Boston University School of Law

Kenneth W. Simons

Education

University of Michigan Law School
J.D., 1978
Honors: Order of the Coif, magna cum laude, Helen L. DeRoy Memorial Award (best student contribution to the Michigan Law Review)
Activities: Michigan Law Review: Associate Editor, Note Editor

Yale University
B.A. in Philosophy, 1975
Honors: summa cum laude. Phi Beta Kappa. Honors in Philosophy.

Belmont Hill School, Belmont, MA
Honors: National Merit Scholar. summa cum laude.

Employment

Boston University School of Law
Professor of Law
The Honorable Frank R. Kenison Distinguished Scholar in Law

  • Received tenure in 1988
  • Associate Professor, 1982-1988
  • George Michaels Faculty Research Scholar, 1996-1998
  • M.L. Sykes Scholar, 2000-2004
  • Co-chair, Faculty Self-Study for ABA Accreditation, 2002-2003
  • Member, University Promotion and Tenure Committee, 2001-2002
  • Chair, Faculty Appointments Committee, 1997-1999

Boston University School of Law
Associate Dean for Research (2006-present)

  • Responsibilities include: organizing the mentoring of untenured faculty; encouraging and facilitating faculty research, workshops, discussion groups, and attendance at conferences; advice to the dean and other administrators; serving on David Saul Smith Award Committee that selects faculty member for research award; helping to organize conferences at the law school; and improving publicity about faculty research.

The University of Michigan Law School of Law
Visiting Professor of Law (Fall 1999)

  • Taught Torts and a seminar, Rights and Justice.

Boston University School of Law
Associate Dean for Academic Affairs (1990-1993)

  • Responsibilities included organizing the J.D. curriculum, supervising academic programs, processing faculty appointments, administering student academic regulations, reviewing faculty benefit requests, and advising faculty and students concerning academic policies.

Justice Thurgood Marshall, United States Supreme Court, Washington, DC
Law clerk, (1981-1982)

Goodwin, Procter & Hoar, Boston, MA
Associate (1979-1981)

  • Practiced in the field of civil litigation, including commercial, tort, contracts, and prisoners' rights. Admitted to Massachusetts Bar, 1979.

Judge James L. Oakes, United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, Brattleboro, VT and New York, NY
Law clerk (1978-1979)

Dobrovir, Oakes, Gebhardt & Scull, Washington, DC
Summer associate (Summer, 1977)

  • Firm specialized in public interest law.

U.S. Congressman Paul Tsongas, Washington, DC
Legislative intern (Summer, 1976)

Courses

  • Torts
  • Criminal Law
  • Constitutional Law
  • Advanced Constitutional Law (Liberty and Property; Equal Protection)

Also, the following seminars:

  • Crime and Punishment (Philosophical Perspectives)
  • Tort Law (Philosophical and Policy Perspectives)
  • The Idea of Equality
  • Justice and Rights
  • Liberal Theory and Law (John Rawls and Ronald Dworkin)
  • Mental States
  • Supreme Court Decision-making

Lectures And Presentations

Will present paper, "Ignorance and mistake of criminal law, noncriminal law, and fact: conceptual and normative issues," at Rutgers Institute for Law and Philosophy Symposium, "The Evolution of Criminal Law Theory," Rutgers Conference Center, New Brunswick, N.J., May 30-31, 2008.

Spoke on panel at "CrimTorts” Symposium, Widener University Law School, Harrisburg, PA, February 25, 2008, discussing: "The traditional understanding of the distinction between criminal law and torts."

Presented paper, “Tort negligence, cost-benefit analysis, and tradeoffs: a closer look at the controversy,” at Civil Justice Program and Loyola Law Review Symposium, “Frontiers of Tort Law,” Loyola Law School, Los Angeles, January 25-26, 2008.

Organized panel, Association of American Law Schools, Section on Scholarship, “The Future of Legal Scholarship,” New York, NY, January 5, 2008. Moderator of panel.

Panelist, Association of American Law Schools, Section on Criminal Justice, on the topic “Voluntary Manslaughter: New Thoughts on an Old Crime,” New York, NY, January 6, 2008.

Invited participant, Roundtable on the Reasonable, Manchester VT, November 2-3, 2007, co-sponsored by the Program in Law and Philosophy of the University of Illinois, the Institute for Law and Philosophy of the University of San Diego, the Institute for Law and Philosophy of the University of Pennsylvania, and the Rutgers-Camden Institute for Law and Philosophy.

Presented paper, “Self-Defense: Reasonable Beliefs or Reasonable Self-Control?” at Law and Society Conference, July 2007, Berlin, Germany. Organized panel, “The Reasonable Person in Criminal Law,” at which this paper was given.

Invited participant, Third Annual Criminal Justice Roundtable, Yale Law School, April 2007. Commentator on Guyora Binder, “Felony Murder and the Theory of Culpability.”

Presented paper, “Is Knowledge a Culpable State of Mind?,” at Brooklyn Law School, March 2006.

Invited participant, Dan B. Dobbs Conference on Economic Torts, University of Arizona James E. Rogers School of Law, March 2006. Presented paper, “A Restatement (Third) of Intentional Torts?”

Invited participant and moderator, Symposium: Philosophical Analysis and the Criminal Law, British Academy, London, England, October 2005.

Panelist, Association of American Law Schools, Section on Torts and Compensation Systems, on the topic “The Future of Comparative Responsibility,” San Francisco, CA, January 2005. Presented remarks: “Assumption of Risk, Victim Strict Responsibility, and Comparative Responsibility.” Also, organized and moderated the Panel.

Moderator, Lochner Centennial Conference, Boston University School of Law, October 15-16, 2004 (Panel II: Lochner’s Lessons for Modern Federalism).

Invited participant, Conference, "Justification and Excuse: Philosophical and Legal Perspectives," sponsored by Rutgers-Camden Institute for Law and Philosophy, Rutgers-Camden Law School, May 25-26, 2004. Commentator on Larry Alexander, “Lesser Evils: A Closer Look at the Paradigmatic Justification.”

Moderator, Symposium: The Jurisprudence of Slavery Reparations, Boston University School of Law, April 9-10, 2004 (Panels I and II).

Invited participant, Conference on the Theory of the Criminal Law’s “Special Part,” Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA, March 5-6, 2004. Commentator on Jeremy Horder, “Classifying Crimes: A Theory of the ‘Special Part’ of the Criminal Law.”

Presented paper, “The Diminishing Significance of Mens Rea?,” at Law and Society Conference, Pittsburgh, PA, June 2003.

Presented paper, “Does Punishment for ‘Culpable Indifference’ Simply Punish for ‘Bad Character’?,” at Rutgers-Camden Law School, March 2003.

Invited participant, Conference, “What Do Compensatory Damages Compensate?,” University of San Diego Institute for Law and Philosophy, February/March 2003. Presented paper, “Compensation: Justice or Revenge?” (commenting on Emily Sherwin, “Compensation and Revenge”).

Panelist, Association of American Law Schools Criminal Justice Section, on the topic “Does the Model Penal Code Need to be Revised?,” Washington, D.C., January 2003. Presented remarks: “Should the Code’s Mens Rea Provisions Be Amended?”

Invited participant, Gary Schwartz Memorial Torts Conference, UCLA School of Law, April 2002. Presented paper, “Reflections on Assumption of Risk.”

Invited participant, International Conference on Negligence in the Law, Cegla Institute for Comparative and Private International Law, Tel-Aviv University, June 2001. Presented paper, “Dimensions of Negligence in Criminal and Tort Law.”

Commentator, John W. Wade Conference on the Third Restatement of Torts: General Principles, Vanderbilt University Law School, September 2000.

Presented paper, “The Relevance of Community Values to Just Deserts,” at Michigan Law School, Fall 2000.

Participant, Conference on Responsibility, Social Philosophy and Policy Center, Bowling Green State University, Bowling Green, Ohio, April 1998. Presented paper, “Negligence.”

Presented paper, “When is Strict Criminal Liability Just?,” at University of Virginia Law School, April 1996; and Tel Aviv University, Buchman Faculty of Law, March 1996.

Participant and Co-organizer, The Intersection of Crime and Tort: An Academic Conference, Boston University School of Law, April 1995. Presented paper, “Deontology, Negligence, Tort, and Crime.”

Speaker, Symposium on Professor Ernest J. Weinrib’s The Idea of Private Law, Eastern Division Meeting, American Philosophical Association, Boston, MA, December 1994.

Participant, Conference on Harm and Culpability in the Criminal Law, University of San Diego School of Law, February 11-12, 1994. Presented paper, “Culpability and Retributive Theory: the Problem of Criminal Negligence.”

Participant, Conference on Professor Jules Coleman’s Risks and Wrongs, University of San Diego School of Law, January 30 - February 1, 1992.

Commentator, John A. Sibley Lecture by Professor Gary Schwartz, “The Beginning and the Possible End of the Rise of Modern American Tort Law,” University of Georgia School of Law, November 1991.

Presented paper, “Rethinking Mental States,” at University of San Diego School of Law, University of Southern California School of Law, and UCLA Law & Philosophy Discussion Group, Spring 1990.

Panelist, American Association of Law Schools Constitutional Law Section, on subject of “Unconstitutional Conditions,” New Orleans, Louisiana, January 1989.

Lecture, “Foreseeability and Causation: Questions of Law or Fact?,” 1984 Appellate Judges Seminar Series, American Bar Association, Orlando, Florida, November 1984.

Professional Activities

  • Member of Editorial Board, Criminal Law and Philosophy (Springer, pub.).
  • Member of Editorial Board, New Criminal Law Review: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal (University of California Press).
  • Elected to American Law Institute, 2002.
  • Members Consultative Group, Restatement of the Law Third, Torts: Liability for Physical Harm (Basic Principles), and Restatement of the Law Second, Model Penal Code: Sentencing, since 2003.
  • Occasional manuscript reviewer for Oxford University Press and for journals: Criminal Law and Philosophy; Law and Philosophy; Legal Theory; New Criminal Law Review.

Publications

“The Crime/Tort Distinction: Legal Doctrine and Normative Perspectives,” in Symposium, 17 Widener Law Journal (forthcoming).

“Ignorance and Mistake of Criminal Law, Noncriminal Law, and Fact: Conceptual and Normative Issues,” in Symposium, Criminal Law & Philosophy (forthcoming).

“Tort Negligence, Cost-Benefit Analysis, and Tradeoffs: A Closer Look at the Controversy,” in Symposium, Loyola Law Review (forthcoming).

“Self-defense: Reasonable Beliefs or Reasonable Self-Control?”in Symposium on the Reasonable Person in Criminal Law, 11 New Criminal Law Review 51 (2008).

“Book Review: The Conceptual Structure of Consent in Criminal Law,” reviewing Peter Westen, The Logic of Consent: The Diversity and Deceptiveness of Consent as a Defense to Criminal Conduct, Ashgate, 2004, 9 Buffalo Criminal Law Review 577 (2006).

“A Restatement (Third) of Intentional Torts?” in Symposium issue, 48 Arizona Law Review 1061 (2006).

“Exploring the Intricacies of the Lesser Evils Defense,” commenting on Larry Alexander, Lesser Evils: A Closer Look at the Paradigmatic Justification, in Symposium, 24 Law & Philosophy 645 (2005).

“The Relevance of Victim Conduct in Tort and Criminal Law,” commenting on Vera Bergelson, Victims and Perpetrators: An Argument for Comparative Liability in Criminal Law, in Symposium, 8 Buffalo Criminal Law Review 541 (2005).

“Compensation: Justice or Revenge?” 40 San Diego Law Review 1415 (2003).

“Does Punishment for ‘Culpable Indifference’ Simply Punish for ‘Bad Character’? Examining the Requisite Connection between Mens Rea and Actus Reus,” 6 Buffalo Criminal Law Review 219 (2003).

“Should the Model Penal Code’s Mens Rea Provisions Be Amended?” 1 Ohio State Journal of Criminal Law 179 (2003).

“The Story of Murphy v. Steeplechase Amusement Co.: While the Timorous Stay at Home, the Adventurous Ride the Flopper,” in Torts Stories, R. Rabin and S. Sugarman, eds., Foundation Press (2003).

“Dimensions of Negligence in Criminal and Tort Law,” 3 Theoretical Inquiries in Law 283 (2002).

“Reflections on Assumption of Risk,” 50 UCLA Law Review 481 (2002).

“On Equality, Bias Crimes, and Just Deserts,” responding to Harel and Parchomovsky, “On Hate and Equality,” 109 Yale Law Journal 507 (1999), 91 Journal of Criminal Law & Criminology 237 (2001).

“The Hand Formula in the Draft Restatement (Third) of Torts: Encompassing Fairness as Well as Efficiency Values,” 54 Vanderbilt Law Review 901 (2001).

“The Logic of Egalitarian Norms,” 80 Boston University Law Review 693 (2000).

“The Relevance of Community Values to Just Deserts: Criminal Law, Punishment Rationales, and Democracy,” 28 Hofstra Law Review 635 (2000).

“Social Meaning, Retributivism, and Homicide,” reviewing Samuel H. Pillsbury, Judging Evil: Rethinking the Law of Murder and Manslaughter, 19 Law and Philosophy 407 (2000).

“Negligence,” Symposium on Responsibility, 16 Social Philosophy and Policy 52 (1999). Reprinted in Responsibility, E.F. Paul, F.D. Miller, & J. Paul, eds., Cambridge U. Press (1999).

“When is Strict Criminal Liability Just?” 87 Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology 1075 (1997).

“Deontology, Negligence, Tort, and Crime,” in Symposium on the Intersection of Tort and Crime, 76 Boston University Law Review 273 (1996).

“Justification in Private Law,” book review of E. Weinrib, The Idea of Private Law, 81 Cornell Law Review 698 (1996).

“Contributory Negligence: Conceptual and Normative Issues,” in Philosophical Foundations of Tort Law, D. Owen, ed., Oxford University Press (1995).

“The Puzzling Doctrine of Contributory Negligence,” 16 Cardozo Law Review 1693 (1995). Reprinted in 45 Defense Law Journal 1 (1996).

“Culpability and Retributive Theory: the Problem of Criminal Negligence,” 5 Journal of Contemporary Legal Issues 365 (1994).

“Justice Thurgood Marshall: A Reminiscence,” 3 Boston University Public Interest Law Journal 1 (1993).

“Doctrinal Change in Tort Law: Some Methodological Musings,” 26 Georgia Law Review 757 (1992).

“Jules Coleman and Corrective Justice in Tort Law: A Critique and Reformulation,” 15 Harvard Journal of Law & Public Policy 849 (1992).

“Rethinking Mental States,” 72 Boston University Law Review 463 (1992).

“Corrective Justice and Liability for Risk Creation: A Comment,” 38 UCLA Law Review 113 (1990).

“Mistake and Impossibility, Law and Fact, and Culpability: A Speculative Essay,” 81 Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology 447 (1990).

“Offers, Threats, and Unconstitutional Conditions,” 26 San Diego Law Review 289.

“Overinclusion and Underinclusion: A New Model,” 36 UCLA Law Review 447.

“Self-Defense, Mens Rea, and Bernhard Goetz,” book review of G. Fletcher, A Crime of Self-Defense: Bernhard Goetz and the Law on Trial. 89 Columbia Law Review 1179.

“Assumption of Risk and Consent in the Law of Torts: A Theory of Full Preference,” 67 Boston University Law Review 213 and 37 Defense Law Journal 121.

“Equality as a Comparative Right,” 65 Boston University Law Review 387.

“Rescinding a Waiver of a Constitutional Right,” 68 Georgetown Law Journal 919.

“Philosophical Perspectives on Affirmative Action,” book review of Equality and Preferential Treatment: A Philosophy and Public Affairs Reader 77 Michigan Law Review 513.

Note, “Equal Protection: A Closer Look at Closer Scrutiny,” 76 Michigan Law Review 771.