Kimberly Kirkland
Professor of Law
Representative to the Board of Trustees
- BA, Williams College
- JD, Northeastern University School of Law
- kkirkland@piercelaw.edu
- (603) 513-5102
- Courses: Civil Procedure, Employment Law, Ethics Morals and the Law, Professional Responsibility and the Legal Profession
- Committees: (chair) Curriculum, Faculty Liason to the Board of Trustees
- Scholarship
Professor Kirkland teaches a variety of courses including Civil Procedure, Employment Law, Ethics, Morals and the Law and Professional Responsibility and the Legal Profession.
About teaching, she says: “My job is to help students develop and gain confidence in their lawyering skills and judgment. I love seeing students who were full of trepidation in my class on their first day of law school, leave here capable and excited about their futures as client counselors, advocates and professionals.”
Before coming to Pierce Law, Professor Kirkland spent ten years litigating civil disputes including: employment, commercial and professional liability cases. She also counseled corporate clients on employment issues. She practiced at Goulston & Storrs in Boston and Upton, Sanders & Smith in New Hampshire.
The primary focus of Professor Kirkland's research is the legal profession lawyers' ethics in practice. She is the author of Ethical Infrastructures and Defacto Ethical Norms at Work in Large U.S. Law Firms, 11 Legal Ethics 181 (2008). Confessions of a Whistleblower: A Law Professor’s Reflections on the Experience of Reporting a Colleague, 20 Geo. J. Legal Ethics 1105 (2007) and Ethics in Large Law Firms: the Principle of Pragmatism, 35 U. Memphis Law Rev. 631 (2005). Professor Kirkland continues to speak about her research at conferences nationally and internationally.
Upcoming and recent presentations
On August 20, 2009, Professor Kirkland was interviewed on the Socrates Exchange on New Hampshire Public Radio. listen to it now>>
On May 30, 2009, Professor Kirkland presented a paper titled The Moral Consciousness of Large Firm Ethics Counsel at the Annual Meeting of the Law and Society Association.
On July 16, 2008, Professor Kirkland presented a paper titled “Designed and De Facto Implementation of Ethical Norms in Large Law Firms” at the Third International Legal Ethics Conference in Gold Coast, Queensland Australia.
Professor Kirkland was elected “Teacher of the Year” by the student body in 2002.
Scholarship
Ethics in Large Law Firms: The Principle of Pragmatism, 35 U. Memphis Law Rev. 631 (2005)
