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Spector, Mary

Co-Director of Civil Clinic, Director Consumer Law Project, and Associate Professor of Law

Tel: 214-768-2578
Fax:
Email: mspector@mail.smu.edu
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Bio

Professor Spector was a law clerk to Judge Jerry Buchmeyer of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas before joining the Dallas firm of Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer, Feld as an associate. She served as a member of the adjunct faculty from the fall semester, 1991, through the spring semester, 1995. During that time, she served as a supervising attorney with the SMU Legal Clinic and as a field instructor with the SMU/Legal Services of North Texas externship program. Professor Spector teaches in the Civil Clinic.

Primary Articles

Taming the Beast:  Payday Loans, Regulatory Efforts and Unintended Consequences, 57 DePaul L. Rev. (forthcoming 2008)

Tenant Stories: Obstacles and Challenges Facing Tenants Today, 40 The John Marshall L. Rev. 407 (2007)

TENANTS’ RIGHTS, PROCEDURAL WRONGS: SUMMARY EVICTIONS AND THE NEED FOR REFORM, 46 Wayne Law Review 135 (2000).

CROSSING THE THRESHOLD: EXAMINING THE ABATEMENT OF PUBLIC NUISANCES WITHIN THE HOME, 31 Conn. L. Rev. 547 (1999)

 

Speeches/Presentations

11th International Conference of Consumer Law, Cape Town, South Africa. TAMING THE BEAST:  Payday Loans, Regulatory Efforts, and Unintended Consequences, April 2007

John Marshall Law School, Chicago, Illinois, Conference:  What King Wrought?:  The Impact of the Summer of 1966 on Housing Rights, A Forty Year Retrospective and Prospective, Presentation topic:  The State of Tenants’ Rights Today and in the Future:  Is the Reform in Rights a Guarantee?  , September 2006

Dallas Volunteer Attorney Program-Housing Crisis Center, Continuing Legal Education, Common Tenant Problems and the Role of the Volunteer Attorney, May 2006

SMU, Center for Teaching Excellence, 13th Annual Teaching Effectiveness Symposium, Writing as Disciplined Thinking (with Nina Schwartz), August 2005

KNON, Community Radio program Law for the People, Guest speaker, Landlord-Tenant Law, April, May 2005 

Conference: Teaching Consumer Law, University of Houston, Houston, Texas, Presentation topic:  Teaching Consumer Law:  Clinical Methods in the Consumer Law Course, May 2004

Federal Judicial Center, SMU Dedman School of Law Program for Bankruptcy Judges, Dallas, Texas,Presentation topic:      Payday Loans, September 2003

Small Group Discussion Leader, “Clinical Legal Education: Back to Basics,” AALS Conference, San Diego, California, May 2004.

Panelist, “Teaching Consumer Law: What Works and What Doesn’t,” Conference: Teaching Consumer Law, University of Houston, Houston, Texas, May 2004

Speaker, “Payday Loans,” Federal Judicial Center, SMU Dedman School of Law Program for Bankruptcy Judges,,” Dallas, Texas, September 2003

Conference Faculty, Consumer Law Teaching Conference, Houston, Texas, April 2002.

Planning Committee, Rocky Mountain Clinical Conference, Estes Park, Colorado, October 2001.

Planning Committee, “Family Law on the Front Lines,” University of Texas CLE, April 2001.

Small Group Leader, “Integrating Our Values In Our Teaching and In Our Lives,” AALS Conference on Clinical Legal Education, May 1998.

Moderator, “Effectively Litigating the Police and Jail/Prison Case,” Civil Rights Litigation Seminar, SMU Civil Clinic and ACLU of Texas, SMU School of Law, February 1998.

Speaker, “Child Abuse Awareness,” Jewish Family Service School Mental Health Program, Dallas, Texas, September 5, 1997.

Speaker, “Child Abuse Awareness,” Temple Emanu-El, Dallas, Texas, August 23, 1997.

Co-facilitator, AALS Clinical Workshop,, Housing and Landlord-Tenant Group, Dallas, Texas, May 1997.

Speaker, “Current Approaches to Supervising Legal Externships,” Faculty Forum, SMU School of Law, Dallas, Texas, April 1997.

Panelist, 50th Anniversary of Clinical Education, SMU School of Law, April 1997.

 

Other

EPILOGUE: THEORY IN THE BASEMENT, 51 SMU Law Review 1555 (1998) (with Maureen N. Armour).

 



Curriculum Vitae

 

Education

B.A., 1979, Simmons College
J.D., 1986, Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law