Professor Sandra Simpson joined the Gonzaga University School of Law faculty in 2007 as an Assistant Professor of Legal Research and Writing. She was promoted to Associate Professor in 2012 and to Professor of Law in 2020. Throughout her career, Prof...
M.I.T., Whitworth College
J.D., University of Iowa
B.A., University of Wisconsin at Oshkosh
Legal Research & Writing
Real Estate Transactions
Civil Procedure
Professional Responsibility
Professor Sandra Simpson joined the Gonzaga University School of Law faculty in 2007 as an Assistant Professor of Legal Research and Writing. She was promoted to Associate Professor in 2012 and to Professor of Law in 2020. Throughout her career, Professor Simpson has combined a passion for teaching, innovation, and student success with leadership in legal education.
Professor Simpson currently serves as Director of Experiential Learning and Institutional Assessment, where she oversees Gonzaga Law's experiential programs, institutional assessment initiatives, and curriculum development. She also coordinates the first-year Legal Research and Writing curriculum, working with faculty to strengthen learning outcomes, assessment practices, and curricular consistency while ensuring alignment with ABA Standards and Gonzaga's programmatic learning outcomes.
A recognized leader in legal education, Professor Simpson served as Associate Dean for Academic Affairs from 2013 to 2017 before returning to full-time teaching. She has long been involved with the Institute for Law Teaching and Learning and has presented nationally on topics including assessment, rubric design, experiential education, faculty development, and measuring student learning. She currently serves as Chair of the American Bar Association's Outcomes and Assessments Committee and regularly conducts workshops for law schools across the country on assessment and curricular design.
Professor Simpson's recent scholarship focuses on legal education, institutional assessment, access to legal education, and student success. Her recent publications include Law Students Left Behind: Law School's Role in Remedying the Devastating Effects of Federal Education Policy (107 Minnesota Law Review 106 (2023)) and The Ultimate Logic Question: Why Continue to Use the LSAT When the Test Harms Diversity? (90 Tennessee Law Review 109 (2024)). She is currently writing on learning science and legal education, including the use of music as a tool to improve learning, memory, and classroom engagement in Civil Procedure.
Before joining Gonzaga, Professor Simpson taught for three years at Whitworth University. Prior to entering academia, she practiced law in both Iowa and Washington, including five years as an employment defense litigator and real estate lawyer.
When she isn't teaching, writing, or developing new ideas for legal education, Professor Simpson is usually in the gym, on a trail, or in the mountains. She enjoys strength training, running, hiking, swimming, mountain biking, and skiing throughout the Pacific Northwest. She and her husband have been married for more than three decades and enjoy spending time with their two adult children and their partners. Raised in Green Bay, Wisconsin, she remains a devoted—and unapologetic—Green Bay Packers fan, and her Packer jersey still makes regular appearances around the law school.
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