W&L Law Welcomes New Faculty Member Washington and Lee law school dean Brant Hellwig has announced the appointment of Carliss Chatman to the permanent faculty, effective next semester.

By Peter Jetton
December 20, 2018

Washington and Lee law school dean Brant Hellwig has announced the appointment of Carliss Chatman to the permanent faculty, effective next semester. Prof. Chatman has served as a visiting professor at W&L Law this fall.

“Carliss brings a wealth of practice experience to her teaching at W&L Law, having practiced for over a decade in the fields of commercial litigation and business representation before moving into academia,” said Hellwig. “Her courses and her scholarship both are influenced by this background, and she is uniquely suited to help prepare our students for careers in the transactional arena.  We at the law school have already come to know Carliss as a wonderful colleague during her time as a visiting professor, and our existing students were thrilled to hear that she is joining our faculty on a permanent basis.”

Professor Chatman teaches an array of business law, commercial law, and ethics classes including: Contracts and Sales and Leases; Agency and Unincorporated Entities, Corporations, Business Associations, and Securities Regulation; Professional Responsibility; and a Transactional Skills Simulation course with a Mergers and Acquisitions focus that incorporates corporate law and UCC Article 9. Her research interests are in the fields of corporate law, ethics, and civil procedure.

Professor Chatman’s scholarship is largely influenced by 11 years of legal practice in complex commercial litigation, mass tort litigation and the representation of small and start-up businesses in the United States and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. As a result, her scholarship is intersectional with a focus on issues at the heart of commercial litigation: the interplay of business entities, government and natural persons.

Professor Chatman’s work is also influenced by over two decades of service on non-profit boards and involvement with community organizations. Through leadership positions, she has developed expertise in corporate governance and non-profit regulation. She has also been instrumental in strategic planning and fundraising efforts. Professor Chatman has actively advocated on behalf of non-profit organizations at state and federal legislatures.

“I am thrilled to join W&L Law and to help continue to build on the school’s reputation for great teaching and scholarship, especially in the field of corporate law,” said Chatman. “The school is a perfect place for someone who wants to develop close relationships with and mentor top law students and be supported in her scholarly endeavors.”

Prof. Chatman comes to W&L Law from Northern Illinois University College of Law. She previously taught at Stetson College of Law.  Prior to law teaching, Professor Chatman was a commercial litigation attorney in Houston, Texas. In practice, she focused on trial law, appeals and arbitration in pharmaceutical, healthcare, mass torts, product liability, as well as oil, gas and mineral law. In addition to negotiating settlements and obtaining successful verdicts, Professor Chatman has also analyzed and drafted position statements regarding the constitutionality of statutes and the impact of statutory revisions for presentation to the Texas Legislature.

Professor Chatman is a 2004 graduate of the University of Texas School of Law, where she was a member of the Texas Journal of Women and the Law, and served on the Student Recruitment and Orientation Committee. She received her bachelor’s degree in 2001 from Duke University with honors in English.

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