Michael Cecil is an Assistant Professor of Law who teaches in the areas of Constitutional Law, Federal Courts, Legislation, Legal Theory, and Property. Before joining the Gonzaga Law Faculty, he was a Visiting Assistant Professor and CLEC Scholar at Gonzaga Law.
His research focuses on jurisprudence, specifically the role of legal principles in a constitutional system; constitutional theory, specifically the role of federal courts in shaping common law in the arena of human rights; and structural inequality, specifically the manner in which public legal regimes entrench liberty and opportunity for disparate segments of society.
Prior to teaching, Professor Cecil worked as a legislative counsel in the New York State Senate, where he was responsible for writing legislation and providing legal advice in a wide portfolio of areas. He has also worked as a public interest attorney in the District of Columbia and New York, practicing in immigration law, landlord-tenant law, family law, and probate.
Professor Cecil has worked at the U.S. Senate, Senate Finance Committee, Office of the Ranking Member, the South African Human Rights Commission in Johannesburg, South Africa, the Bankruptcy Court for the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.
Prior to becoming a lawyer, Professor Cecil worked on political campaigns at the local, state, and federal levels. Aside from his scholarly interests in law, Professor Cecil is passionate about creative writing. He has written three screenplays, including an original TV pilot for a historical drama set in the Reconstruction Era, and is currently pitching the manuscript for his first novel.
Law as Integrity and the Alien Tort Statute, Harvard Human Rights Journal, Vol. 38 __ (2025) (forthcoming).
Structural Guarantees: How the Constitution Combats Unequal Distributions of Liberty and Opportunity in the State, 55 New Mexico Law Review ___ (2025) (forthcoming).
