Ronald Rotunda facts for kids

Ronald D. Rotunda (February 14, 1945 – March 14, 2018) was an American legal scholar and professor of law at Chapman University School of Law. Rotunda's first area of primary expertise is United States Constitutional law, and is the author of an influential 6-volume legal treatise on Constitutional Law.

Career highlights

In 1963, when Rotunda was 18 years old, he received a scholarship to attend Harvard University.

Professor Rotunda later received a J.D. from Harvard Law School.

In 1966, shortly after his conviction, Albert DeSalvo, the Boston Serial Killer, was one of Rotunda's students in a law course for prisoners. In an article about this experience Rotunda described DeSalvo as charming, helpful and well-groomed, in contrast to every other student at the prison.

Rotunda was Albert E. Jenner Jr. Professor of Law at the University of Illinois College of Law. He was employed there for twenty-five years. He served as an advisor to Ken Starr during Starr's tenure as special prosecutor during the Clinton Administration. Previously, he had served on the investigative team during the Watergate scandal.

His other area of primary expertise is Legal Ethics, often called Professional Responsibility. He has also published an influential treatise on Legal Ethics, co-published by West-Thomson Reuters, ABA. He was also a senior fellow, in 2000, at the Cato Institute in Washington, D.C.

Personal life

Rotunda married Marcia Mainland in February 1969. She was formerly an attorney in the office of University Counsel during his time at Illinois.

He was married to Kyndra Rotunda (and divorced in 2014). The Rotundas were on faculty at George Mason University School of Law until departing in 2008 for Chapman University.

Death and legacy

Professor Rotunda died on March 14, 2018. Chapman University Law School will name a chair in his honor.