Mary Pat Treuthart

Mary Patricia Treuthart Professor mtreuthart@lawschool.gonzaga.edu (509) 313-3756 A.B. in Political Science, Douglass College J.D. Rutgers University School of Law-Camden LL.M. Columbia University School of Law

Biographical Information

Professor Treuthart began her law teaching career after serving a judicial clerkship and working as a staff attorney and the program director at Warren County Legal Services in New Jersey where her primary caseload consisted of civil cases including family law, domestic violence, housing, consumer, public entitlements, and civil commitment matters.

Prof. Treuthart joined the Gonzaga law faculty in 1989. She is the Director of the Gonzaga-in-Florence Summer Law Program and the Co-Director of the Thomas More Scholarship Program.

Prof. Treuthart was a Fulbright Scholar and Lecturer at Marie Curie Sklodowska University in Lublin, Poland (spring 2002) and served as a Legal Specialist for the ABA-CEELI program in Pristina, Kosovo (fall 2006). She has a long-standing commitment to social justice and human rights issues, particularly those that affect women and people with disabilities.

• Professor Treuthart has provided pro bono post-conviction assistance in death penalty cases at the state and federal levels.
• Since 1990, she has been involved with the Seattle-based Washington Protection and Advocacy System that provides legal services to people with disabilities, serving as the chair of the Board of Directors and the chair of the Mental Health Advisory Council.
• Professor Treuthart is on the Board of Directors of University Legal Assistance where she co-founded the Domestic Violence Mini-clinic.
• She is a member of the Advisory Committee of the Washington Amnesty International “Stop Violence Against Women” Campaign. Professor Treuthart is a member of the Peace and Justice Action League of Spokane and the Inland Northwest Death Penalty Abolition Group.
• She is a volunteer for Spokane Public Radio (KPBX/KSFC) and Habitat for Humanity.
• She serves on the Board of the Magic Lantern Film Society. Professor Treuthart has been a YWCA volunteer and has provided English language instruction to adult learners through the Institute for Extended Learning in Spokane County.
• She is the former advisor to the Gonzaga University Mission Possible Alternative Spring Break Program. 

Prof. Treuthart is a member of the Pennsylvania bar. She taught previously at Duquesne University School of Law, Nevada School of Law, Golden Gate University School of Law, and University of San Diego Institute of International and Comparative Law (Dublin). She was a consultant for the National Center on Women and Family Law in New York City and a former faculty member at the National Judicial College and the National Council on Family and Juvenile Court Judges in Reno, Nevada.

She is married to Dan Webster, a columnist and the film and book reviewer for the Spokesman-Review newspaper, and her co-host on the weekly movie review program “Movies 101” at Spokane Public Radio, the regional NPR affiliate.

Current Teaching Areas

• Constitutional Law
• Criminal Procedure
• International Human Rights
• Mental Disability Law
• Women and the Law

Publications

Books

Articles

• A Perspective on Teaching and Learning Family Law, 75 University of Missouri-Kansas City Law Review 1047 (2007)
• Lowering the Bar: Rethinking Underage Drinking, 9 New York University J. Legis & Pub. Pol'y 303 (2005-2006)

Presentations

• Presented a program on the role of dissenting opinions that included a discussion of the book I Dissent by Mark Tushnet, Law and Literature session at the Appellate Judges' Spring Conference in Lake Chelan, Washington, April 6, 2009
• Presented with Prof. Brooks Holland on the ethics of representing mentally ill clients in criminal cases, at ethics CLE program at Gonzaga University, January 25, 2008
• Presented on the American Bill of Rights at the Chinese University of Political Science and Law. (December, 2007) 
• Presented on the American jury system and the federal rules of evidence with Professor Ann Murphy at the Central University of Finance and Economics in Beijing, China. (December, 2007)
• Reflective and Responsive Lawyering, CLE presentation, Gonzaga Law School, August 2006
• A Historical Perspective on Current Women's Legal issues, Eastern Washington lawyers and professional staff at the Attorney General's Office, Spokane, WA, March 29, 2006

Participation

U.S. Supreme Court heard oral argument in the case of Sanchez-Llamas v. Oregon. Prof. Treuthart was one of the attorneys (along with former GU faculty member Speedy Rice) who served as "of counsel" on the amicus curiae brief filed by the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers and the Law Council of Australia, March 29, 2006.

Awards, etc.

Awards

• Outstanding Community Service Award: Law Faculty Member (2003)
• KPBX Spokane Public Radio: Volunteer of the Year (2003)
• Professor of the Year (2000; 1995)
• Gonzaga University Service-Learning Faculty of the Year Award (2000)
• Phi Delta Phi Professionalism Award (1999)

Other

• CLE presenter in the areas of Family Law, Ethics, Mental Disability, Gender, and Human Rights

• Frequent contributor to regional print and broadcast media on social justice and legal issues
• Advisor to area law firms on ethical issues
• Commentator for ABA/CEELI on family law

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