Education

Teaching

• Legal Skills
• Field Experience

Research

Research interests

• Legal Skills
• Legal Education, Methodology, and Theory
• Advocacy and Dispute Resolution
• Professional Responsibility
• Employment Discrimination

Professional background

John Towers Rice joined the UMass Law faculty in 2019. He researches and presents on issues relating to legal skills, advocacy and dispute resolution, civil procedure, professional responsibility, and employment discrimination. He chaired the Tennessee Bar Association’s study on the adoption and implementation of the Uniform Bar Examination and currently serves as a member of the American Bar Association’s taskforce on law student debt and finance.

A native of Greenville, South Carolina, Professor Rice graduated from Clemson University in 2008, and then earned his law degree with a concentration in advocacy and dispute resolution from the University of Tennessee at Knoxville College of Law in 2012. During law school, Professor Rice competed on the Dean Jerome Price Evidence Moot Court Team and was one of ten law graduates nominated to the Order of the Barristers. The College of Law faculty recognized him with the ALI-ABA Scholarship and Leadership Award.

Prior to joining UMass Law, Professor Rice taught in the legal skills program at the University of Tennessee College of Law. He also served as a law clerk for the Supreme Court of Tennessee and was in private practice where he focused on professional liability defense, commercial and business disputes, probate and fiduciary litigation, workplace investigations, and appellate practice. He is a member of the American Bar Association and a Fellow of the American Bar Foundation. He is admitted to the Tennessee and South Carolina Bars, as well as the bars for the United States District Courts for the Eastern and Middle Districts of Tennessee and the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit.

Additional links

• Schedule a Zoom Appointment with Prof. Rice

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