Dr. Todd C. Peppers

Dr. Todd C. Peppers
Assistant Professor
Public Affairs
Credentials: Curriculum Vitae
Email: peppers@roanoke.edu
Office: Francis T. West Hall 212
Office Phone: (540) 375-2417

Welcome to my webpage. I have been a member of the Department of Public Affairs since September, 2002. A 1990 graduate of Washington and Lee University (B.A., Philosophy), I earned my law degree from the University of Virginia School of Law (1994) and my Ph.D. in Political Science from Emory University (2003). After graduating from law school, I had the honor of serving as a law clerk to federal district court judge Thomas M. Shanahan and federal magistrate judge Glen Conrad.

Before coming to Roanoke College, I was a senior associate in the Atlanta, Georgia law firm of Hawkins & Parnell, LLP. As an attorney, I specialized in toxic tort litigation. As a teacher, I try to apply the practical experiences gained in the practice of law to my law-related courses and my pre-law advising. For the last several years, my research interests have included the study of judicial institutions and the death penalty. My publications include Courtiers of the Marble Palace: The Rise and Influence of Supreme Court Law Clerks (Stanford University Press, 2006) - which examines the changing role of law clerks on the United States Supreme Court - and Anatomy of An Execution: The Life and Execution of Douglas Christopher Thomas (University Press of New England, 2009) - which explores the life and death of the second-to-last juvenile offender to be executed by the Commonwealth of Virginia. My co-author is Laura Anderson, Chris Thomas's former high school teacher and death row spiritual advisor. I am presently working on an edited volume of essays on law clerks which will be published in 2010 (my co-editor is Dr. Artemus Ward of Northern Illinois University) and a book on law clerks and judicial decision making with Dr. Christopher Zorn of Penn State.

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Dr. Todd C. Peppers

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