Elizabeth Lee Thompson

Assistant Clinical Professor of Legal Analysis, Writing and Research

Full-time faculty

Email

thompsonel@mail.smu.edu

Phone

214-768-6119

Elizabeth Lee Thompson, J.D., Ph.D., is an Assistant Clinical Professor of Legal Analysis, Writing and Research. Professor Thompson’s scholarship centers on the rule of law, civil rights and legal justice, civil procedure, appellate law, and legal history. Thompson’s published work includes a book and articles on legal and historical subjects. Her most recent articles include, Procedural Innovation, the Rule of Law, and Civil Rights Justice, forthcoming in UC Irvine Law Review, The Perilous Focus Shift from the Rule of Law to Appellate Efficiency, 56 Conn. L. Rev. 791 (2024), and The Changing Face and Increasingly Targeted Tool of State Interlocutory Appeals, forthcoming in Seton Hall Law Review. The Supreme Court of Texas cited her article Interlocutory Appeals in Texas: A History, 48 St. Mary’s L.J. 65 (2016), in Industrial Specialists, LLC v. Blanchard Refining Co., 652 S.W.3d 11 (Tex. 2022). Thompson was honored to receive the SMU Women-In-Law Distinguished Faculty Member Award in 2024. Thompson has also taught legal and historical subjects at Stanford Law School and the University of Texas at Arlington. She is a board-certified attorney in Civil Appellate Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization.  Thompson was a Partner in the Appellate Practice Group at Thompson, Coe, Cousins, & Irons, L.L.P in Dallas, where she specialized in civil appeals and original proceedings in the Texas state courts and federal courts.  She served as a Staff Attorney for Justice Elizabeth Lang-Miers at the Fifth District Court of Appeals at Dallas, Texas.  Thompson’s previous service to the bar includes Co-Chair of the Texas Appellate Hall of Fame Committee of the State Bar of Texas Appellate Section and Council Member of the Dallas Bar Association Appellate Section.






Area of expertise

  • Legal Analysis, Writing and Research

Education

B.A. , magna cum laude, The University of Texas at Austin
J.D., with honors, The University of Texas at Austin
M.A., The University of Texas at Austin
Ph.D., The University of Texas at Austin

Courses

Legal Analysis, Writing and Research

Articles

The Changing Face and Increasingly Targeted Tool of State Interlocutory Appeals, 55Seton Hall Law Review (forthcoming 2024)

Procedural Innovation, the Rule of Law, and Civil Rights Justice, UC Irvine Law Review (forthcoming 2024)

The Perilous Focus Shift from the Rule of Law to Appellate Efficiency, 56 Connecticut Law Review (forthcoming 2024)
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New Texas Interlocutory Appeals 2021: Covid, Contractors, and Health Care Claims, 85 Texas Bar Journal 582 (2022)

The 2019 Texas Legislature and Appellate Practice: Laws Enacted and Proposed, 31 Appellate Advocate 244 (2020)

Interlocutory Appeals in Texas: A History, 48 St. Mary's Law Journal 65 (2016)

Southern Women, Gender Roles, and the Unconventional Alice Jenkins, 62 Journal of Mississippi History 21 (2000)

Reconstructing the Practice: The Effects of Expanded Federal Judicial Power on Postbellum Lawyers, 43 American Journal of Legal History 306 (1999)

Cultural Policy in the European Community: A Case Against Extensive National Retention, 28 Texas International Law Journal 191 (1993)