Leslie A. Shoebotham

Special Counsel

Professor Shoebotham graduated with honors from the University of Houston Law Center, where she served as Research Editor on the Houston Law Review and was inducted into the Order of the Coif.  Prior to law school, Professor Shoebotham graduated magna cum laude with a Bachelors of Science in Nursing from the University of Texas Medical Branch, and practiced as a critical care nurse.

Following law school, Professor Shoebotham’s law practice was primarily in the areas of toxic torts, products liability, medical malpractice, and insurance defense.  Professor Shoebotham graduated with honors from Tulane University with an LL.M. in Energy and Environmental Law.

After receiving her LL.M., Professor Shoebotham joined the Loyola University New Orleans College of Law faculty.  She teaches in the fields of criminal procedure, criminal law, and torts.

Professor Shoebotham is a nationally recognized expert on search and seizure issues under the Fourth Amendment.  Her scholarship has focused primarily on the scope of the Fourth Amendment, with particular emphasis on whether a canine drug-detection sniff is a “search” for Fourth Amendment purposes.  In addition to law review articles, Professor Shoebotham has filed Amici Curiae Briefs in the United States Supreme Court in cases involving canine sniffs.  Professor Shoebotham also blogs about pending Fourth Amendment cases and has written extensively on such topics as civil forfeiture and the search-incident-to-arrest exception to the Fourth Amendment’s warrant requirement.

In addition to scholarship, Professor Shoebotham is actively involved in mentoring the legal career of women law students, and is the faculty advisor to the Association of Women Law Students.

Professor Shoebotham is a past recipient of the Professor of the Year award from the Loyola Student Bar Association and in 2013 was named a Leader in Law by New Orleans CityBusiness Magazine.

Academic Position

• Loyola University New Orleans College of Law, New Orleans, Louisiana
• Victor H. Schiro Distinguished Professor of Law
• Teaching: Torts I & II, Constitutional Criminal Procedure, Criminal Law Seminar
• Other Courses Taught: Criminal Law, Environmental Law Seminar, Legal Procession, Civil Procedure I & II, Legal Research and Writing

Education

• Tulane University School of Law, New Orleans, Louisiana
  LL.M. (Master of Laws) with Distinction
  Energy and Environmental Law
• University of Houston Law Center, Houston, Texas
  Juris Doctorate, cum laude
  Member: Order of the Coif
  Member: Houston Law Review, Research Editor
  Member: Honor Court, Associate Chief Justice
  Member: Order of the Barons
• University of Texas Health Sciences Center, Houston Texas
  Certified Registered Nurse Anesthesia (C.R.N.A.) Program, attended
• University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, Texas
  Bachelor of Science in Nursing, magna cum laude
  Member: Sigma Theta Tau (National Nurses Honor Society)
  Other: Dean’s Lists, Tri-Beta (National Biology Honor Society)
  Nursing Prerequisite Courses, University of Texas

Published Works

• The Strife of Riley: The Search-Incident Consequences of Making an Easy Case Simple, 75 La. L. Rev. 29 (2014).
• Off the Fourth Amendment Leash?: Law Enforcement Incentives to Use Unreliable Drug-Detection Dogs, 14 Loy. J. Pub. Int. L. 251 (2013).
• Has the Fourth Amendment Gone to the Dogs?: Unreasonable Expansion of Canine Sniff Doctrine to Include Sniffs of the Home, 88 Or. L. Rev. 829 (2009).
• The (Inevitably Arbitrary) Placement of Bright Lines: Belton and its Progeny, 79 Tulane L. Rev. 365 (2004).
• The Erosion of Miranda: Stare Decisis Consequences, 48 Catholic Univ. L. Rev. 727 (1999).
• Protecting Juries From Themselves: Restricting the Admission of Expert Testimony in Toxic Tort Cases, 48 SMU L. Rev. 103 (1994).

Other Scholarly Works

• Brief of Amici Curiae Fourth Amendment Scholars in Support of Respondent, Florida v. Jardines, cert. granted 132 S. Ct. 995 (No. 11-564) (Jan. 6, 2012), 2012 WL 2641847.  Brief reprinted at 58 Loy. L. Rev. 1101 (2013).
• Brief of Amici Curiae Fourth Amendment Scholars in Support of Respondent, Florida v. Harris, cert. granted 132 S. Ct. 1796 (No. 11-817) (Mar. 26, 2012), 2012 WL 3864280.  Brief reprinted at 14 Loy. J. Pub. Int. L. 279 (2013).

Awards and Ratings

• AVVO Rating: 9.1 (Superb)
• Leader in Law, New Orleans CityBusiness Magazine, 2013
• Professor of the Year, Loyola Student Bar Association

Bar Admissions and Licenses

• United States Supreme Court
• Louisiana
• Texas (inactive)
• Registered Nurse, Texas (inactive)