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Carl W. Tobias

Williams Professor of Law

Office: Room 319
Tel. (804) 287-6440
Fax (804) 289-8683
ctobias@richmond.edu

Courses Taught: Torts; Products Liability; Constitutional Law

Education

LL.B., University of Virginia (1972)

B.A., Duke University (1968)

Professional Experience

University of Richmond School of Law, Richmond, VA
Williams Professor of Law, (2004-Present);
Visiting Williams Professor of Law (2003-04)

William S. Boyd School of Law, University of Nevada, Las Vegas (1998-2004)
Beckley Singleton Professor of Law (2003-04)

University of Montana School of Law (1975-1998)
Professor of Law

Hunton and Williams, Richmond, VA (1972-1975)
General Civil Litigation and General Environmental Work, Richmond, Virginia

Professional Affiliations and Service Activities

Member, American Law Institute (1994-present)

Member, Civil Justice Reform Act Advisory Group, United States District Court for the District of Montana (1994-present)

Reporter, National Conference on Appellate Justice (2005)

Legal Consultant, ABA Commission on the Twenty-First Century Judiciary (2002-2003)

Member, Study Committee to Review the Nevada Rules of Civil Procedure (1999-2003)

Member, District Court Local Rules Review Committee, Ninth Circuit Judicial Council (1994-1997)

Reporter, Carnegie Commission on Science, Technology and Government, Task Force on Science and Technology in Judicial and Regulatory Decision Making, Data Collection Discussion Group (1992)

Legal Consultant, Administrative Conference of the United States (1990-1995)

Montana Natural Resources Clinic (Environmental Law Clinic under National Wildlife Federation auspices) (1980-1982)
Director

Office of General Counsel, U.S. Food and Drug Administration (1976-1982 - Summers)
Legal Consultant

Counsel, U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee, Subcommittee on Separation of Powers, 1975.

Counsel, Virginia Wetlands Study Commission and Virginia Senate Agriculture, Conservation and Natural Resources Committee, 1971 to 1972.

Publications

Journal Articles

Reassessing Charitable Immunity in Virginia, 40 U. Rich. L. Rev. 1733 (2006).

Fourth Circuit Publication Practices, 62 Wash. & Lee L. Rev. No. 4 (Dec. 2005).

The Federal Appellate Court Appointments Conundrum, 2005 Utah L. Rev. 743

Doing Right By Charles Alan Wright, 37 U.C. Davis L. Rev. 1351 (2004).

More Proposals to Simplify Modern Federal Procedure, 38 Ga. L. Rev. 1323 (2004).

From a Cattle Ranch to the Supreme Court, 35 Ariz. St. L. J. 1385 (2004).

Justice Byron White and the Importance of Process, 30 Hastings Const. L. Q. 297 (2003).

Unmasking Federalism, 88 Cornell L. Rev. 1833 (2003).

Detentions, Military Commissions, Terrorism and Domestic Case Precedent, 76 S. Cal. L. Rev. 1371 (2003).

Quirin Revisited, 2003 Wis. L. Rev. 309 (with Bryant).

Sixth Circuit Federal Judicial Selection, 36 U.C. Davis L. Rev. 721 (2003).

Federal Judicial Selection in the Fourth Circuit, 80 N.C. L. Rev. 2001 (2002).

Local Federal Civil Procedure for the Twenty-First Century, 77 Notre Dame L. Rev. 533 (2002).

Civil Rights in the Cold War, 82 B. U. L. Rev. 749 (2002).

Anastasoff, Unpublished Opinions and Federal Appellate Justice, 25 Harv. J. L. & Pub. Pol'y 1171 (2002).

A Civil Discovery Dilemma for the Arizona Supreme Court, 34 Ariz. St. L. J. 615 (2002).

Youngstown Revisited, 29 Hastings Const. L. Q. 373 (2002) (with Bryant).

Dear Chief Judge Schroeder, 13 Stan. L. & Pol'y Rev. 161 (2002).

A Divisional Arrangement for the Federal Appeals Courts, 43 Ariz. L. Rev. 633 (2001).

The 2000 Federal Civil Rules Revisions, 38 San Diego L. Rev. 875 (2001).

The White Commission and the Federal Circuit, 10 Cornell J. L. & Pub. Pol'y 45 (2001).

Judicial Selection at the Clinton Administration's End, 19 Law & Ineq. J. 159 (2001).

A Preferable Approach for the Ninth Circuit, 88 Cal. L. Rev. 1657 (2000) (with Hug).

The Next Step for the Ninth Circuit, 73 S. Cal. L. Rev. 1407 (2000).

A Federal Appellate System for the Twenty-First Century, 74 Wash. L. Rev. 275 (1999).

Fin-de-Siècle Federal Civil Procedure, 51 Fla. L. Rev. 641 (1999). L

Leaving A Legacy on the Federal Courts, 53 U. Miami L. Rev. 315 (1999).

Charlotte and the American Dilemma, 48 Kan. L. Rev. 139 (1999).

Civil Justice Reform Sunset, 1998 U. Ill. L. Rev. 547.

Federal Judicial Selection in a Time of Divided Government, 47 Emory L. J. 527 (1998).

Dear Justice White, 30 Ariz. St. L. J. 1127 (1998).

Reforming Common Sense Legal Reforms, 30 Conn. L. Rev. 537 (1998).

Fostering Balance on the Federal Courts, 47 Am. U.L. Rev. 935 (1998).

Suggestions for Studying the Federal Appellate System, 49 Fla. L. Rev. 189 (1997).

Some Realism About Federal Procedural Reform, 49 Fla. L. Rev. 49 (1997).

Some Cautions About Structural Overhaul of the Federal Courts, 51 U. Miami L. Rev. 389 (1997).

Why Congress Should Not Split the Ninth Circuit, 50 SMU L. Rev. 583 (1997).

Choosing Federal Judges in the Second Clinton Administration, 24 Hastings Const. L. Q. 741 (1997).

The Judicial Vacancy Conundrum in the Ninth Circuit, 63 Brook. L. Rev. 1283 (1997).

The New Certiorari and a National Study of the Appeals Courts, 81 Cornell L. Rev. 1264 (1996).

Public School Desegregation in Virginia During the Post-Brown Decade, 37 Wm. & Mary L. Rev. 1261 (1996).

Filling the Federal Courts in an Election Year, 49 SMU L. Rev. 309 (1996).

State of the Art in Montana Products Liability Law, 57 Mont. L. Rev. 493 (1996).

A Sixth Circuit Story, 23 Fla. St. U. L. Rev. 983 (1996).

Intentional Infliction of Mental Distress in Montana, 57 Mont. L. Rev. 99 (1996).

Manuscript Selection Anti-Manifesto, 80 Cornell L. Rev. 529 (1995).

Stuck Inside the Heartland With Those Coastline Clerking Blues Again, 1995 Wis. L. Rev. 919.

Common Sense and Other Legal Reforms, 48 Vand. L. Rev. 699 (1995).

The Impoverished Idea of Circuit-Splitting, 44 Emory L. J. 1357 (1995).

More Modern Civil Process, 56 U. Pitt. L. Rev. 801 (1995).

Extending the Civil Justice Reform Act of 1990, 64 U. Cin. L. Rev. 105 (1995).

Increasing Balance on the Federal Bench, 32 Hous. L. Rev. 137 (1995).

Automatic Disclosure and Disuniformity in the Ninth Circuit, 41 Wayne L. Rev. 1385 (1995).

Re-evaluating Federal Civil Justice Reform in Montana, 56 Mont. L. Rev. 307 (1995).

Improving the 1988 and 1990 Judicial Improvements Acts, 46 Stan. L. Rev. 1589 (1994).

The 1993 Revision of Federal Rule 11, 70 Ind. L. J. 171 (1994).

Recalibrating the Civil Justice Reform Act, 30 Harv. J. on Legis. 115 (1993).

Civil Justice Reform in the Fourth Circuit, 50 Wash. & Lee L. Rev. 89 (1993).

Executive Branch Civil Justice Reform, 42 Am. U. L. Rev. 1521 (1993).

Rethinking Federal Judicial Selection, 1993 B.Y.U. L. Rev. 1257.

Untenable, Unchristian and Unconstitutional, 58 Mo. L. Rev. 855 (1993).

The D.C. Circuit as a National Court, 48 U. Miami L. Rev. 159 (1993).

Civil Justice Reform in the Western District of Missouri, 58 Mo. L. Rev. 335 (1993).

Closing the Gender Gap on the Federal Courts, 61 U. Cin. L. Rev. 1237 (1993).

Silver Linings in Federal Civil Justice Reform, 59 Brook. L. Rev. 857 (1993)

Civil Rights Plaintiffs and the Proposed Revision of Rule 11, 77 Iowa L. Rev. 1775 (1992).

Environmental Litigation and Rule 11, 33 Wm. & Mary L. Rev. 429 (1992).

Civil Justice Reform and the Balkanization of Federal Civil Procedure, 24 Ariz. St. L. J. 1393 (1992).

Standing to Intervene, 1991 Wis. L. Rev. 415.

More Women Named Federal Judges, 43 Fla. L. Rev. 477 (1991).

Judicial Discretion and the 1983 Amendments to the Federal Civil Rules, 43 Rutgers L. Rev. 933 (1991).

Rule 11 Recalibrated in Civil Rights Cases, 36 Vill. L. Rev. 105 (1991).

Federal Court Procedural Reform In Montana, 52 Mont. L. Rev. 433 (1991).

Recent Work of the Civil Rules Committee, 52 Mont. L. Rev. 307 (1991) (with Sanner).

Engendering Law Faculties, 44 U. Miami L. Rev. 1143 (1990).

Reviving Participant Compensation, 22 Conn. L. Rev. 505 (1990).

Intervention After Webster, 38 Kan. L. Rev. 731 (1990).

The Gender Gap on the Federal Bench, 19 Hofstra L. Rev. 171 (1990).

An Independent Public Law, 4 Admin. L. J. Am. U. 143 (1990).

Reassessing Rule 11 and Civil Rights Cases, 33 How. L. J. 161 (1990).

Public Law Litigation and the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, 74 Cornell L. Rev. 270 (1989).

Interspousal Tort Immunity in America, 23 Ga. L. Rev. 359 (1989).

Rule 11 and Civil Rights Litigation, 37 Buff. L. Rev. 485 (1988-89).

Gender Issues and the Prosser, Wade and Schwartz Torts Casebook (Women's Law Forum), 18 Golden Gate U. L. Rev. 495 (1988).

Rule 19 and the Public Rights Exception to Party Joinder, 65 N.C. L. Rev. 745 (1987).

Great Expectations and Mismatched Compensation: Government Sponsored Public Participation in Proceedings of the Consumer Product Safety Commission, 64 Wash. U. L. Q. 1101 (1986).

Interspousal Tort Immunity in Montana, 47 Mont. L. Rev. 23 (1986).

Of Public Funds and Public Participation: Resolving the Issue of Agency Authority to Reimburse Public Participants in Administrative Proceedings, 82 Colum. L. Rev. 906 (1982).

Of Crabbed Interpretations and Frustrated Mandates: The Effect of Environmental Policy Acts on Pre-existing Agency Authority, 41 Mont. L. Rev. 177 (1980) (with McLean).

A Framework for Analysis of Products Liability in Montana, 38 Mont. L. Rev. 221 (1977) (with Rossbach).

Law Review Essays, Commentaries, Book Reviews, etc.

Reconciling Pinstripes and Pearls, 14 Cornell J. L. & Pub. Pol’y No. 471 (2005) (with Sanner).

Health Courts: Panacea or Palliative?,  40 U. Rich. L. Rev 49 (2005).

Appellate Court Appointments in the Second Bush Administration, 39 U. Rich. L. Rev 949 (2005).

Western Sovereignty for the Twenty-First Century, 34 Envtl. L. 819 (2004).

Punishment and the War on Terrorism, 6 U. Pa. Const. L. J. 1116 (2004).

Brown and the Desegregation of Virginia Law Schools,39 U. Rich. L. Rev. 39 (2004).

The Color Line in the Cold War, 26 Human Rights Quarterly 785 (2004).

Brown’s Legacy at Fifty, 78 Tul. L. Rev. 2321 (2004).

The Founding Fish Founders, 31 Ecology L. Q. 205 (2004).

Rule 11 and Rule Revision, 37 Loy. L.A. L. Rev. 573 (2004) (with Sanner).

Procedured Provisions in Nevada Medical Malpractice Reform, 3 Nev. L. J. 406 (2003).

The Past and Future of the Federal Rules in State Courts, 3 Nev. L. J. 400 (2003).

The Expiration of the Civil Justice Reform Act of 1990, 59 Wash. & Lee L. Rev. 541 (2002).

Modern Tort Law Demystified, 3 Nev. L. J. 188 (2002).

Dear President Bush, 67 Mo. L. Rev. 1 (2002).

Judge Procter Hug, Jr. and Good Judgment, 3 Nev. L. J. 29 (2002).

A Note on the Neutral Assignment of Federal Appellate Judges, 39 San Diego L. Rev. 151 (2002).

Intentional Infliction of Mental Distress in Nevada, 2 Nev. L. J. 59 (2002).

Charles Alan Wright and the Fragmentation of Federal Practice and Procedure, 19 Yale L. & Pol'y Rev. 463 (2001).

A Modest Reform for Federal Procedural Rulemaking, 64 Law & Contemp. Probs. 283 (Spring/Summer 2001).

The Bush Administration and Appeals Court Nominees, 10 Wm. & Mary Bill Rts. J. 103 (2001).

Court Whittles Away at Plaintiffs' Recovery of Attorneys Fees, A.B.A.J., Sept. 2001, at 39 (with Sanner).

Rethinking Intervention in Environmental Litigation, 78 Wash. U. L. Q. 313 (2000).

Discovery Reform Redux, 31 Conn. L. Rev. 1433 (1999).

Modern Federal Judicial Selection, 67 U. Cin. L. Rev. 527 (1999).

A Split By Any Other Name, 15 J. of L. & Pol. 397 (1999) (with Hug).

The Imminent Demise of Interspousal Tort Immunity, 60 Mont. L. Rev.101 (1999).

Local Procedural Review in the Eighth Circuit, 1 J. App. Prac. & Proc. 101 (1999).

Did the Civil Justice Reform Act of 1990 Actually Expire?, 31 U. Mich. J.L. Ref. 887 (1998).

Natural Resources and the Ninth Circuit Split, 28 Envtl. L. 411 (1998).

Nearing the End of Federal Civil Justice Reform in Montana, 59 Mont. L. Rev. 95 (1998).

The Judicial Conference Report and the Conclusion of Federal Civil Justice Reform, 175 F.R.D. 351 (1998).

Dear President Clinton, 19 Women's Rts. L. Rep. 37 (1997).

Magistrate Judges in the Montana Federal District, 174 F.R.D. 514 (1997).

Contemplating the End of Federal Civil Justice Reform in Montana, 58 Mont. L. Rev. 281 (1997).

The Proposal to Split the Ninth Circuit, 20 Harv. Envtl. L. Rev. 547 (1996).

Warren Burger and the Administration of Justice, 41 Vill. L. Rev. 505 (1996).

An Analysis of Federal Appellate Court Study Commissions, 74 Denver U. L. Rev. 65 (1996).

A Proposal to Study the Federal Appellate System, 167 F.R.D. 275 (1996).

Ongoing Federal Civil Justice Reform in Montana, 57 Mont. L. Rev. 511 (1996).

Foreword: The Proposal to Split the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, 57 Mont. L. Rev. 241 (1996).

The Civil Justice Reform Act Amendment Act of 1995, 164 F.R.D. 577 (1996) (with Sanner).

Continuing Federal Civil Justice Reform in Montana, 57 Mont. L. Rev. 143 (1996).

Judge William Schwarzer and Automatic Disclosure, 28 U.C. Davis L. Rev. 1123 (1995).

Participant Compensation in the Clinton Administration, 27 Conn. L. Rev. 563 (1995).

A Salute to Judge William Schwarzer, 46 Hastings L. J. 675 (1995).

Northern Rockies Report on 1994 Natural Resources Legislation, 35 Nat. Resources J. 185 (1995).

Refining Federal Civil Justice Reform in Montana, 56 Mont. L. Rev. 539 (1995).

An Update on the 1993 Federal Rules Amendments and the Montana Civil Rules, 56 Mont. L. Rev. 547 (1995).

Why Congress Should Reject Revision of Rule 11, 160 F.R.D. 275 (1995).

Losing the Littoral Zone, 22 B.C. Envtl. Aff. L. Rev. 693 (1995).

The Judicial Amendments Act of 1994, 159 F.R.D. 649 (1995) (with Sanner).

Re-evaluating Federal Civil Justice Reform in Montana, 56 Mont. L. Rev. 307 (1995).

Studying Montana State Civil Justice Reform, 56 Mont. L. Rev. 319 (1995).

Dear Judge Mikva, 1994 Wis. L. Rev. 1579.

A Progress Report on Automatic Disclosure in the Federal Districts, 155 F.R.D. 229 (1994).

Evaluating Federal Civil Justice Reform in Montana, 55 Mont. L. Rev. 449 (1994).

The 1993 Federal Rules Amendments and the Montana Civil Rules, 55 Mont. L. Rev. 415 (1994).

Recent Federal Civil Justice Reform in Montana, 55 Mont. L. Rev. 235 (1994).

In Defense of Experimentation With Automatic Disclosure, 27 Ga. L. Rev. 665 (1993).

Finding the New Federal Civil Procedures, 151 F.R.D. 177 (1993).

Professor Tobias is also the author of numerous tributes and shorter book reviews in various law journals. Moreover, he has written many commentaries, op-ed pieces, and letters to the editor for news publications including the Economist, New York Times, L.A. Times, Washington Post, National Law Journal, Christian Science Monitor, Washington Times, Legal Times, Chicago Tribune, San Francisco Chronicler, San Francisco Examiner, Providence Journal, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Salt Lake Tribune, Philadelphia Inquirer, San Diego Union-Tribune, Seattle Times, FindLaw, Roll Call, and Baltimore Sun.

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