Brooks Holland joined the faculty of Gonzaga University School of Law in 2006 after eleven years of practice as a public defender in the Bronx and Manhattan. Holland’s experience representing clients in New York, and his continuing experience practicing...
J.D., Boston University
B.A., Political Science, San Francisco State University
Criminal Law
Criminal Procedure
Advanced Criminal Procedure
Constitutional Law I
Professional Responsibility
Comparative Criminal Law
Trial Advocacy
Brooks Holland joined the faculty of Gonzaga University School of Law in 2006 after eleven years of practice as a public defender in the Bronx and Manhattan. Holland’s experience representing clients in New York, and his continuing experience practicing as a federal public defender, inspire his interest in working with future lawyers to prepare them for the rewards, rigors, and vital impact that a career in law can offer.
Holland teaches professional responsibility, criminal law, criminal procedure, advanced criminal procedure, and international criminal law, and also contributes to the Civil and Human Rights Advocacy Clinic. Holland additionally has taught comparative criminal law, trial advocacy, constitutional law, and perspectives on the law, and has deep interest in global legal education and human rights. In these courses and programs, Holland strives to ensure that students appreciate not only the critical doctrine, but also the opportunities lawyers have to build a fulfilling professional identity, to contribute to a more just legal system, and to impact the wellbeing of both individuals and community.
Holland’s scholarly agenda tracks these teaching goals by focusing on the intersections of professional responsibility, criminal law, human rights, and social justice. For example, Holland writes and speaks regularly on criminal law and procedure topics that implicate the professional roles of defense lawyers, prosecutors, and judges, and how these actors can challenge racism and other injustices in the legal system, both domestically and globally. Holland also writes about access to justice issues in both the criminal and civil arenas.
Holland believes that service is an important component of his responsibility as a legal educator. Holland proudly serves on the Board of Governors of the Society of American Law Teachers, the preeminent professional association of law teachers committed to social justice and diversity. Holland also serves on the Washington State Bar Association Committee on Professional Ethics, and previously has served as Chair of the Washington State Council on Public Defense, and served on the Washington State Bar Association committee that drafted the Rules of Professional Conduct for limited license legal technicians, the N.Y.C. Bar Association Criminal Law Committee, and the Board of Directors of the ACLU-WA. A favorite annual activity is service on screening committees for the A.B.A. Silver Gavel Award for Media and the Arts, the A.B.A.’s annual award program for media and arts that educate the public about law and legal systems.
In 2015, Holland assumed the position of the J. Donald and Va Lena Scarpelli Curran Professor of Legal Ethics and Professionalism. Grateful for this opportunity, Holland will continue to use his teaching, scholarship, advocacy, and service to support lawyers, law students, and other legal professionals in providing a just and ethical legal system for all persons.
LEARNING PROFESSIONAL RESPONSIBILITY: FROM THE CLASSROOM TO THE PRACTICE OF LAW (2nd ed. West 2018)
WASHINGTON LEGAL ETHICS DESKBOOK, The Ethics of Criminal Practice (2nd ed. WSBA 2019)
Anticipatory Self-Defense Claims as a Lens for Re-Examining Zealous Advocacy and Anti-Bias Disciplinary Norms, 49 TEXAS TECH. L. REV. 1 (2016)
Teaching Miranda at Its 50th Anniversary, 80 J. SOCIAL ED. 20 (2016)
The Two-Sided Speedy Trial Problem, 90 WASH. L. REV. ONLINE 31 (2015)
The Call for Lawyers Committed to Social Justice to Champion Accessible Legal Services through Innovative Legal Education, 16 NEV. L.J. 251 (2015) (with Olympia Duhart & George Critchlow)
Miranda v. Arizona: 50 Years of Judicial Regulation of Police Interrogation, 16 INSIGHTS ON LAW & SOCIETY 4 (2015)
Washington State’s Legal Technician Limited License Practice Rule: A National First in Access to Justice, 82 MISS. L.J. SUPRA 75 (2013)
Crawford and Beyond: How Far Have We Traveled from Roberts after All?, 20 J.L. & POL’Y 517 (2012)
Imagining the Open Road, 1 FLA. L. REV. F. 1 (2012)
Race and Ambivalent Criminal Procedure Remedies, 47 GONZ. L. REV. 341 (2012)
Racial Profiling and a Punitive Exclusionary Rule, 20 TEMP. POL. & CIV. RTS. L. REV. 29 (2010)
The Exclusionary Rule as Punishment, 36 RUTGERS L. REC. 38 (2009)
A Relational Sixth Amendment during Interrogation, 99 J. CRIM. L. & CRIMINOLOGY 381 (2009)
Confidentiality & Candor under the 2006 Washington Rules of Professional Conduct, 43 GONZAGA L. REV. 327 (2008)
The Road ‘Round Edmond: Steering through Primary Purposes and Crime Control Agendas, 111 PENN. ST. L. REV. 293 (2006)
Holistic Advocacy: An Important but Limited Institutional Role, 30 N.Y.U. REV. L. & SOC. CHANGE 637 (2006)
Testimonial Statements under Crawford: What Makes Testimony … Testimonial?, 71 BROOK. L. REV. 281 (2005)
Using Excited Utterances to Prosecute Domestic Violence in New York: The Door Opens Wide, or Just a Crack?, 8 CARDOZO WOMEN’S L.J. 171 (2002)
Safeguarding Equal Protection Rights: The Search for an Exclusionary Rule under the Equal Protection Clause, 37 AM. CRIM. L. REV. 1107 (2000)
Section 60.41 of the N.Y. Criminal Procedure Law: The Sexual Assault Reform Act of 1999 Challenges Molineux and Due Process, 27 FORDHAM URB. L.J. 435 (1999)
Federalism and Criminal Procedure Symmetry: May States Accept Non-Unanimous Criminal Jury Verdicts When Federal Courts Cannot?, __ Preview __ (2019)
When a Vehicle is a Home: Does a Burglary Qualify as a Violent Felony under the Armed Career Criminal Act if the Definition Includes Burglary of a Vehicle That Is Designed or Used for Overnight Accommodation?, 46 Preview 30 (2018)
Does the Federal Drug Forfeiture Statute Impose Joint-and-Several Liability Among Drug Conspiracy Members?, 44 Preview 202 (2017)
What Are the Double Jeopardy Consequences of an Acquittal on a Related Conviction That Is Vacated?, 44 PREVIEW 24 (2016)
When Is an Extortion Victim also a Partner in Crime? Defining the Scope of Hobbs Act Conspiratorial Liability, 43 PREVIEW 27 (2015)
One Fish, Two Fish … 72 Red Grouper Fish: Is a Fish Just a Fish or Is It also a “Tangible Object” under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act?, 42 PREVIEW 70 (2014)
Criminal Procedure in the October 2013 Term: Cell Phones and Some Other Stuff, 41 PREVIEW 321 (2014)
The Fourth Amendment in the October 2012 Term, 40 ABA SUP. CT. PREVIEW 336 (2013)
Does a Judge’s Participation in Plead Discussions Automatically Invalidate a Guilty Plea?, 40 ABA SUP. CT. PREVIEW 316 (2013)
Who Bears the Burden of Proof When a Defendant Charged with Conspiracy Produces Evidence That He or She Withdrew Outside the Statute of Limitations?, 40 ABA SUP. CT. PREVIEW 90 (2012)
Does the Fourth Amendment Permit a Jail to Strip Search All Inmates, Including Inmates Arrested for Minor Offenses?, 39 ABA SUP. CT. PREVIEW 19 (2011) (co-author with Michelle Trombley, Esq.)
The Armed Career Criminal Act & Revised State Drug Sentencing: It Depends on What “Is” Means, 38 ABA SUP. CT. PREVIEW 288 (2011)
Does the Federal Witness-Protection Murder Statute Require Proof That the Victim Would Have Communicated with a Federal Officer or Judge?, 38 ABA SUP. CT. PREVIEW 261 (2011) (cross-posted on SCOTUSblog)
Does the Speedy Trial Act Exclude from Its Trial Deadline the Time During Which a District Court Resolves Any Pretrial Motions, Even When the Motions Do not Delay Trial?, 38 ABA SUP. CT. PREVIEW 220 (2010) (cross-posted on SCOTUSblog)
When Are Defendants Exempt from a Minimum Consecutive Sentence under 18 U.S.C. § 924(c)?, 38 ABA SUP. CT. PREVIEW 24 (2010) (cross-posted on SCOTUSblog)
How the Court Retooled Miranda, NAT’L L.J. (July 14th, 2010)
May the State Require the Defense to Produce a Prosecution Witness for Cross-Examination?, 37 ABA SUP. CT. PREVIEW 165 (2010)
Do Prisoners Have a Constitutional Right to the State’s Biological Evidence?, 36 ABA SUP. CT. PREVIEW 302 (2009)
Review of the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2007 Criminal Term, NAT’L L.J. (Aug. 2008)
Review of the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2006 Criminal Term, NAT’L L.J. (Aug. 2007)
Review of the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2005 Criminal Term, NAT’L L.J. (Aug. 2006)
Thorton Recasts Vehicle Searches under Belton, N.Y. L.J. (Aug. 5th, 2004)
Renewed Questions about Pretext Stops and Racial Profiling, N.Y. L.J. (Sept. 15th, 2003)
Using Medical Hearsay Evidence to Prosecute Child Abuse, N.Y. L.J. (March 26th, 2003)
Grounds May Exist to Challenge Orders Suspending Speedy Trials in Aftermath of September Attack, 74 N.Y. ST. B.J. 34 (2002) (co-author with Hon. Paul G. Feinman)
Pretext Stops and Racial Targeting Claims after People v. Robinson, N.Y. DEF. ASSOC., DEF. PRACTICE REPT., at 11 (Sept.-Oct. 2002)
Has the High Court Bought Repeat Felons a Ticket to “Apprendi-Land?”, N.Y. L.J. (Sept. 16th, 2002)
Reviewing Issues of Domestic Violence Victims’ Privilege, N.Y. L.J. (May 20th, 2002)
Juror Investigations by the Prosecution in New York, N.Y. L.J. (Dec. 14th, 2000)
“Buy and Bust” Rulings Threaten Judicial Independence, N.Y. L.J. (June 12th, 2000)
Supreme Court Raises Strategic Issues for Defense, N.Y. L.J. (March 30th, 2000)
Defendants in Possession Cases Face a Standing Dilemma, N.Y. L.J. (June 30th, 1999)
High Court Improves Standing of Social Guests, N.Y. L.J. (Jan. 12th, 1999)
WASHINGTON LEGAL ETHICS DESKBOOK (WSBA 2nd ed.) (forthcoming)
Contributor, LEGAL ETHICS FORUM, Sept. 2012-present
The LLLT Program in Washington State Progresses with a Comprehensive RPC Proposal, AALS PROFESSIONAL RESPONSIBILITY NEWSLETTER (Fall 2014)
Commentary, Florence v. Board of Chosen Freeholders, SCOTUSBlog (Oct. 11th, 2011)
The Court Debates Intent Versus Reasonable Possibilities, SCOTUSblog (April 1st, 2011)
The Speedy Trial Act, Motion Time, and “Un-Cert-Worthy Questions”, SCOTUS blog (Feb 23rd, 2011)
The Supreme Court Narrows an Exception to Mandatory Firearm Sentences, SCOTUSblog (Nov. 17th, 2010)
Briscoe v. Virginia: A Post-Decision Interview, PREVIEW ONLINE (Feb. 2010)
Commentary, Davis v. WA & Hammon v. IN, SCOTUSblog (June 19th, 2006)
Guest contributor, PRAWFSBLAWG, Aug.-Sept. 2005; Jan., June & Oct. 2006; June 2007; Aug. 2008; March 2009; June 2010; July 2012
Contributing editor, CRIMPROF BLOG, 2008 to 2009
Sepultura as a Thrash Metal Guide to Social Justice and Zealous Advocacy