John T. Nockleby

John T. Nockleby, Professor of Law, Susan Gurley Daniels Chair in Civil Advocacy, Director, Civil Justice Program & Journalist Law School

Professor of Law
Susan Gurley Daniels Chair in Civil Advocacy
Director, Civil Justice Program

Courses Taught

  • Technology and Privacy
  • Torts
  • Remedies
  • First Amendment Survey

Links:

Education

  • BA, with highest honors, University of Montana
  • JD, Harvard Law School 

Background

Professor John Nockleby currently directs the Civil Justice Program at Loyola, and was the Founding Director of the Journalist Law School, a boot camp in law for professional journalists who cover the legal system.

A graduate of Harvard Law School, Nockleby served as an editor of the Harvard Law Review. He subsequently clerked for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. He then practiced as a civil rights lawyer in North Carolina, where, under the tutelage of famed civil rights lawyer, Julius Chambers, he argued numerous cases in the trial and appellate courts, actively participated in three U.S. Supreme Court cases (all 3-0), and served as a cooperating attorney with the NAACP Legal Defense Fund.

After joining the Loyola faculty, Nockleby served for several years as a Visiting Professor at Harvard Law School, Northeastern University School of Law, and the Southwest Institute of Law and Political Science in Chongqing, China.

Nockleby’s research interests lie in supporting access to justice in the courts, particularly for underrepresented populations; the impact of new technologies upon privacy; the First Amendment and torts. In the infancy of distance learning, the Berkman Center at Harvard Law School published his online courses on privacy which were taught to thousands of participants around the globe. Other publications include essays on the First Amendment, the civil jury and the civil justice system, the politics of tort retrenchment, and privacy.  He has taught from his own torts textbook for several years, and is lead author of The Journalist’s Guide to American Law (Routledge, 2012; paperback ed. 2014). The latter volume grew out of the development of the Journalist Law School, and reflects Loyola’s and its faculty’s continuing commitment to fostering public education concerning the justice system.

In 2005, the Consumer Attorneys of Los Angeles (CAALA) honored Nockleby with their Education Award. In 2010, the American Board of Trial Advocates (ABOTA) appointed Nockleby an Honorary Diplomate. He was named by Loyola’s graduating day class with the 2017 Excellence in Teaching award. That same year he received the Loyola Law School Alumni Association Board of Governors Recognition Award.

In 2023, Nockleby was reappointed by the Conference of Chief Justices and the Conference of State Court Administrators to a second 3 year term on the Board of Directors of the National Center for State Courts, where he serves on the Executive Committee. In 2024 SciencesPo Faculty (Paris) appointed him Senior Visiting Fellow.

Public Service

Selected Scholarship