Learners will learn how to evaluate the importance of the Constitutional framework and the court's role in this process. I employ the Socratic method and will have students in later classes research and present on topics they have an interest in. Students will learn to examine current legal issues critically. 

I am a judge, former federal prosecutor, policy counsel, and college and law school professor. My bachelor's degree is from the State University of New York at Albany in Political Science and History, with a minor in Economics. I also earned a Juris Doctorate from the University of Buffalo. I have nearly 30 years of experience as a litigator, policy counsel, and law professor. 
  
I strive to teach social studies, civics, and history in a way that inspires and entertains while fostering curiosity and critical thinking. As a proud father of three, I’ve spent the past couple of years getting used to the post-Covid homeschool experience. 
As required by Outschool regarding I have significant expertise in conflict resolution and mediation. I have received mediation training as part of my legal degree and receive continuing education training in both mediation and conflict resolution to retain my legal licensure. I have participated in several mediation and alternative dispute resolution proceedings. I have provided training in conflict resolution and de-escalation at the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center. In 2020 I co-taught a class on mediation at the Univerity of Maryland, School of Social Work.  

After the first few classes, students will be asked to research news articles related to the that week's topic. The class will focus on multiple perspectives, consequently, multiple news sources from varying perspectives may be used, to include major news media sources (e.g. CNN, Fox, MSNBC, the Hill). 

The instructor will use source material, such as judicial decisions and legislative reports.