 MERCER L. REV. 803 (1984).

State Constitutional Law Processes, 24 WILLIAM AND MARY L. REV. 169 (1983).

The Anatomy of Law Reform:  Dissecting a Decade of Change in Florida in Forma Pauperis   Law, 12 STETSON L. REV. 363 (1983).

Statutes as Sources of Law Beyond Their Terms in Common-Law Cases, 50 GEORGE WASHINGTON  L. REV. 554 (1982).

Legal Education in Afghanistan Prior to the Soviet Occupation, 6 SUFFOLK TRANSNATIONAL L. REV. 247 (1982).

The Tax Injunction Act and Judicial Restraint: Property Tax Litigation in Federal Courts, 12  RUTGERS L. J. 653 (1981).

Interpretation of Statutes: A Comparative View for Afghanistan (1975) (Translated and    published in Persian by the Afghan Judicial Training Center).

The Florida Residential Landlord and Tenant Act, 1 FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY L. REV. 555
 (1973) (coauthored).

EDITORSHIPS

Faculty Editor, Annual Issue on State Constitutional Law, Rutgers Law Journal, 1989-present.

Guest Editor, 185 NEW JERSEY LAWYER (June 1997) (special issue on 50th Anniversary of New Jersey Constitution).

Editorial Board, The Encyclopedia of New Jersey Project

Editorial Board, New Jersey Law Journal

Coediting INTERNATIONAL ENCYCLOPAEDIA OF LAWS, SUBNATIONAL CONSTITUTIONS published by Kluwer Law and Taxation Publishers in the Netherlands.  Coauthor of chapter on American state constitutions

WORK IN PROGRESS:

Book on the 1873 New Jersey Constitutional Commission and the resulting 1875 amendments to the New Jersey Constitution.

AWARDS

Professor of the Year, 1991-92, Rutgers University Law School, Camden.

Rutgers College Class of 1962 Presidential Public Service Award, May 6, 1999.

MAJOR CASES

Billey v. North Dakota Stockmen's Association, 579 N.W. 2d 171 (N.D. 1998) (requirement of public funds being deposited in state treasury) (consultant).

D.J.L. v Armour Pharmaceutical Co., 307 N.J. Super. 61, 704 A.2d 104 (L. Div. 1997) (constitutionality of new statute of limitations for hemophiliacs infected with AIDS) (lead counsel).

New Jersey Coalition Against War in the Middle East v. J.M.B. Realty Corp., 138 N.J. 326, 650 A.2d 757 (1994) (free speech in shopping malls under state constitution) (amicus curiae).

Local 22, Philadelphia Fire Fighters' Union v. Commonwealth, 613 A.2d 522 (1992) (state constitutional challenge to Philadelphia fiscal bail-out legislation) (lead counsel).

AFSCME Iowa Council 61 v. State of Iowa, 484 N.W. 2d 390 (1992) (scope of governor's item   veto power and binding arbitration) (consultant and expert witness).

Handicapped Advocates for Independent Living, et al. v. Casino Control Commission, N.J. App. Div. Docket #A-1720-89T2, cert. denied 126 N.J. 320, 598 A.2d 880 (1991) (action to enforce affirmative action hiring in the casinos) (lead counsel).

Welsh v. Branstad, 470 N.W. 2d 644 (Iowa 1991) (Scope of governor's item veto power) (consultant).

Saldana v. City of Camden, 727 F. Supp. 891 (D.N.J. 1989) (challenge to city's failure to maintain abandoned housing properly). Case refiled in state court.  252 N.J. Super. 188,  599 A. 2d 582 (App. Div. 1991), 15 Class Action Reports 277-78 (1992) (class certification reversed) (lead counsel).  Adverse summary judgment overturned, and cause of action recognized.  275 N.J. Super. 488, 646 A.2d 522 (App. Div. 1994).  (co-counsel).

Junkins v. Branstad, 448 N.W. 2d 480 (Iowa 1989) (scope of governor's item veto power) 
(consultant and expert witness).

Ritter v. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, 120 Pa. Cmwlth. 374, 548 A.2d 1317, aff'd per curiam 521Pa. 536, 557 A.2d 1064 (1989).  (State constitutional challenge to the legislative procedure used to enact abortion legislation.) (lead counsel).

Comite Organizador De Trabajadores Agricolas (COTA) v. Molinelli, 114 N.J. 87, 552 A.2d    1003 (1989).  (Collective bargaining rights of migrant farmworkers.)  (Co-counsel).

Grasso Foods Inc. and Comite Organizador De Trabajadores Agricolas, _____ NLRB _____ (1987).  Employer committed unfair labor practice by bringing trespass charges against farmworkers union organizer (lead counsel).

State of New Jersey v. Ramseur, 524 A.2d 188 (N.J. 1987).  (Amicus curiae brief for NAACP  Legal Defense and Education Fund, Inc., and ACLU, in New Jersey's first death penalty case since 1963.)

Fischer v. Department of Public Welfare, 502 A.2d 114 (Pa. (1985) State constitutional challenge  to restrictions on Medicaid abortions.) 
(Co-trial counsel and co-counsel on appeal.)

Dirk v. State, 305 So.2d 187 (Fla. 1974) (amicus curiae) (constitutionality of bad check statute).

Grissom v. Dade County, 293 So.2d 59 (Fla. 1974) (right of indigents to waiver of fees in adoption cases).  (Lead counsel).

State ex rel Shellman v. Norvell, 270 So.2d 417 (4th D.C.A. Fla 1972) (rights of indigents to   waiver of service of process fees in out-of-county cases).  (Lead counsel).

Shultz v. Waterfront Commission of New York Harbor, 316 N.Y.S.2d 545 (1st Dept. 1970)
(employment rights of ex-offenders).  (Lead counsel).
 

BAR MEMBERSHIPS:

Admitted to the Bar:
   Florida, 1970
   New Jersey, 1981
   The United States Supreme Court
   The United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh
   Circuit
   The Federal District Courts in Florida and New Jersey
   The Florida Public Service Commission

MISCELLANEOUS:

Lectured to state appellate judges at New York University's Institute for Judicial Administration in the summers of 2002, 2003 and 2004.

Lectured to the ABA Appellate Judges Seminar, summer of 2002 and 2003.

Planned and hosted (with Alan Tarr) a Conference on Comparative Subnational Constitutional Law at the Rockefeller Foundation Conference Center in Bellagio, Italy in 2004.

Lectured on American State Constitutional Law at a Conference of State Judges in Oaxaca, Mexico, in November 2004.

Lectured on state constitutional law to Office of Legislative Services staff in Trenton, 2002, 2003, 2004 and 2005.

Speaker, National Conference of Chief Justices, February 1997.

Speaker, Delaware State Bar Association Centennial Celebration of the Constitution of 1897,   June, 1997.

Speaker, Florida Constitution Revision Commission, June, 1997.

Guest Professor, Karl Francis University, Graz, Austria, May-June, 1994.

Consultant, New York Temporary Commission on State Constitutional Revision.

Speaker, St. John's University Forum on New York State Constitutional Revision, March, 1994.

Lecturer, School for Magistrates, Sao Paulo, Brazil, October, 1992.

Lecturer, Institute for Public Law, Karl Francis University, Graz, Austria, December, 1991.

Speaker, Center for the Study of Autonomy, Barcelona, Spain, October, 1990.

Speaker, National Conference of Chief Justices, February, 1989.
 
Adjunct Scholar, Center for the Study of Federalism, Temple University.

Consultant to the Curator of the Supreme Court of the United States, developing a display depicting the influence of early state constitutions on the federal constitution.

Speaker, National Association of Attorneys General Conferences on State Constitutional Law, 1988, 1989, 1990.

Planner and Speaker, "The New Jersey Constitution: A Forty-Year Retrospective," a conference sponsored by the New Jersey Historical Commission, November 1987.

Speaker, Florida Appellate Judges Educational Conference, October 1987.

Fellow, American Council of Learned Societies, 1985-1986 (on leave from teaching).

Speaker, University of North Dakota Law School, 1986 Continuing Legal Education Program on State Constitutional Law.

Member, Planning Committee, and Speaker, NEH Conference on State Constitutional Law in the Third Century of American Federalism, Philadelphia, March 1987.

Faculty Member, Practicing Law Institute program on state constitutional law, New York and San Francisco, 1985.

Speaker, University of Texas Law Review Symposium on State Constitutional Law, 1985.

Speaker, National Conference on Developments in State Constitutional Law, Williamsburg, Virginia, March 1984.

Panelist on State Constitutional Law, National Conference of Chief Justices, July 1983.

Organizer and Chair, Association of American Law Schools Roundtable on State Constitutional Law. Developed and moderated panel discussions at all AALS Annual Conventions,  1982-1988.

Participant, National Endowment for the Humanities Seminar for Lawyers, University of Chicago Law School, August to September 1977.

(updated on 26/07/2007)