Assistant Professor of Law
Assistant Professor of Law Jessica West joined Mitchell Hamline in 2025 from the University of Washington School of Law. Before she began teaching, West spent 20 years fighting government and corporate overreach and litigating death penalty and complex civil and criminal cases. Her scholarship focuses on civil disobedience, activism, and the criminal prosecution of protesters. She is a committed teacher, having taught at various undergraduate, graduate, and law schools including the University of Washington School of Law, where she served as a professor as well as assistant dean for academic success programs; Vermont Law School, where she directed the experiential advocacy program; and the University of Denver Sturm College of Law. She is a casebook author in administrative law and has taught courses including constitutional law, criminal law, criminal procedure, evidence, persuasion, and torts.
Education
J.D., University of Connecticut School of Law, 1993
B.A., Brown University, 1989
Relevant Experience
Mitchell Hamline School of Law: Assistant Professor of Law, 2025–Present
University of Washington School of Law: Lecturer, 2022–25; Assistant Dean for Academic Success Programs, 2019–22; Affiliate Associate Professor, 2017–19; Visiting Associate Professor, 2016–17
Ramon Llull University ESADE Law School: Visiting Professor, 2019
University of Granada School of Law: Visiting Researcher, 2019
University of Washington School of Interdisciplinary Arts & Sciences: Visiting Associate Professor, 2017–19
Vermont Law School: Associate Professor, 2014–18; Experiential Advocacy Program Director 2014–16; Assistant Professor, 2012–13
Yale Law School: Visiting Researcher, 2011–12
University of Denver Sturm College of Law: Visiting Assistant Professor, 2010–11; Adjunct Professor, 2009–10
Smith & West: Principal and Founder, 1999–2011
Organizational Leadership and Service
Visiting Nurse & Hospice of Vermont and New Hampshire Board of Trustees (2013–16)
American Constitution Society, Colorado chapter, Board of Directors (2008–11)
The Odyssey Expeditionary Learning School Board of Directors (2005–11)
Colorado LGBT Bar Association Judicial Selection Committee (2005–9)
Presidential Candidate Barack Obama’s Criminal Justice Policy Committee (2008)
Teaching
Evidence
Bar Admission
United States Supreme Court
United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit
United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit
United States District Court for the District of Colorado
State of Colorado
