ASU Law recognizes Professor Bob Dauber for years of service

Bob Dauber, clinical professor of law and Brewer Professor of Trial Advocacy for the Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law at Arizona State University, is retiring after 30 years with ASU Law.

Dauber devoted most of his career to instructing and supervising students representing clients of ASU Law’s Civil Litigation Clinic. He also regularly taught courses in civil procedure, evidence, professionalism and dispute-resolution processes. Dauber helped establish the Lodestar Mediation Clinic, a course that offers students intensive skills training and practical experience in the mediation process. Dauber is a former director of the Mediation Clinic and the college’s Trial Advocacy Program. He also served as the interim director of the college’s Clinical Program. Before joining the clinical faculty in 1990, he practiced for seven years as a trial attorney with the Phoenix office of Winston & Strawn.

“Bob’s expertise in civil litigation and dispute resolution, combined with his many years of dedication to our students, have made a big impact for ASU Law,” Dean Douglas Sylvester said. “We will miss him at the law school and wish him wonderful days ahead in his retirement.”

Dauber has served on the boards of directors for Community Legal Services, the Arizona Dispute Resolution Association, the Homeless Legal Assistance Project and the Capital Representation Project, and on the ADR (Alternative Dispute Resolution) advisory board to the Supreme Court of Arizona. His research interests include court-connected mediation and other forms of dispute resolution, as well as the future of litigation.

In an earlier ASU Law article, Dauber’s provided some advice to students: “Enjoying life is more important than getting a good grade. Keep things in perspective. Your reputation and the relationships you build are so much more important than what your GPA was in law school.”

His teaching has made a lasting impact with many of his students and continues to resonate with alumni, including Ben Herbert, a 2010 ASU Law JD grad and an Intellectual Property Group partner with Kirkland & Ellis LLP. Herbert was recently part of the Kirkland & Ellis team that won a significant trade secret and copyright infringement case.

Herbert, who was a student of Dauber’s civil procedure and Civil Litigation Clinic coursework, wrote to Dauber after winning the case: “When good things happen, it is always important to reach out and let the people who helped you in the very beginning know that you have not forgotten. My 1L year was a long time ago, but I’ll never forget your class and the civil justice clinic two years later. I owe you a lot.”

Students interested in applying for ASU Law’s clinical programs can find out more here.