Dorie Klein

Professor Dorie Klein is a Professor of Law and Englehardt Research Fellow at St. Mary’s University School of Law. Her expertise spans criminal law, evidence law, and mental health law, with a focus on reducing excessive punitiveness in criminal punishments and exploring intersections of mental health with legal processes. Prior to joining St. Mary’s in 2006, she served as a visiting assistant professor at Florida State University and a judicial clerk for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit.

Education: J.D. from Vanderbilt University Law School (2002), M.A. in Clinical Psychology from the University of Pennsylvania (1989), and B.A. in Biopsychology from Swarthmore College (1988). Before law school, she worked as a community mental health therapist.

Research interests include criminal justice reform, competency standards for criminal defendants, and ethical applications of evidence rules. Her work often critiques punitive sentencing practices and advocates for humane legal approaches to mental health issues. Recent scholarship includes The (Mis)application of Rule 404(b) Heuristics (2018) and Rule of Inclusion” Confusion (2021), analyzing evidentiary rule misinterpretations.

Her 2022 second edition of Texas Criminal Law: Cases and Materials remains a foundational textbook. Awards include the Englehardt Research Fellowship recognizing her contributions to legal scholarship.

No specific grants or advising roles are explicitly noted in the provided text. Her interdisciplinary background bridges psychology and law, with notable contributions to mental health law and criminal procedure.