Marianne
Wesson
OFFICE ADDRESS:
401 UCB
(303) 492-7547
FAX: 303-492-1200
E-MAIL: wesson@colorado.edu
WEBSITES
AND WEB PAGES: www.wessonbooks.com, www.mariannewesson.com, www.thehillmoncase.com
CURRENT EMPLOYMENT:
Professor
and Wolf-Nichol Fellow,
President's
Teaching Scholar,
Senior Scholar, Women Studies Program,
EDUCATION:
J.D.
A.B.
LEARNED SOCIETIES:
Member, American Law Institute (elected 1989)
PAST EMPLOYMENT:
Interim Dean, University of
Visiting Professor, Washington University School
of Law (summer 1995)
Associate Vice President for Academic Affairs,
Assistant United States Attorney, Criminal
Division, District of
Assistant Attorney General, State of
Law Clerk, Honorable
CONSULTING AND
PRACTICE:
Credentialed correspondent for National Public
Radio; frequent legal correspondent for NPR’s Weekend Edition Sunday
National Conference of
Volunteer counsel in Kikumura v. Hurley, et al, No. 98-B-1442, U.S.D.C.,
Script
consultant to Rainy Day Films of Los Angeles, California on Women of Mystery, a documentary film
about women mystery novelists in the United States (film released 2000)
Appointed co-counsel in People v. Frye, No. S007198, a death penalty case before the
California Supreme Court and United States Supreme Court (1991-1998; authored
portions of Brief on Appeal, and all of Petition for Writ of Certiorari)
Commentator for NBC, ABC, CBS, MSNBC, Washington
Post, Dallas Morning News, Denver Post, Rocky Mountain News, Christian Science Monitor, and other media
outlets
Legal consultant to Lawrence Schiller for his
book Perfect Murder,
Co-counsel in both trial and appeal of Simmons v. Simmons, 773 P.2d 602 (
FELLOWSHIPS AND OTHER
ASSOCIATIONS:
Fellow, Center for Humanities and Arts,
Group Residency, "Reconciling Freedom of
Speech and Equality,"
Faculty Associate, Faculty Teaching Excellence
Program,
Samuel
E. Zeigler Educational Fund Fellowship (1979)
TEACHING AND OTHER AWARDS:
2004-05:
1998: Finalist, Colorado Book Award for fiction
1996: Mary Lathrop Award from the Colorado
Women’s Bar Assn. (award for outstanding women lawyers in the state of
1994-95: Law School Teaching Excellence Award
(conferred by Teaching Excellence Committee, University of Colorado School of
Law)
Named President's Teaching Scholar at the
1990-91:
Faculty Humanist Award (conferred by University
of Colorado Law School class of 1984)
EDITORSHIPS AND JOURNAL
BOARDS:
Board of Editors, Center for Computer-Assisted
Legal Instruction (1997-present)
Manuscript Reviewer, Little, Brown & Co.
(1996)
Manuscript Reviewer, University Press of
Colorado (1995-present)
Manuscript reviewer, VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN
(1994)
Board of Advisers, TEXAS JOURNAL OF WOMEN AND
THE LAW (1991-present)
Board of Editors, FRONTIERS: A JOURNAL OF WOMEN STUDIES (Fall 1988-Fall
1990)
Editor-in-Chief, AMERICAN JOURNAL OF CRIMINAL
LAW (Vol. II, 1972-73)
NONFICTION BOOKS:
UNQUIET GRAVE: THE HILLMON CASE AND THE SUPREME
COURT (in progress)
M. WESSON, CRIMES AND DEFENSES IN
M. WESSON & E. CALHOUN, AN INTRODUCTION TO
EMPLOYMENT DISCRIMINATION LAW (
NOVELS:
CHILLING EFFECT, a novel (University Press of
Colorado 2004)
A SUGGESTION OF DEATH, a novel (Pocket Books
2000) in U.S.; also Headline Fiction (UK)(1999) and Editions Stock
(France)(2000); 2001 editions in Norway,
Germany, various other foreign and translated editions
RENDER UP THE BODY, a novel (HarperCollins (US)
1998; Headline Fiction (UK) (1997); Goldmann Publishers (Germany)(1998);
various other foreign and translated editions; also a Book-of-the-Month Club
selection; won “Fresh Talent” award sponsored by WH Smith, British booksellers;
finalist for 1998 Colorado Book Award
BOOK
CHAPTERS:
Wesson,
Law and Magic in
Bergman & Wesson, The Hillmon Lawyers Have Their Say, in TRIAL STORIES 83-116
(Foundation Press, A. Davis & M. Tigar eds. 2007)
Wesson, The
Hillmon Case, the Supreme Court, and the McGuffin, in EVIDENCE STORIES
277-305 (Foundation Press, R. Lempert ed. 2006).
SHORT
FICTION:
A Case of Clothing and Smell Obsession in a
Bisexual Adult Woman, 2
AMERICAN UNIVERSITY JOURNAL OF GENDER &
THE LAW 201 (1994)
NON-LEGAL BOOK REVIEWS
Four contributions in LAW IN LITERATURE: AN
ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY OF LAW-RELATED WORKS (E.V. Gemmette ed. 1998).
Book
review of STEPHEN WHITE, HIGHER AUTHORITY,
Book Review of SANDRA
SCOFIELD, OPAL ON DRY GROUND,
ARTICLES
AND REVIEWS:
Wesson, “Remarkable Stratagems and Conspiracies:
How Unscrupulous Lawyers and Credulous Judges Created an Exception to the
Hearsay Rule,” 76 FORDHAM LAW JOURNAL
1675 (2007).
Wesson, “A
Particular Intention”: The Hillmon Case and the Supreme Court, 18 LAW AND
LITERATURE 343 (Fall 2006).
Wesson, The
Hillmon Case, the McGuffin, and the Supreme Court, 32 LITIGATION 30 (Fall
2005).
Schneider, Harrington, Merry, Romkens &
Wesson, Battered Women and Feminist Lawmaking, X JOURNAL OF LAW AND
POLICY 313 (2002).
Wesson, Mind
Over Matter (Review of SUSAN J.
BRISON, AFTERMATH: VIOLENCE AND THE REMAKING OF A SELF), XIX THE WOMEN’S
REVIEW OF BOOKS 7 (April 2002)
Bergman, LeFrancois & Wesson, New Developments in Fourth, Fifth &
Sixth Amendment Law, 31 N.M.L. REV. 1 (2001)
Wesson, A
Novelist’s Perspective, 50 DEPAUL L. REV. 583 (2000)(50th
Anniversary Symposium)
Wesson, Book Review, 26 SIGNS, No. 2 (Winter
2001)
Wesson, Reasonable
Women (Review of ELIZABETH M.
SCHNEIDER, BATTERED
WOMEN
AND FEMINIST LAWMAKING), XVIII
THE WOMEN’S REVIEW OF BOOKS 29 (Dec. 2000).
Wesson, Three’s
A Crowd: Law, Literature, and Truth, 34 TULSA L.J. 699(1999).
Wesson, Second
Thoughts (Review of DAPHNE PATAI,
HETEROPHOBIA: SEXUAL
HARASSMENT
AND THE FUTURE OF FEMINISM),
XVI THE WOMEN’S REVIEW OF BOOKS 9 (May 1999).
Wesson, Atticus
Finch Outnumbered (Review of Trial and Error: An Oxford Anthology of Legal
Stories, eds. Fred R. Shapiro and Jane Garry), in JURIST: BOOKS ON LAW, December 1998,
at
<http://jurist.law.pitt.edu/lawbooks/ revdec98.htm#wesson>
Wesson, Life
in Hell (Review of Beth Sipe and Evelyn J. Hall, I Am Not Your
Victim: Anatomy of Domestic Violence), XIV THE WOMEN’S REVIEW OF BOOKS 18 (March
1997).
Wesson,
Review of THE FEEL OF SILENCE by Bonnie
Poitras Tucker, 46 J. LEGAL EDU. 627
(1996).
Wesson,
That’s My Story and I’m Stickin’ to It:
The Jury as Fifth Business in the Trial of O.J. Simpson
and Other Matters, 67 U. COLO. L. REV. 949 (1996).
Wesson, The
Alarming Effect of Fiction Writing on the (Otherwise) Well-Trained Legal Mind,
XVI THE ADVOCATE No. 5 at 10 (May-June 1995).
Wesson, When the
Criminal is Political (Review of four works of feminist crime fiction), XII
THE WOMEN’S REVIEW OF BOOKS No. 4 (January 1995) at 22.
Wesson,
Digging Up the Roots of Violence
(Review of ANN JONES, NEXT TIME SHE’LL BE DEAD, and other books about domestic violence), XI
THE WOMEN’S REVIEW OF
BOOKS No. 6 (March 1994) at 1.
Wesson,
A History of Criminal Sentencing Reform
in
SOLVING
THE PRISON PROBLEM No. 6 (December 1993)
at 1, reprinted in SENTENCING REFORM
IN OVERCROWDED TIMES: A COMPARATIVE PERSPECTIVE (M. Tonry & K. Hatlestad
eds. 1997) at 94.
Wesson,
The Case for Porn, (Review of DIRTY LOOKS: WOMEN, PORNOGRAPHY AND POWER), XI THE WOMEN'S REVIEW OF BOOKS No. 2 (November 1993) at 17.
Wesson, Girls
Should Bring Lawsuits Everywhere. . . Nothing Will Be Corrupted: Pornography as
Speech and Product , 60 U. CHICAGO L. REV. 845 (1993), reprinted in FIRST AMENDMENT LAW HANDBOOK (J.L. Swanson ed.
1994-95) and in THE PRICE WE PAY: THE
CASE AGAINST RACIST SPEECH, HATE PROPAGANDA, AND PORNOGRAPHY (1995)(L. Lederer
& R. Delgado eds. 1995)
Wesson,
Mysteries of Violence and Self-Defense:
Myths for Men, Cautionary Tales for Women, 1
Wesson, Sex,
Lies, and Videotape: The Pornographer as Censor, 66
Wesson & Johnson, Post-Tenure Review and Faculty Revitalization, 77 ACADEME 53 (May-
June 1991)
Wesson,
A Brief Lecture on the Socratic Method,
ON TEACHING 91 (M.A. Shea ed. 1990)
Wesson, Accomplices
and Complicity, 18 COLO. LAWYER 2317 (Dec. 1989)
Wesson, Review
of FEMINISM UNMODIFIED, X FRONTIERS:
A JOURNAL OF WOMEN STUDIES 91 (No. 3, 1989)
Wesson, The
Judge, 1986 ANNUAL SURVEY OF AMERICAN LAW xix (1986)
Wesson, Sexual
Harassment, in ADVANCED LABOR & EMPLOYMENT LAW - 1986, at 955 (ALI-ABA
1986)
Wesson, Pregnancy,
Childbirth and Parenthood Under Title VII, in ADVANCED LABOR &
EMPLOYMENT LAW - 1986, at 962 (ALI-ABA 1986)
Wesson & Calhoun, The Developing Law of the Toxic Workplace, VIII AMICUS 14 (No. 1,
Winter 1984-85)
Wesson, Narrative
Truth, Historical Truth, and Expert Testimony, 60 WASH. L. REV. 331 (1985),
reprinted in 34 LAW REVIEW DIGEST No.
5 (Sept.-Oct. 1985), at 4
Wesson, EEO
Considerations in Layoffs, in ADVANCED LABOR & EMPLOYMENT LAW - 1984,
at 291 (ALI-ABA 1984)
Wesson,
Mens Rea and the
Wesson, Substituted
Judgment: The Parens Patriae
Justification for Involuntary Treatment of the Mentally Ill, 8 J. OF
PSYCHIATRY & THE LAW 147 (1980)
Wesson, The
Privilege Against Self-Incrimination in Civil Commitment Proceedings, 1980
WISCONSIN L. REV. 697 (1980), excerpted
in REISNER, LAW AND THE MENTAL HEALTH SYSTEM (1985)
INTRODUCTIONS:
Wesson, Introduction
to republished edition of THE LAST CLIENT OF LUIS MONTEZ by Manuel Ramos
(Northwestern University Press 2003).
ON-LINE RESOURCES:
http://www.thehillmoncase.com
(a research resource and blog concerning the case of Mutual Life Insurance Company v. Sallie Hillmon), authored by
Marianne Wesson and Jerry Ferrin
PAPERS DELIVERED AND
PRESENTATIONS AT ACADEMIC AND PROFESSIONAL MEETINGS (a partial list)
Unquiet
Grave: The Hillmon Case and the Supreme Court, at
Follow-Up
to the Hillmon Case and the Court, at
the
The
Right to Privacy: Myth or Reality (with
Joyce Meskis) at the 2006 National Federation of Press Women National
Conference,
Chilling
Effects, as honored author at
the Writers in the Sky Conference, Wilkinson Public Library, Telluride,
The
Hillmon Case and the Court (with
Big-Times
Sports and University Values, The
The
Corpse at the Campground (for
Opening Convocation, Center for the Arts and Humanities,
The
Merchant of
Chilling
Effects: Cross-Burning, Pornography, and Censorship (The Ruth Thompson Memorial Civil Rights
Lecture,
Where
Have You Gone, Perry Mason? (Panel Discussion,
Fiction
as Anti-Theory (Section on Law
and Interpretation, Association of American Law Schools)
From
Lawyer to Novelist and Back (Keynote Address,
Truth
in Fiction: What Could It Mean? (
Battered
Women and Feminist Lawmaking (Panelist,
Law & Society Assn. Annual Meeting),
Truth
in Fiction (Keynote Address,
Recent Developments in Criminal Procedure (panel at the Tenth Circuit Judicial
Conference),
Women in Legal Education (panel at the Annual Convention, Colorado
Women’s Bar
Asssociation),
Vail,
A Novelist's Perspective (presentation at the Sixth Annual Clifford Symposium
on Tort Law and
Social Policy), at DePaul
Murder, She Wrote: Women, Crime, and Detection (the Barbara Aronstein Black Lecture on
Women and the Law; with Carolyn Heilbrun and
Linda Fairstein), at
School,
Violence and Media Responsibility, at the American Bar Association Forum on
Communication
Law,
Western Whodunits: Place in Crime, for the
American
West,
Teaching Evidence in the 21st
Century, at the Annual Meeting,
Association of American
Law, Literature, and Truth: Three’s a Crowd, at the National Association of Women Judges
Conference,
To Praise with Faint Damns: In Defense of
Censorship, at the
Symposium
on Civility and Censorship by the Center for the Arts and Humanities, April
1997.
Coerced Confinement and Treatment (panelist), at the University of Denver School of
Law,
Symposium on Coercion, Exploitation, and the
Law, March 1997.
Literature, Narratives, Language, and Law (panelist), at the
The Annual English Graduate Conference, February
1997.
The Work of the Tenth Circuit, 1994-96, for the Tenth Circuit Judicial Conference,
These Things We Do to Keep the Flame Burning, for the Boulder County Women’s Bar Association,
The Jury as Fifth
Business in the Trial of O.J. Simpson, at the University of Colorado School
of Law, Symposium on the O.J.
Simpson Trial, February 1996.
The
Free Speech Paradigm (panelist),
at The Constitutional Law Resource Center,
Women
and Crime Fiction, at the
Colorado BookFair, auspices of Colorado Endowment for the Humanities, October
1994.
Pornography
as Speech and Product, at the
University of Chicago School of Law, conference on Speech, Harm and Equality,
March 1993.
The
History of Criminal Sentencing Reform in Colorado, at the University of Colorado School of Law,
Symposium on Sentencing Reform in the States, February 1993.
Mysteries
of Violence and Self-Defense,
at the University of Texas School of Law, Symposium on New Perspectives on
Women and Violence, March 1992
Expert
Witnessing for Mental Health Professionals, at the University of
Expert
Witnesses in Child Abuse and Sexual Abuse Cases, at the
Sex,
Lies, and Videotape: The Pornographer as
Censor, the Austin Scott, Jr.
Memorial Lecture,
Tort
Remedies for Victims of Domestic Violence, at the
The
Management of Children as Victim-Witnesses, at the
Varieties
of Feminism, at the
The
Power of State Constitutions,
at the
The
Future of the Exclusionary Rule,
at the
The
Respondent as a Source of Evidence in Mental Health Proceedings, the Austin Scott, Jr. Memorial Lecture,
PUBLIC SERVICE:
Member, Site Visit Team, Accreditation
Committee, Association of American Law Schools (1997).
Victim Assistance and Law Enforcement Board,
20th Judicial District of Colorado (1993-96, Chair in 1995)
Criminal Justice Act Committee (United States
District Court, District of Colorado, 1991-1994)
Judicial Nominating Commission, 20th Judicial
District,
Board of Directors and Volunteer Attorney,
Board of Directors,
UNIVERSITY SERVICE (a partial
list):
Chair,
Chair, Investigative Committee Concerning
Allegations Against Professor Ward Churchill, for the Standing Committee on
Research Misconduct (Academic Year 2005-06)
Member,
Dean Search Committee,
Member,
Internal Review Committee, Institute for Behavioral Science (2002)
Chair,
Admissions Committee,
Member,
Presidential Search Committee (1999-2000)
Member,
Steering Committee, President's Teaching Scholars Program (1993-1997)
Member, Hazel Barnes Prize Selection Committee
(Spring 1993)
Member, Internal Review Committee,
Ombudsperson,
Member, Boulder Faculty Assembly Committee on
Faculty Women (1990-92; also 1985-87)
Chair, Dean Search Committee,
Chair,
Chair,
Chair,
University Committee on Privilege and Tenure
(1982-84)
BAR MEMBERSHIPS:
Admitted to several
Admitted pro
hac vice to the California Supreme Court for purposes of appearing in a
death penalty case (1991)
FURTHER EDUCATION AND
TRAINING:
Psychoanalytic training with Colorado Society
for Psychology and Psychoanalysis (Fall 1986)
Mediation training with Center for Dispute
Resolution (Summer 1985)
Professional travel to Western and Eastern
Europe and the
PROFESSIONAL AND OTHER
ORGANIZATIONS:
Mystery
Writers of
Sisters in Crime
Association of American Law Schools: Section on Law and Psychiatry (Chair 1987,
Program Chair 1986); Sections on Women in Legal Education, Criminal Law, and
Evidence (Advisory Committee 1999).
American Bar Association
Rocky
Mountain Llama Association