Liz Porter is an Associate Professor and Charles I. Stone Professor of Law. Her research, which has been published in top journals including the Columbia Law Review, the New York University Law Review, and the Cornell Law Review, focuses on civil litigation. In particular, Professor Porter's scholarship reveals and analyzes the newly emerging role that visual media play in litigation documents from pleadings to judicial opinions. Her procedural scholarship focuses on the Supreme Court's dual role as the promulgator and the interpreter of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. In addition to her written work, Professor Porter co-founded and continues to organize the Civil Procedure Workshop.
Professor Porter teaches Civil Procedure I, Civil Procedure II, Complex Litigation, Torts, and Federal Courts. In 2014, she received a University-wide Distinguished Teaching Award. Within the Law School, she has been recognized five times with a Philip A. Trautman Professor of the Year awardin 2011, 2012, 2014, 2015, and 2017. Her teaching emphasizes both theory and the development of practical skills, especially legal writing.
Professor Porter has a J.D. from Columbia Law School, where she was a James Kent Scholar, a Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar, and an Articles Editor for the Columbia Law Review. She also has a B.A. magna cum laude from Brown University, and an Ed.M. from the Harvard Graduate School of Education. Following law school, Professor Porter served as a law clerk for Judge Sidney R. Thomas at the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. During OT 2002, she was a law clerk for Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg at the United States Supreme Court. After her clerkships, she practiced commercial litigation at Jenner & Block LLP in Washington, D.C.