Timothy Zick Appointed to The John Marshall Professorship of Government and Citizenship
The William & Mary Board of Visitors approved the appointment of Timothy Zick to The John Marshall Professorship of Government and Citizenship during its September meeting.
The Marshall Professorship is the oldest endowed chair at William & Mary Law School and is one of the oldest professorships of constitutional law in the country. John Marshall, the nation's fourth Chief Justice, was among the first to study law at William & Mary.
A prolific scholar, award-winning teacher, and member of the William & Mary faculty since 2008, Professor Zick has written three books and more than two dozen articles that have explored a wide variety of constitutional issues, with a special focus on the First Amendment.
Oxford University Press published his most recent book in September, The Dynamic Free Speech Clause: Free Speech and Its Relation to Other Constitutional Rights. The Dynamic Free Speech Clause examines the historical and fluid relationships between freedom of speech and other constitutional rights, including equal protection, abortion, the free exercise of religion, and the Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms. The book assesses the products and consequences of these dynamic intersections, and draws important lessons from them about freedom of speech and constitutional rights more generally. Erwin Chemerinsky, who is the Jesse H. Choper Distinguished Professor of Law and Dean at University of California, Berkeley School of Law, praised the book as "stunning in its originality and importance."
"It is wonderful to be able to recognize Professor Zick with the John Marshall Professorship," said William & Mary Law School Dean Davison M. Douglas. "Tim is a marvelous teacher and colleague whose highly regarded body of work has established his reputation as one of the leading voices on First Amendment freedoms."
Professor Zick's earlier books include Speech Out of Doors: Preserving First Amendment Liberties in Public Places (Cambridge U. Press, 2009), which explores the dynamic intersection between place and freedom of expression, and The Cosmopolitan First Amendment: Protecting Transborder Expressive and Religious Liberties (Cambridge U. Press, 2014), which examines how First Amendment rights interact with international borders. First Amendment scholar Rodney Smolla described the latter book as "an elegant reflection and celebration of the global resonance of America's robust embrace of freedom of speech and religious liberty," and called Professor Zick's writing "graceful and engaging."
Professor Zick frequently comments on First Amendment issues in local, national, and international media. He has testified before a congressional subcommittee concerning public speech, assembly and petition rights. Professor Zick has also published a number of op-eds and other writings addressing contemporary First Amendment conflicts and concerns.
Professor Zick graduated summa cum laude from Indiana University and summa cum laude from Georgetown University Law Center, where he received the Francis E. Lucey, S.J. Award for graduating first in his class. Following law school, he was an associate with the law firms of Williams & Connolly in Washington, D.C., and Foley Hoag in Boston. He served as a law clerk to the Honorable Levin H. Campbell of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit. He also served as a Trial Attorney in the Federal Programs Branch of the U.S. Department of Justice, where he worked on cases involving a variety of constitutional issues.
Professor Zick joined the William & Mary Law School faculty from St. John's University School of Law, where he began his academic career in 2002 and received the Professor of the Year award. Since his arrival at William & Mary, he has received three Plumeri Awards for Faculty Excellence and been named the Mills E. Godwin, Jr., Professor (2013-2018), the Cabell Research Professor (2011-2012, 2016-2017) and the Robert and Elizabeth Scott Research Professor (2012-2014).
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