Niehoff, Leonard

Professor from Practice

971 Legal Research
734.763.5145
E-mail lniehoff@umich.edu

Leonard M. Niehoff, '84, is a professor from practice. His interests include civil procedure, constitutional law, ethics, evidence, First Amendment, higher education law, litigation strategy, media law, privacy, and the intersections between legal theory and theology. He is the author of more than 100 articles on a wide range of issues in these fields and of the recently published short treatise Evidence Law (Foundation Press, 2016). Professor Niehoff has practiced law for more than 30 years and is currently of counsel to Honigman Miller Schwartz and Cohn LLP, where he leads the firm's appellate practice group. Numerous publications and organizations have recognized him as a distinguished litigator, appellate advocate, and media, First Amendment, and higher education lawyer. He previously taught at Wayne State University Law School and the University of Detroit Mercy School of Law. He received his BA and JD from the University of Michigan.

Recent Publications

Co-author. "The Persistence of Noxious Doctorine." D. Shah, co-author. Mich. J. Race&L. (Forthcoming, 2017).

"Doe v. University of Michigan: Free Speech on Campus 25 Years Later." U. Miami L. Rev., no. 2 (2017): 365-76.

Co-author. "Milkovich v. Lorain Journal Twenty-Five Years Later: The Slow, Quiet and Troubled Demise of Liar Libel." A. Messenger, co-author. U. Mich. J. L. Reform 49, no. 2 (2016): 467-94.
Full Text: MLaw Repository

Evidence Law. Concepts and Insights. St. Paul, MN: Foundation Press, 2016.

"Ethics for Media Lawyers: The Lessons of Ferguson." The Comm. Law. 31, no. 3 (2015): 4-5, 19-20.
Full Text: HEIN (UMich users) | HEIN

"Training the New Litigator: Some Assembly Required." Litigation 40, no. 4 (2014).

"Material Falsity in Defamation Cases: The Supreme Court's Call for Contextual Analysis." Tobin, Charles D., Comm. Law. 30, no. 3 (2014).

"Three Puzzling Things about New York Times v. Sullivan: Beginning the Anniversary Conversation." Comm. Law. 29, no. 3 (2013): 10.
Full Text: Westlaw

Recently Taught Courses

Activities

Delivered Constitution Day talk, Adrian College, Adrian, Michigan, September 2017.

Participated in a panel discussion of ethics issues at the conference of the Media Law Resource Center, Reston, Virginia, September 2016.

Speaker, "The Constitution on Campus," University of Miami Law Review Symposium, Miami, Florida, February 2016.

Participated in a panel discussion of ethics issues at the annual meeting of the American Bar Association Forum on Communications Law, Ft. Meyers, Florida, February 2016.

Participated in the panel discussion "The Supreme Court Hobby Lobby Case and Religious Freedom," part of the Symposium on Religion and Public Life sponsored by the Henry Institute for the Study of Christianity and Politics, Calvin College, Grand Rapids, Michigan, April 2015.

Spoke about legal ethics at the seminar "Rules of Engagement: Journalists, Police, and the Daze of Disorder—First Amendment Implications of Ferguson and Its Aftermath," University of Kansas School of Law, Kansas City, Missouri, April 2015.

Moderated ABA Teleconference, "One Size Does Not Fit All: Comparing and Contrasting Appeals Among State and Federal Intermediate and High Appellate Courts," September 2014.

Participated with Erwin Chemerinsky in a webinar about the Supreme Court decision Fisher v. University of Texas that was conducted by the National Association of College and University Attorneys, July 2013.

Presented "Ethics for Lawyers New to the Practice of Higher Education Law" and "The Diversity Challenge: Affirmative Action in Higher Education and Fisher v. University of Texas" at the annual meeting of the National Association of College and University Attorneys, June 2013.

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