Thomas D. Rowe, Jr.
Elvin R. Latty Professor Emeritus of Law, 2008-2026
Professor of Law
B.A. 1964, Yale University; M.Phil. 1967, Oxford University; J.D. 1970, Harvard University. A native of Ann Arbor, Michigan, Professor Rowe was a Rhodes Scholar and commenced his professional career as a law clerk in the Supreme Court of the United States. He joined the Duke law faculty in 1975, served as associate dean from 1981 to 1984, was senior associate dean in 1995-1996, and retired in 2008. He also taught at Georgetown, Michigan, Virginia, UCLA, and Pepperdine, and on leaves from Duke had served with the U.S. Department of Justice in Washington, worked as an attorney with a private firm in Los Angeles, and been a visiting scholar at the RAND Corporation's Institute for Civil Justice. He wrote in the fields of civil procedure, complex litigation, judicial remedies, and constitutional law.
Books
- Civil Procedure (Foundation Press, 1st 2004, 2d ed. 2008, 3d ed. 2012, 4th ed. 2016, 5th ed. 2020, 6th ed. ) (with others)
- Gilbert Law Summaries: Civil Procedure (West Academic Publishing, 15th ed. 1995, 16th.ed. 2002, 17th ed. 2008, 18th ed. 2017, 19th ed. ) (13th ed. 1985 with Hazard & Carrington) (14th ed. 1989 with Carrington & Marcus) (15th ed. 1995, 16th.ed. 2002, 17th ed. 2008, 18th ed. 2017 with Marcus) (19th ed. 2022 with Marcus & Gensler)
- Constitutional Theory: Arguments and Perspectives (LexisNexis, 1st 1993, 2d ed. 2000, 3d ed. 2007, 4th ed. ) (with others)
- Federal Courts in the 21st Century: Cases and Materials (LexisNexis, 1st 1996, 2d ed. 2002, 3d ed. 2007, 4th ed. ) (with others)
- Significant Nonobvious Effects of the Abolition of the General Diversity Jurisdiction (Office for Improvements in the Administration of Justice, U.S. Department of Justice, )
Articles & Essays
- Reign of Error: District Courts Misreading the Supreme Court over Rooker–Feldman Analysis, 17 Legal Communication & Rhetoric: JALWD 1-14 () (with Edward L. Baskauskas)
- Neutralizing the Stratagem of "Snap Removal": A Proposed Amendment to the Judicial Code, 9 Federal Courts Law Review 103-110 () (with others)
- Exhuming the “Diversity Explanation” of the Eleventh Amendment, 65 Alabama Law Review 457-471 ()
- The Teaching of Procedure Across Common Law Systems: The United States, 51 Osgoode Hall Law Journal 1-12 ()
- The Twelve-Person Federal Civil Jury in Exile, 46 University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform 691-695 ()
- All Rise! Standing in Judge Betty Fletcher's Court, 85 Washington Law Review 19-31 ()
- If We Don't Get Civil Gideon: Trying to Make the Best of the Civil-justice Market, 37 Fordham Urban Law Journal 347-356 ()
- Sonia, What's a Nice Person Like You Doing in Company Like That?, 44 Creighton Law Review 107-114 ()
- Authorized Managerialism Under the Federal Rules--and the Extent of Convergence with Civil-Law Judging, 36 Southwestern University Law Review 191-213 ()
- State and Foreign Class-Action Rules and Statutes: Differences From - and Lessons For? - Federal Rule 23, 35 Western State University Law Review 147-171 ()
- 'Inextricably Intertwined' Explicable at Last? Rooker-Feldman Analysis After the Supreme Court's Exxon Mobil Decision, 2006 Federal Courts Law Review 1-25 () (with Edward L. Baskauskas)
- Civil Rules Advisory Committee Alumni Panel: The Process of Amending the Civil Rules, 73 Fordham Law Review 135-151 () (with others)
- Indicative Ruling on a Motion for Relief That Is Barred by a Pending Appeal, in 12 Moore's Federal Practice ()
- Instructions to Jury: Objections, in 9 Moore's Federal Practice ()
- Offers of Judgment, in 13 Moore's Federal Practice ()
- Shift Happens: Pressure on Foreign Attorney-Fee Paradigms from Class Actions, Duke Journal of Comparative & International Law 125-49 ()
- Protection of Personal Privacy and Trade Secrets in American Civil Litigation (pts. 1 and 2), 2002 NBL [Japanese Business Law Journal] 60 () (in Japanese; translated by Prof. Masahiko Omura)
- Who Should Pay for Attorneys' Fees? Considerations in Choosing Among Approaches to Recovery of Attorney Fees in Civil Litigation (pts. 1 and 2), 2001 NBL [Japanese Business Law Journal] 54 () (in Japanese; translated by Prof. Koichi Miki)
- A Square Peg in a Round Hole? The 2000 Limitation on the Scope of Federal Civil Discovery, 69 Tennessee Law Review 13 ()
- Beyond "It Just Ain't Worth It": Alternative Strategies for Damage Class Action Reform, 64 Law and Contemporary Problems 137 (Spring/Summer ) (with Deborah R. Hensler)
- Foreword: Debates over Group Litigation in Comparative Perspective: What Can We Learn from Each Other?, 11 Duke Journal of Comparative & International Law 157 ()
- Foreword: Rooker-Feldman: Worth Only the Powder to Blow It Up?, 74 Notre Dame Law Review 1081 ()
- 1367 and All That: Recodifying Federal Supplemental Jurisdiction, 74 Indiana Law Journal 53 ()
- Indemnity or Compensation? The Contract with America, Loser-Pays Attorney Fee Shifting, and a One-Way Alternative, 37 Washburn Law Journal 317 ()
- Not Bad for Government Work: Does Anyone Else Think the Supreme Court Is Doing a Halfway Decent Job In Its Erie-Hanna Jurisprudence?, 73 Notre Dame Law Review 963 ()
- A Distant Mirror: The Bill of Peace In Early American Mass Torts and Its Implications for Modern Class Actions, 39 Arizona Law Review 711 ()
- Beyond the Class Action Rule: An Inventory of Statutory Possibilities to Improve the Federal Class Action, 71 N.Y.U. Law Review 186 ()
- Empirical Research on the Success of Settlement Devices, in Dispute Resolution: Bridging the Settlement Gap (David A. Anderson ed., ) (with David A. Anderson)
- One Way Fee Shifting Statutes and Offer of Judgment Rules: An Experiment, 36 Jurimetrics 255 () (with David A. Anderson)
- Empirical Evidence on Settlement Devices: Does Rule 68 Encourage Settlement?, 71 Chicago-Kent Law Review 519 () (with D. Anderson)
- Repealing the Law of Unintended Consequences? Comment on Walker (2), 24 Journal of Legal Studies 615 ()
- Defining Finality and Appealability by Court Rule: A Comment on Martineau's Right Problem, Wrong Solution, 54 University of Pittsburgh Law Review 795 ()
- No Final Victories: The Incompleteness of Equity's Triumph in Federal Public Law, Law and Contemporary Problems 105 ()
- A Coda on Supplemental Jurisdiction, 40 Emory Law Journal 993-1006 () (with others)
- Compounding or Creating Confusion About Supplemental Jurisdiction? A Reply to Professor Freer, 40 Emory Law Journal 943 () (with others)
- Congress Accepts Supreme Court's Invitation to Codify Supplemental Jurisdiction, 74 Judicature 213 () (with others)
- Jurisdictional and Transfer Proposals for Complex Litigation, 10 Review of Litigation 325 ()
- Attorney Fee Arrangements and Dispute Resolution 90-14 () (Harvard Law Schol Program on Negotiation, Working Paper No. 90-14,1990)
- Computer Programs to Aid in Teaching Legal Research and Writing, Integrated Legal Research 18 ()
- American Law Institute Study on Paths to a "Better Way": Litigation, Alternatives, and Accommodation: Background Paper, 1989 Duke Law Journal 824 ()
- Empirical Research on Offers of Settlement: A Preliminary Report, Law and Contemporary Problems 13 () (with Neil Vidmar)
- The Supreme Court on Attorney Fee Awards, 1985 and 1986 Terms: Economics, Ethics, and Ex Ante Analysis, 1 Georgetown Journal of Legal Ethics 621 ()
- Book Reviews, 4 Constitutional Commentary 417-422 () (reviewing Samuel Estreicher & John Sexton, Redefining the Supreme Court's Role: A Theory of Managing the Federal Judicial Process (1986))
- Beyond Diversity: Federal Multiparty, Multiforum Jurisdiction, 135 University of Pennsylvania Law Review 7 () (with Sibley)
- Teaching Federal Courts from a Little Red Book, 34 Duke Law Journal 833-848 () (reviewing H. Fink and M.V. Tushnet, Federal Jurisdiction: Policy and Practice (1984))
- Predicting the Effects of Attorney Fee Shifting, Law and Contemporary Problems 139 ()
- The Legal Theory of Attorney Fee Shifting: A Critical Overview, 1982 Duke Law Journal 651 ()
- Expenses: The Roadblock to Justice, 20 Judges' Journal 16-19, 46-47 () (with others)
- The Emerging Threshold Approach to State Action Determinations: Trying to Make Sense of Flagg Brothers, Inc. v. Brooks, 69 Georgetown Law Journal 745 ()
- Abolishing Diversity Jurisdiction: The Silver Lining, 66 A.B.A. Journal 177 ()
- A Comment on the Federalism of the Federal Rules, 1979 Duke Law Journal 843 ()
- Abolishing Diversity Jurisdiction: Positive Side Effects and Potential for Further Reforms, 92 Harvard Law Review 963 ()
- Consent and the Roots of Judicial Authority: The Constitutional Writings of Archibald Cox, 55 Texas Law Review 163-184 () (reviewing Archibald Cox, The Role of the Supreme Court in American Government (1976))
Newspaper Articles and Commentary
- Genesis Healthcare Corp. v. Symczyk: Losing Small Sure Beats Losing Big, Justice Watch ( )
- Recent Federal Court Legislation Made Some Noteworthy Changes, National Law Journal ( , at 20) (with others)
- New Rules for Multistate Mass Torts, Legal Times ( , at 30)
- The Debate Over the 14th Amendment, News & Observer ( , at 4D) (reviewing M. Curtis, No State Shall Abridge: The Fourteenth Amendment and the Bill of Rights))
- Leave the Abortion Compromise Alone, Christian Science Monitor ( , at 23)
Historic Faculty