Stephen Wizner

Stephen Wizner is the William O. Douglas Clinical Professor of Law Emeritus at Yale Law School.  He has been on the Yale Law School faculty since 1970.  He also has held a Special Appointment as Professor of Law at Tel Aviv University, where he served as a consultant and advisor on clinical legal education.  He received an A.B. from Dartmouth College in 1959, and a J.D. from the University of Chicago in 1963.  From 1963 to 1966 Professor Wizner served as a Trial Attorney with the Criminal Division of the United States Department of Justice (Honors Program) in Washington, D.C.  From 1966 to 1970 he was a legal services lawyer for the poor in New York City as a Staff Attorney at the Columbia Law School Center on Social Welfare Policy and Law, and as a Managing Attorney at Mobilization for Youth Legal Services. 

At Yale Professor Wizner has taught and supervised students in the Law School’s clinical program, and has taught non-clinical courses in Trial Advocacy, Evidence, and Ethics.  Professor Wizner is the recipient of numerous teaching and public service awards including the William Pincus Award “for outstanding contributions to clinical education” from the Section on Clinical Legal Education of the Association of American Law Schools, the Great Teacher Award from the Society of American Law Teachers, the Richard S. Jacobson Trial Advocacy Teaching Award from the American Trial Lawyers Foundation, the Theodore I. Koskoff Award “for outstanding contributions to trial law specialization and certification” from the National Board of Trial Advocacy, the Charles J. Parker Legal Services Award from the Connecticut Bar Association, and the Connecticut Law Tribune Award for “distinguished service to the State Bar.” Professor Wizner is a member of the Editorial Board of the Connecticut Law Tribune, and Dean of the Faculty of the National Board of Trial Advocacy. He is the author of numerous articles on legal education, legal services, ethics, juvenile justice, and poverty law.