Robert L. Jones

Title: Associate Professor of Law
Office Location: Swen Parson 199A
Office Phone: 815-753-1460
Email: rljones@niu.edu
Education: B.A. University of California at Berkeley
J.D. New York University School of Law
Curriculum Vitae (PDF)

Associate Professor Robert L. Jones teaches civil procedure, evidence, constitutional law, conflict of laws, antitrust law, and the summer bar preparation course.

Professor Jones' scholarship focuses on constitutional interpretation, legal history, and legal education. His 2007 article, Finishing a Friendly Argument: The Jury and the Historical Origins of Diversity Jurisdiction, offers a new historical understanding for Article III of the U.S. Constitution and the creation of the lower federal courts.

Professor Jones presented a webinar training for the ABA on May 4, 2016, regarding the use of experiential methods to teach first year Civil Procedure. Professor Jones taught Conflict of Laws for the Barbri bar review course from 2009 to 2018 and is a Reporter for the Illinois Judicial Benchbook on Evidence.

Professor Jones began his legal career as a judicial clerk for the Honorable Jack B. Weinstein. He then practiced antitrust law for four years in Washington, DC as an associate at Arnold & Porter. Professor Jones joined NIU from the University of California, Los Angeles, where he taught in the clinical wing of the law school from 2003 until 2007.

Professor Jones received his J.D. from New York University School of Law in 1998, where he was an articles editor on the NYU Law Review, a teacher in the High School Law Institute, and a member of the Latino Law Students Association. While in law school, Professor Jones served as a summer law intern with the Antitrust Division of the United States Department of Justice. He earned his bachelor's degree in history from the University of California, Berkeley, where he was an intercollegiate athlete on the track team. He is a member of the California and District of Columbia bars.

Professor Jones is the faculty advisor for NIU’s Latinx Law Student Association and was recognized in 2016 as an “Outstanding Coach & Mentor” by the National Latina/o Law Student Association. He was voted Professor of the Year by the NIU graduating classes of 2019, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2012, 2011, and 2009.

News

Areas of Expertise

  • Constitutional law
  • Conflict of laws
  • Legal history
  • Evidence
  • Antitrust
  • Civil procedure
  • Trial advocacy
| SSRN Author Page | HeinOnline Author Profile |

Books & Chapters

  • Experiencing Civil Procedure: Why (and How) I Teach a Simulation-Driven First Year Course, in Experiential Education in the Law School Curriculum (Emily Grant et al. eds., 2017). (Available in SSRN)

Articles