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Faculty Profile

Ann M. Scarlett
Assistant Professor of Law

A Unique Perspective
Professor Ann M. Scarlett brings a unique perspective to both the classroom and her scholarship. She’s served as a judicial law clerk, practiced corporate law and later practiced as a business litigator and appellate attorney.

Clerking for Justice Clarence Thomas gave Professor Scarlett a rare glimpse into how law is made by the Supreme Court. She saw firsthand the radically different approaches of the Justices reviewing statutes and interpreting the Constitution in deciding cases. Especially interesting to Professor Scarlett was the difference in the roles of the Supreme Court and the Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit, where she clerked for Judge Pasco M. Bowman. Through clerking, she developed a keen awareness of how to make strong appellate arguments and also how to successfully brief an appellate case.

And Professor Scarlett always shares this knowledge and experience with students preparing for various moot court competitions.

As a corporate attorney, Professor Scarlett worked on mergers, acquisitions, formation of business entities, securities offerings and regulatory and securities filings. This corporate experience allowed her to observe how corporate contracts and transactions, such as mergers and acquisitions, are negotiated and then executed. When she shifted to a business litigation and appellate practice, Professor Scarlett experienced the flip side of the coin — when business deals go awry and produce litigation. As a litigator, she handled cases in state and federal courts on a wide variety of legal issues, including business torts, contract, antitrust, fiduciary duties, shareholder rights and insurance.

Professor Scarlett’s varied legal experience enriches her teaching of Business Associations because she teaches students to consider not only the business concerns but also the potential litigation inherent in all business activities. Professor Scarlett’s rich litigation and appellate experience enhances her Civil Procedure course as she supplements the casebook material with real-life litigation scenarios and stories from her judicial clerkships. Professor Scarlett also combines her experiences into her scholarship as she examines corporate law from litigation and judicial perspectives.

Personal Reflections
Like many law students, I always wanted to be an attorney, but I was unaware of the many opportunities available for attorneys. I never saw myself arguing in a courtroom, so I quickly focused on becoming a transactional attorney, which seemed like a logical choice because I had studied economics and business during college. During law school, I took primarily business and tax classes while avoiding litigation courses.

During law school, however, my professors urged me to apply for federal judicial clerkships even though it is not typical for a transactional lawyer. I am thankful that my professors encouraged me to pursue a judicial clerkship because clerking was a great learning experience. The job of an appellate law clerk involves reading many briefs, which quickly teaches you the characteristics of a well written brief. It also involves writing bench memos and drafting opinions. I also observed different styles and methods of advocacy used by attorneys during oral arguments.

I practiced corporate law for a year before beginning my clerkship with Justice Thomas. Clerking at the Supreme Court further honed my writing skills and taught me to make arguments from all ideological perspectives for the debates within chambers. As a law clerk, I also learned to express my opinions with clarity and logic, to defy simple stereotypes, to respect others’ opinions and to disagree without being disagreeable. Justice Thomas also taught me the importance of standing up for your beliefs, being confident in your ideas and holding true to yourself at all times. By his example, Justice Thomas taught me to act with integrity, to live a moral life and to be thoughtful and deliberate with your words.

After these two judicial clerkships, I switched to practicing business litigation and appellate law. This switch gave me plenty of opportunities to write motions and briefs, and I conducted depositions, argued briefs and counseled clients. While practicing, I also lectured at the University of Kansas School of Law and ultimately realized that I enjoyed teaching even more than litigating.

In the classroom, I strive to teach not only the doctrinal and theoretical concepts, but also the practical applications of the law. By using examples from my practice experience, I can help students understand how the law applies in real-life situations and the ethical issues they will confront. As a professor, I also am able to write on topics of my choosing, such as whether any right to jury trial should exist in shareholder derivative litigation.

When I entered law school, I had no idea where my legal education would take me. Gone are the days when a lawyer stayed with one firm for his or her entire career. A legal education provides so many fulfilling career options when one is prepared and willing to seize opportunities that come along.

Resumé

• Assistant Professor of Law; Saint Louis University School of Law; July 2005-present
• Lecturer/Adjunct Professor; University of Kansas School of Law; Spring 2000 & August 2001-May 2005
• Associate Attorney; Business Litigation and Appellate Practice; Stinson Morrison Hecker LLP; October 2001-June 2005
• Law Clerk to Justice Clarence Thomas; Supreme Court of the United States; July 2000-July 2001
• Associate Attorney; Corporate Practice; Stinson, Mag & Fizzell, P.C.; September 1999-July 2000
• Law Clerk to Judge Pasco M. Bowman; United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit; September 1998-August 1999• Kansas State University, B.A., 1995
• University of Kansas School of Law, J.D., 1998