Michelle Ghetti

Professor Michelle Ward Ghetti is currently in Washington, DC serving as a Supreme Court Fellow assigned to the Administrative Office of the United States Courts. She is on a sabbatical from Southern University Law Center where she is the LOCHE Endowed Professor of Law. Professor Ghetti has taught for 21 years, including courses in Evidence, Criminal Law, Criminal Procedure (police and trial, specializing in death penalty cases), Law & Religion, and Professional Responsibility – which she also just taught as an adjunct professor at American University’s Washington College of Law.

After finishing her senior year at Southern Methodist University Law Center, she graduated from Louisiana State University Law School at the top of her class and took a job in the Dallas office of Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer, and Feld where she practiced bankruptcy litigation. Eventually, she returned to Louisiana where she practiced commercial litigation for years before entering academia. She has received the preeminent AV designation from her peers through Martindale-Hubbell and was just recently selected for the Bar Register of Preeminent Women Lawyers.

Professor Ghetti has been a member of the Louisiana Law Institute’s Committee on Criminal Law and Evidence for over twenty years and was involved in the drafting and adoption of Louisiana’s Evidence Code. For over fifteen years she has annually taught Evidence and Procedure to the judges in Louisiana through the Louisiana Judicial College. She is a frequent speaker on numerous issues throughout the state.

Professor Ghetti consults with numerous groups regarding policy-making issues and has written, consulted on, or testified about numerous pieces of legislation for many years. She served on the Louisiana Indigent Defense Board and has written the Benchbook for Louisiana judges handling death penalty trials and, most recently, just completed the Best Practices Benchbook for all criminal trials. She also currently serves on the United States Commission on Civil Rights, Louisiana State Advisory Committee.