Former Sotomayor Clerk To Speak At TU

A former clerk to new U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor will recount his experiences with the justice and discuss the upcoming court session in an October lecture.

An associate professor of law at The University of Tulsa College of Law, Dr. Robert Spoo's speech is entitled, "The Newest of the Nine: The Honorable Justice Sonia Sotomayor."

The lecture is at 6 p.m. Oct. 5, the first day of the new U.S. Supreme Court session. It will be held in the Price & Turpin Courtroom in John Rogers Hall, 3120 e. 4th St. This is the second installment of the law school's Faculty and Alumni Showcase Series.

After receiving his J.D. from Yale Law School, Spoo clerked for Sotomayor at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit during 2001-2002.

“Working with Justice Sotomayor was a great experience,” Spoo said. “She takes the law very seriously and demands excellence from those working with her and arguing before her. She is also extremely accessible and eager to help others learn.”

Spoo joined the TU College of Law faculty in 2008. His legal scholarship has appeared or is forthcoming in the Yale Law Journal, the UCLA Law Review, and other publications. Spoo is a member of the Modernist Studies Association Task Force on Fair Use, serves as copyright advisor to numerous academic journals and projects, and acts as general counsel for the International James Joyce Foundation.

 Prior to his legal career, Spoo received his M.A. and Ph.D. in English from Princeton University and taught for more than ten years as a tenured faculty member in the English Department at The University of Tulsa. He was editor of the James Joyce Quarterly and has published numerous books and articles on James Joyce, Ezra Pound, and other modern literary figures.