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Joan Heminway

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Professor Heminway brought nearly 15 years of corporate practice experience to the University of Tennessee College of Law when she joined the faculty in 2000. She practiced transactional business law (working in the areas of public offerings, private placements, mergers, acquisitions, dispositions, and restructurings) in the Boston office of Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP from 1985 through 2000.

She has served as an expert witness and consultant on business entity and finance and federal and state securities law matters and is a frequent academic and continuing legal education presenter on business law issues. Professor Heminway also has represented pro bono clients on political asylum applications, landlord/tenant appeals, social security/disability cases, and not-for-profit incorporations and related business law issues. Read More

NORTHERN ILLINOIS UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF LAW invites applications for one entry-level tenure-track faculty position with interest in teaching contracts, business law and related areas, beginning August 2026.

Duties include engaging in high-quality teaching and research, as well as being an active participant in law-school and university service.

Qualifications include a J.D. degree from an ABA-accredited law school  (or a law school program that is deemed substantively equivalent to an ABA-approved J.D. program for purposes of taking a US State bar examination); ability to engage in high-quality teaching; ability to engage in high-quality research; and ability to be an active participant in law school and university service.

Preferred qualifications include a record of scholarly publication, teaching experience (particularly in a law school), legal-practice experience, a strong law-school record, law-journal membership, and clerkship experience.

If you wish to apply or have questions, please contact Professor David Rosenfeld, Chair of the Appointments Committee, at niucol@niu.edu. Preference will be given to applications received by February 13, 2026, though applications will be accepted until the position is filled.

To be officially considered for the position or positions, a cover letter, résumé, and contact information for three current professional references will be required to be uploaded…

And so, we reach the end of another calendar year . . . .  And it has been a busy one for the Clayton Center for Entrepreneurial Law at Tennessee Winston Law.  The change in the calendar, like the change in seasons, always seems to be a time of reflection for me.  And that reflection typically leads to a sense of gratitude.  I will share some of what I am thankful for here.

I appreciate so much the wonderful stewardship of Brian Krumm, who directed the Clayton Center for the first seven months of 2025.  We are a student-focused institution, and Brian exemplifies that in all that he does for our business law program.  And as the ongoing coach of our students in four upcoming transactional law competitions (The Closer at Baylor Law, the Wayne State University Law & Taft Stettinius & Hollister Transactional Law Competition, Syracuse Law’s Transatlantic Negotiation Competition, and the William & Mary Colonial Cup), Brian will continue to earn my respect and gratitude as the academic year continues, for that work and so much more.

I am grateful for our newest business law colleague, Andrew Appleby.  In a semester of professional and personal…

Tina L. Stark Emory Law, October 2007

Transactional lawyering and the education of transactional lawyers has been transformed by Tina L. Stark (Weisenfeld). You may have known her for her wonderful books–Drafting Contracts: How & Why Lawyers Do What They Do and Negotiating and Drafting Contract Boilerplate are on my bookshelves and those of so many others. You may have heard her speak at a conference or symposium.

Yet, many of us also knew Tina on a more personal level. Some of us had her as an instructor or as a colleague. Long a consultant and advisor to law schools, bar associations, and legal employers on transactional legal education and training, Tina also held full-time administrative and teaching appointments at Emory University School of Law and Boston University School of Law and was a visitor at Fordham University School of Law. Earlier in her career, she was an adjunct law professor at Fordham Law and the Maurice A. Deane School of Law at Hofstra University.

Tina passed away earlier this week. But her presence will continue to be felt in so many ways. She and I initially bonded over our not only our love of teaching plainly…

Following on my Weinberg Center blog post back on October 27, I write today to promote participation in a survey hosted by the University of Delaware’s John L. Weinberg Center for Corporate Governance on public company Rule 14a-8 shareholder proposals under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. The survey website explains that the Weinberg Center “seeks to gather practical insights from companies, investors, and related professionals about the scope and effectiveness of the current federal shareholder proposal rule (Rule 14a-8).” I suspect that the referenced professionals include lawyers representing both public companies and shareholders, as well as other advisors to each. More information about the survey can be found on the website.

In the spirit of that October 27 blog post, I am appreciative of the effort to gather information from a wide variety of constituents. I have taught group-oriented change leadership to undergraduate honors students here at The University of Tennessee using design thinking methods, in which the first step is undertaking to empathize. This step involves the team researching, and endeavoring to understand, the needs of various stakeholders. One design thinking website describes this first stage of a group-oriented process of innovation through design thinking…

Please see the call for papers here from friend-of-the-BLPB Paolo Farah. Abstract submissions are due December 20, 2025. According to the the call for papers, “[t]his symposium aims to bridge disciplines and communities, fostering dialogue between law, policy, science, and industry in advancing tribal energy sovereignty and climate resilience. We invite you to contribute your voice and expertise to this important conversation.”

Surprisingly, the literature on lawyer-leader development has neglected adult learning theories. This Article addresses that gap and grounds the teaching of leadership in a well-established theoretical tradition. It presents the results of a design-based research study that applies Mezirow’s transformative learning theory to the design and delivery of a leadership seminar taught at Brigham Young University Law School. The study finds that 95% of students enrolled in the second iteration of the course took new, concrete leadership actions as a direct result of their participation in the class.

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The Orfalea College of Business at California Polytechnic State University (Cal Poly) at San Luis Obispo invites applications for a full-time, tenure-track, academic year position at the rank of Assistant Professor in the primary area of law, beginning August 17, 2026. 

The ideal candidate will have an interest in, and ability to teach, a variety of business law courses. Preference will be given to candidates with demonstrated teaching excellence and those with business practice experience (law firm or in-house). Research published in law journals and/or peer review journals on topics involving statutory law, common law, regulations, or other aspects of business law are preferred.

Applications must be submitted through the official portal of California State University (CSU): https://csucareers.calstate.edu/en-us/job/552863/assistant-professor-of-business-law

Full consideration is guaranteed for all applications received by December 12, 2025. Complete applications received after this date may also be considered.

For inquiries, please contact Professor David G. Chamberlain at dchamb02@calpoly.edu.

As business law professors, we are always teaching leadership and professional responsibility (even if only interstitially), whether we are teaching in experiential, doctrinal, or other settings. Accordingly, an upcoming program hosted by the Section on Leadership of the Association of American Law Schools (which I chair this year) may be of interest. The program, a webinar aptly titled Leadership Development and Professional Responsibility, is next Tuesday, November 18, 1:00 pm – 2:00 pm ET/12:00 pm – 1:00 pm CT/11:00 am – 12:00 pm MT/10:00 am – 11:00 pm PT. Here is the synopsis.

How can law schools cultivate ethical judgment and the capacity for principled leadership among students? How might the Professional Responsibility course provide avenues for exploring broader questions related to lawyer leadership? This AALS webinar explores the relationship between professional responsibility, legal ethics, and leadership formation in legal education and examines how law schools can prepare graduates not only to practice law competently, but to lead with integrity and purpose.

I hope you can join us for this program. Registration is available here.

The William S. Richardson School of Law at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa invites applications for a tenure-track faculty position in Business Law to begin in Fall 2026. We seek candidates with a demonstrated record or strong potential for excellence in teaching, scholarship, and service.

We welcome applicants whose research and teaching interests include business associations, corporate law, commercial law, securities regulation, entrepreneurship, or related areas. The successful candidate will join a collegial and interdisciplinary faculty committed to teaching excellence, community engagement, and advancing justice in Hawaiʻi and beyond.
 
Applications must be submitted through the University of Hawaiʻi’s official Work at UH portal.

For full consideration, please apply by November 12, 2025.
 
For inquiries, please contact Professor Alina Ng Boyte at aboyte@hawaii.edu.