Curriculum Vitae

B.A., Northwestern University
M.P.A., J.D., University of Texas at Austin

Assistant Professor of Political Science

Christopher Brown is an Assistant Professor in the Political Science Department at Texas State University, San Marcos.  Professor Brown presently teaches upper level courses in the Legal Studies program and the MPA program, as well as select undergraduate courses. Professor Brown received his Juris Doctor from the University of Texas Law School; he also holds a Masters of Public Affairs and a B.A. in European and American History from Notherwestern University. Having gained extensive experience in the public sector, Dr. Brown was a Judicial Law Clerk for the US District Court Judge, the Honorable Royal Furgeson, as well as an Assistant Attorney General in the Texas Attorney General’s Office. Dr. Brown also possesses a strong background in Environmental Law and quality standards, having worked at the TCEQ and Tulane Law School’s Environmental Law Clinic.

COURSES TAUGHT

POSI 4361 Administrative Law.  Course stresses the legal principles and practical doctrines involved in the work of administrative tribunals vested with quasi-legislative or quasi-judicial powers or both. Primary focus on development, practice, and procedures of federal administrative agencies.

POSI 5330 Problems in Public Law.  Problems in American Public law and judicial processes. Addresses the policy environment in which the American judicial system operates.

POSI 5379 Legal Drafting.  Study of legal drafting styles, forms and techniques, including legal document drafting, objective, informative document drafting, and persuasive-style drafting of trial and appellate briefs.

POSI 5383 Advanced Litigation.  Study of the use of the American legal system to resolve disputes between individuals and entities. Emphasis will be on trial advocacy planning, analysis, preparation, and strategy. Students will develop skills necessary to understand and to participate as an advocate in the trial process.

POSI 5387 Legal Research.  A study of the American and Texas legal system including the courts and legislature; primary and secondary sources of the law including finding tools; judicial reports including court, federal and state reports and citation forms, case finding including federal, state, an supreme court digests and encyclopedias; citations, such as Shepard Citations, and digests; annotated law reports; legal periodicals, including periodical indexes and research procedure; the nature, function, and characteristics of treatises; research procedures; state and federal administrative law; federal, state, and local court rules; English legal research of great Britain and Canada; research aids.

POSI 5390 Administrative Law.  Course deals with the origin, development, and theory of Administrative Law and the agencies and tribunals established to administer the law. Emphasis is on enforcement, quasi-legislative and quasi-judicial powers of federal administrative agencies and state tribunals.

POSI 5394 Litigation.  Study of statutory and case law relative to civil and criminal procedure in order to develop an understanding of litigation.