Julia (Julie) Patterson Forrester Rogers

Headshot of Julia (Julie) Patterson Forrester Rogers, faculty member at SMU Dedman School of Law.

Professor of Law

Full-time faculty

Email

jforrest@smu.edu

Julia (Julie) Patterson Forrester Rogers joined the faculty of the SMU Dedman School of Law in 1990 after working as a real estate attorney with the Dallas law firm of Thompson & Knight. Previously, she received her B.S.E.E. with highest honors in 1981 and her J.D. with high honors in 1985 from the University of Texas at Austin, where she was a member of the Texas Law Review, Chancellors, and Order of the Coif.

Professor Rogers teaches in the areas of Property, Real Estate Transactions, and Land Use. She writes and speaks on real estate finance, the residential mortgage market, predatory lending, and other topics in real property law. She was one of the first legal scholars to write about the problem of predatory lending in the subprime mortgage market, and she was awarded the John Minor Wisdom Award for Academic Excellence in 1995 for her first predatory lending article.  She is co-author of a property law casebook, Property Law: Cases, Materials and Questions, with Edward E. Chase, Jr. and W. Keith Robinson.

Professor Rogers served the University as Associate Provost for Student Academic Services from 2015 through 2018, overseeing the Altshuler Learning Enhancement Center, the Center for Academic Support of Student Athletes, the Office of International Student and Scholar Services, the President’s Scholars Program, the Hunt Scholars Program, the University’s Study Abroad Programs, the SMU-in-Taos campus, and SMU’s Plano campus. Professor Rogers served as Dean ad interim of the law school from June 1, 2013, through June 30, 2014, as faculty coordinator for the University’s OE2C project from 2014 through 2015, and as Associate Dean for Academic Affairs in the law school from 1995 to 1996.

Professor Rogers is a member of the American Law Institute, the American College of Real Estate Lawyers, and the American College of Mortgage Attorneys. She served on the executive committee of the American Association of Law Schools Real Estate Transactions Section from 2010 through 2016, chairing the section in 2015. She served as a member of the Texas State Bar Real Estate, Probate, and Trust Law Section Council from 2015 to 2019, and she served on the section’s committee that drafted the Texas Assignment of Rents Act, which became law in 2011. She currently serves as the Reporter for the Uniform Law Commission Mortgage Modifications Act Drafting Committee.

Area of expertise

  • Real Estate Law
  • Property Law

Education

B.S.E.E., University of Texas
J.D., University of Texas School of Law

Courses

Land Use
Property
Real Estate Transactions

Books

, 3d ed. (2023) (with Edward E. Chase and W. Keith Robinson)

, 2d ed. (2010) (with Teacher’s Manual) (with Edward E. Chase)

Articles

eMortgage and Crypto-Mortgage in Home Finance, 52 Pepperdine Law Review (forthcoming 2024)

Rethinking Powers of Attorney in Real Estate Transactions, 71 SMU Law Review 369 (2018)
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Foreword: Perspectives on Mortgage Lending Regulation, 69 SMU Law Review 585 (2016)
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Promising to Be Prudent: A Private Law Approach to Mortgage Loan Regulation in Common-Interest Communities, 19 George Mason Law Review 739 (2012) (with Jerome M. Organ)
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Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac Uniform Mortgage Instruments: The Forgotten Benefit to Homeowners, 72 Missouri Law Review 1077 (2007)
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Still Crazy After All These Years: The Absolute Assignment of Rents in Mortgage Loan Transactions, 59 Florida Law Review 487 (2007)
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Still Mortgaging the American Dream: Predatory Lending, Preemption, and Federally-Supported Lenders, 74 University Cincinnati Law Review 1303 (2006)
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Home Equity Loans in Texas: Maintaining the Texas Tradition of Homestead Protection, 55 SMU Law Review 157 (2002)
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Bankruptcy Takings, 51 Florida Law Review 851 (1999)
| SMU Repository

Constructing a New Theoretical Framework for Home Improvement Financing, 75 Oregon Law Review 1095 (1996)
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Mortgaging the American Dream: A Critical Evaluation of the Federal Government's Promotion of Home Equity Financing, 69 Tulane Law Review 373 (1994)
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A Uniform and More Rational Approach to Rents as Security for the Mortgage Loan, 46 Rutgers Law Review 349 (1993)
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Book chapters

A Comparative Analysis of Mortgage Loan Assignments and a Call for Reform in the United Statesin FESTSCHRIFT FOR WERNER F. EBKE—GERMAN, EUROPEAN, AND COMPARATIVE BUSINESS LAW 239 (C.H. Beck Verlag 2021)
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Other publications

A Heartfelt Tribute to Jeff Gaba, 74 SMU Law Review 597 (2021)

Professor Sarah McQuillen Tran: A Portrait of Perseverance and Courage, 67 SMU Law Review 459 (2014)

The Proposed Texas Assignment of Rents Act: A Legislative Escape from the Common Law Morass, 48 Real Estate, Probate & Trust Law Reporter, No. 4 at 32 (2011)

The Subprime Lending Crisis: How Did We Get Here?, The Quad (SMU Dedman School of Law Alumni Magazine) 37 (Fall 2008)

Federal National Mortgage Association Charter Act, in MAJOR ACTS OF CONGRESS (Macmillon Reference USA 2003)

Home Equity Financing: Is the Federal Government Mortgaging the American Dream, The Brief (SMU Dedman School of Law Alumni Magazine) 4 (Fall 1995)

Media

U.S. News & World Report, quoted in (August 2024)

NBC DFW, Interview,  (June 2023)