Peter Joy

Peter A. Joy is the Henry Hitchcock Professor of Law and Director of the Criminal Justice Clinic at Washington University in St. Louis School of Law, where he supervises student-lawyers providing direct legal representation to clients and working with experienced public defenders on criminal matters. Well known for his work in legal ethics, clinical legal education, criminal justice, and trial practice, he earned an A.B. from Youngstown State University in 1974 and a J.D. from Case Western Reserve University in 1977. His legal career began as National Co-Director of the Law Students Civil Rights Research Council in Atlanta, Georgia, followed by serving as of counsel at Meckler & Meckler in Cleveland, Ohio. Upon joining Washington University School of Law, he became the inaugural director of the Trial & Advocacy Program from 2002 to 2006, Vice Dean from 2010 to 2012, and Vice Dean for Academic Affairs from 2018 to 2020. Professor Joy has been recognized by LexisNexis Martindale-Hubbell as an AV Preeminent Rated Lawyer for more than 40 years.

Professor Joy has written extensively and presented nationally and internationally on legal ethics, lawyer and judicial professionalism, clinical legal education, and access to justice issues. Key publications include co-authoring Professional Responsibility: A Contemporary Approach (5th ed., West 2023), Do No Wrong: Ethics For Prosecutors and Defenders (ABA Publishing 2009), Australian Clinical Legal Education (ANU Press 2017), Measuring the Impacts of Experiential Legal Education (73 Journal of Legal Education 683, 2025), Improving the Signal Quality of Grades (40 Journal of Law, Economics & Organization 820, 2024), The Uneasy History of Experiential Education in U.S. Law Schools (122 Dickinson Law Review 551, 2018), and Judges’ Misuse of Contempt in Criminal Cases and Limits of Advocacy (50 Loyola University Chicago Law Journal 907, 2019). He has received the Association of American Law Schools Section on Clinical Legal Education Pincus Award for outstanding contributions to clinical legal education (2001), Israel Treiman Research Fellowships (2001-02 and 2018-19), Campbell Visiting Fellowship at Monash University (2016), Visiting Professor of Research at Northumbria University (2009-15), and Visiting Scholar at Hitotsubashi University Law School (2012 and 2013). Currently, he serves on the Board of Editors for the International Journal of Clinical Legal Education and as a columnist for the American Bar Association quarterly publication Criminal Justice. Previously, he chaired the AALS sections on Clinical Legal Education and Professional Responsibility, served as president of the Clinical Legal Education Association, and was a member of the Board of Editors of the Clinical Law Review (2005-2011).

Professional Email: joy@wustl.edu