Matthew "Reid" Krell

Reid Krell, like many Washburn faculty, did not walk a traditional path to legal academia. After graduating from The George Washington University with a B.A. in International Affairs in 2004, he attended the University of Alabama School of Law, receiving his J.D. in 2009. After a year of national service in eastern Kentucky, coaching the moot court team at Arkansas State University, and practicing employment and family law as a solo practitioner in Memphis and northwest Mississippi, he returned to Tuscaloosa to obtain a Ph.D. in political science. While at Alabama, he was twice named a Graduate Council Fellow and clerked for the Hon. Hanan Melcer, Deputy President of the Supreme Court of Israel. Prior to joining the Washburn faculty, Professor Krell taught at the Faculty of Law of the University of the West Indies Cave Hill Campus and Vassar College.

Professor Krell’s research straddles the line between law and politics, between humanities and social science. He writes on the ways that rules-based systems shape and constrain the exercise of power, in courts and the administrative state. His research has appeared in The Journal of the Legal Profession, The George Mason Civil Rights Law Journal, Social Science Quarterly, The Journal of Public Affairs, and Elon Law Review. His current project is a book manuscript focused on how litigation development affects case outcomes.

In his personal life, Professor Krell is an avid gamer, both video and tabletop, rows, and serves the needs of the cats that live with him: Titus, Lavinia, and Albany.

Professor Krell's Justice Quote:

“Sometimes it’s better to light a flamethrower than curse the darkness.” – Sir Terry Pratchett

Professor Krell's Recommended Reading on Racial Justice:

• Racial Union: Law, Intimacy, and the White State in Alabama, 1865-1954 by Julie Novkov
• Hattiesburg: An American City in Black and White by William Sturkey
• The Blackwing War by K.B. Spangler