“My primary focus has been on Minnesota tort law.  My work with the Minnesota District Judges Association Civil Jury Instruction Guides Committee has enabled me to gain important insights into the way tort law is implemented in Minnesota, as well as in other jurisdictions.  The committee of excellent judges Peter Knapp and I have had the privilege to work with over the course of many years on the Minnesota Civil Jury Instruction Guides and accompanying Handbook has had a significant impact on how I perceive and teach the law of torts to my students.  I also teach constitutional law as well as seminars on American legal history and religion and the constitution.  My interest in constitutional law was rekindled after my experience in China during the Tiananmen Square protests in 1989.”

Education

B.S., 1967, University of Wisconsin
J.D., 1971, University of Iowa College of Law

Experience

William Mitchell College of Law: professor of law 1976-; associate dean, 1998-2000; associate professor of law, 1972-76; assistant professor of law, 1972.

Clerk, Hon. Miles W. Lord, U.S. District Court, Minnesota, 1971-72.

Admitted: Iowa, 1971.

Awards

Order of the Coif

Minnesota State Bar Association Civil Litigation Section’s Advocate Award, 1996

Minnesota District Judges Association 2009 Judicial Award to the MDJA Jury Handbook Committee

USAID International Speakers Grant, Ghana School of Law, Accra, Ghana, 1998

Leadership & Service

Vice-Chair, Social Sciences Committee, and Executive Committee member, University of Minnesota Committee on the Use of Human Subjects in Research; Member, American Law Institute; Reporter,
Legislative Study Commission on the Civil Justice System (1990).

Follow Professor Steenson on the Torts in the Courts blog