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Mark E. DeForrest
Assistant Professor of
Legal Research and Writing
mdeforrest@lawschool.gonzaga.edu
(509) 313-3770
- B.A., History, Western Washington University, 1992
- J.D. Gonzaga School of Law, 1997
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Biographical information
Former law clerk for Judges T.W. Small, John Bridges, and Lesley Allan, Chelan County Superior Court.
Mark DeForrest grew up on a small farm outside of Anacortes, Washington. He attended Western Washington University, where he graduated in 1992 with a Bachelor's Degree in History. He attended Gonzaga law school from 1994-1997, where he graduated magna cum laude. While a student at Gonzaga, Professor DeForrest was a Thomas More Scholar, a member of the Moot Court Council, and an associate editor of the Gonzaga Law Review. As a law student he was also awarded a George Washington Fellowship from the Discovery Institute, a public policy foundation located in Seattle, Washington.
After law school, Professor DeForrest clerked for the judges of the Chelan County Superior Court in Wenatchee, Washington. In the course of his clerkship he worked on a variety of cases across the full range of both the civil and criminal dockets. He began his academic career in 1999 when he was appointed as a full-time lecturer in the Law & Justice Department at Central Washington University. He taught criminal procedure, family law, correctional law, and legal research methods at CWU for two years.
In the fall of 2001 he began work at Gonzaga University School of Law as a Visiting Legal Research and Writing Instructor. After a year as a visitor, he was appointed as a regular member of the legal research and writing faculty. He now serves the law school as an Assistant Professor of Legal Research and Writing. He has also taught First Amendment Law, Correctional Law, and Professional Responsibility at Gonzaga.
Professor DeForrest is a member of the Washington Bar.
Teaching areas
- Legal Research and Writing
- First Amendment
Publications
- Has been invited to contribute two short articles for the upcoming Praeger Handbook of Religion and Education in the United States, 2008.
- The Use and Scope of Extrinsic Evidence in Evaluating Establishment Clause Cases in Light of the Lemon Test's Secular Purpose Requirement, has been accepted for publication by the Regent University Law Review (2007).
- Locke v. Davey: The Connection Between the Blaine Amendment and Article I, Section 11 of the Washington State Constitution, 40 U. Tulsa L. Rev. 295 (2004).
- An Overview and Evaluation of State Blaine Amendments: Origins, Scope, and First Amendment Concerns, 26 Harvard Journal of Law and Public Policy 551 (2003).
- Teaching the Origins Controversy: Science or Religion or Speech? 2000 Utah Law Review 39 (2000) (with Stephen C. Meyer).
- Truth or Consequences, Part Two: More Jurisprudential Errors of the Militant Far-Right
- Civil Disobedience: Its Nature and Role in the American Legal Landscape
- Just War Theory and Recent U.S. Air-strikes Against Iraq
- Religion's Place in the Public Square, The Seattle Times, B-5 (Oct. 23, 1996)., 1 Across Borders Gonz. Intl'l L.J. 8 (1997), 32 Gonzaga Law Review 593 (1997) (with James M. Vache). (Comment), 33 Gonzaga Law Review 653 (1998), 35 Gonzaga Law Review 319 (1999/2000) (with James M. Vache).
Presentations
- Presented The Use of Legislative History in an Internet-Driven Research Environment, at 2007 Northwest Regional Legal Research & Writing Conference: Teaching LR&W in Changing Times, August 10, 2007.
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