Michael Higdon
Director of Legal Writing and Associate Professor of Law
Name: Michael Higdon
Education background: B.A., Erskine College; M.A., J.D., University of Nevada, Las Vegas Specialty: Family Law; Sexuality, Gender and the Law; and Legal Writing
Coming to UT: Professor Michael Higdon was attracted to the solid reputation of the University of Tennessee College of Law when he traveled cross-country to join the UT faculty in 2009.
“This is a great law school,” said the South Carolina native who had spent the previous five years on the faculty of the University of Nevada, Boyd School of Law. “The strong academic programs were hard to overlook, and the collegial atmosphere here is fantastic—everyone seems to get along well with everyone else.”
Foundations: Higdon graduated first in his UNLV law school class and received the James E. Rogers Award for Outstanding Academic Achievement. While in law school, he served as editor-in-chief of the Nevada Law Journal. He went on to clerk for Judge Procter Hug, Jr., on the U.S. Court of the Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.
Legal Writing: Higdon has been published in several journals, including the U.C. Davis Law Review, the Wake Forest Law Review, and the Kansas Law Journal. He also serves as member of the national Board of Directors for the Legal Writing Institute.
“I have been impressed with the emphasis UT places on legal writing,” Higdon said. “We emphasize teaching skills that students actually need to practice law.”