Associate Provost; Homer R. Mitchell Professor of Law and University Distinguished Teaching Professor
Tel: 214-768-2580
Fax:
Email:
epryor@mail.smu.edu;
Homepage:
Bio
Ellen S. Pryor graduated from Ursuline Academy of Dallas in 1974, from Rice University in 1978 and from the University of Texas School of Law in 1982. At the University of Texas School of Law, Professor Pryor served as Editor-in-Chief of the Texas Law Review, and received the "Am Jur" award for highest grades in the first year courses Torts, Property, Contracts, and Civil Procedure. She was also a member of the honor societies Chancellors and Order of the Coif. She received awards for outstanding student, student most likely to contribute to legal scholarship, and best student law review note. Following graduation, she served as judicial clerk for a federal appeals court Judge, the Honorable Carl McGowan of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. She then returned to her hometown of Dallas and worked for a civil litigation firm for four years. During that time, she received the Dallas Bar Association's Pro Bono Award of the Year, and the State Bar of Texas' Frank Scurlock Award for Delivery of Legal Services to the Poor.
She teaches first-year tort law, upper level advanced torts courses, seminars in professional responsibility, and insurance law.
She is the co-author of two torts casebooks, ADVANCED TORTS (first edition, West Publishing Company, 2004) (co-authored with G. Christie, J. Meeks, and J. Sanders); and THE LAW OF TORTS (4th ed. West Publishing Company, 2004) (co-authored with George Christie, James Meeks, & Joseph Sanders).” Her writings in the area of torts, insurance, and compensation theory have appeared in, among other journals, the Harvard Law Review, George Washington Law Review, Maryland Law Review, Texas Law Review, Tulane Law Review, Virginia Law Review, Georgetown Law Journal, and the University of Chicago Press. She is a member of the American Law Institute, and since 2000 has served as an Advisor for the drafting of the Restatement (Third) of Torts: General Principles. In 2005, she was named an Advisor for the drafting of the Restatement (Third) of Torts: Economic Loss. In Summer 2005, she served as the Strauss Distinguished Visiting Professor at Pepperdine Uninversity School of Law.
In 2000, she received the SMU’s United Methodist Award for Scholar-Teacher of the Year. In 2001, she was named one of four inaugural members of SMU’s Academy of Distinguished Teachers. In 2003, she was named to the Homer R. Mitchell professorship in insurance and commercial law.
Starting July 2006, Professor Pryor is serving as Associate Provost, in the Office of the Provost. Her phone number and contact information remain the same. http://www.smu.edu/provost
Primary Articles
|
|
THE ECONOMIC LOSS RULE AND LIABILITY INSURANCE, 48 Ariz. L. Rev. 905 (2006) (published as part of the Symposium, Dan D. Dobbs Conference on Economic Tort Law).
NONECONOMIC DAMAGES, SUFFERING, AND THE ROLE OF THE PLAINTIFF’S LAWYER, 55 DePaul Law Review 563 (2006) (11th Annual Clifford Law Symposium).
THE EFFECT OF BAD FAITH LAWS ON FIRST-PARTY INSURANCE CLAIMS DECISIONS, 33 JOURNAL OF LEGAL STUDIES 355-390, (June 2004) (co-authored with Mark J. Browne and Bob Puelz).
REHABILITATING TORT COMPENSATION, 91 Georgetown Law Journal 659-693 (2003).
AFTER THE JUDGMENT, 88 Virginia Law Review 1757 (2002).
DEFENSE LAWYERS’ PROFESSIONAL RESPONSIBILITIES: PART II: CONTESTED COVERAGE CASES, 15 Georgetown Journal of Legal Ethics 29 (2002) (co-authored with Professor Charles Silver).
DEFENSE LAWYER’S PRPOFESSIONAL RESPONSIBILITIES: PART I - EXCESS EXPOSURE CASES, 78 Texas Law Review 599 (2000) (co-authored with Professor Charles Silver).
MAPPING THE SHIFTING BOUNDARIES OF THE DUTY TO DEFEND IN TEXAS, 31 Texas Tech Law Review 869 (2000).
THE TORT LIABILITY REGIME AND THE DUTY TO DEFEND, 42 Maryland Law Review 1 (1999).
CONCURRENT MEDIATION OF LIABILITY AND COVERAGE DISPUTES, 4 Connecticut International Law Journal 485 (1997-1998) (co-authored with Will Pryor).
THE STORIES WE TELL: INTERNATIONAL HARM AND THE QUEST FOR INSURANCE FUNDING, 75 Texas Law Review 1721 (1997).
MENTAL DISABILITY AND THE DISABILITY FABRIC, in Mental Disorder, Work Disability, and the Law (eds. R. Bonnie & J. Monahan) (University of Chicago Press 1996).
COMPARATIVE FAULT AND INSURANCE BAD FAITH, 72 Texas Law Review 1505 (1994).
THE TORT LAW DEBATE, EFFICIENCY, AND THE KINGDOM OF THE ILL, 79 Virginia Law Review 91 (1994).
COMPENSATION AND THE INERADICABLE PROBLEMS OF PAIN, 59 George Washington Law Review 239 (1991).
FLAWED PROMISES: A CRITICAL EVALUATION OF THE AMERICAN MEDICAL ASSOCIATION’S GUIDES TO THE EVALUATION OF PERMANENT IMPAIRMENT (Book Review), 103 Harvard Law Review 964 (1990).
COMPENSATION AND A CONSEQUENTIAL MODEL OF LOSS, 64 Tulane Law Review 783 (1990).
|
|
|
Books
|
|
ADVANCED TORTS (first edition, West Publishing Company, 2004) (co-authored with G. Christie, J. Meeks, and J. Sanders).
THE LAW OF TORTS (4th ed. West Publishing Company, 2004) (3rd ed. 1997)(co-authored with George Christie, James Meeks, & Joseph Sanders).
Teachers’ Manual for THE LAW OF TORTS (1997) (co-authored with Professors George Christie, James Meeks, and Joseph Sanders).
|
|
|
Speeches/Presentations
|
|
AALS Annual Meeting Workshop on Remedies, “Compensatory Failures: Some Particulars,” January 2007.
Sixth Conference of Religiously Affiliated Law Schools, Baylor Law School, March 2006.
AALS Torts and Compensation Section Annual Meeting Program, “What Does it Mean to Compensate an Injured Person?,” January 2006.
Presenter, AALS Annual Workshop, “Balance in the Whirlwind” (presented at concurrent section on Religion in Law School), January 2006.
Presenter, University of Connecticut Symposium on Anatomy of a Mass Tort, subject “Coverage Creating Techniques and Mass Tort,” October 2005.
Appointed in July 2005 as an Advisor to new ALI project: Restatement (Third) of Torts on Economic Injury (fourth installment of the ongoing Restatement 3d project).
11th Annual Clifford Symposium on Tort Law, April 2005.
Faculty forum presentation, “Two Teaching Experiments,” Vanderbilt Law School, April 2004.
Member of planning committee for the AALS program on Tort Law, June 2003.
Advisor as of 2000, Restatement (Third) of Torts: Liability for Physical Harm (third installment of the ongoing Restatement 3d project) (appointed as Advisor by Director Lance Leibman, Director of the ALI).
Speaker, AALS Torts Conference, New York, NY, 2003.
Speaker, conference of University Chaplains, SMU, October 2003.
Presented with Professor Chris Hanna a colloquium on the Socratic method, Center for Teaching Excellence, SMU, October 2003.
Moderated SMU Town Hall Forum on Psychological and Theological Implications of Dehumanization and Torture, October 2004.
Presenter, The New Negligence Symposium, Georgetown Law School 2002.
Presenter, Inchoate Torts Symposium, University of Virginia School of Law 2001.
|
|
|
Other
|
|
TEACHING DAMAGES IN FIRST-YEAR AND UPPER LEVEL TORTS COURSE, 45 St. Louis University Law Review 817 (2001) (symposium on teaching torts).
TORT DEVELOPMENTS, 1985-1986, 46 Journal of Legal Education 609 (1997).
|
|
|
Curriculum Vitae
Education
B.A. in History, 1978, Rice University
J.D., 1982, University of Texas
|