Degrees
- Brown University, B.S.
- Georgetown University, J.D.
Expertise
- American Legal History
- Business Law
- Contracts
- Gay Rights
- Judicial Selection
Professor Carol L. Chomsky is a recognized scholar of legal history and a leader in the fields of teaching development and attorney licensing. Before taking emerita status, she taught courses in Contracts, Sales of Goods, Legislation and Regulation, and American Legal History, and she ran the year-round judicial externship program for the Law School. Her scholarly work has focused on attorney licensing reform, the history of women lawyers, American Indian legal history, and late nineteenth century American legal history, and she is co-author of innovative contracts and sales casebooks. She helped establish the Law School's Structured Study Group Program, the academic support program for first year students, and served as the faculty liaison for the program. She was a long-time board member of the Society of American Law Teachers (SALT) and was SALT liaison to the American Bar Association Section on Legal Education and Admission to the Bar. She is a member of the Collaboratory on Legal Education and Licensing for Practice, a group of scholars who study and write about the bar exam, licensing, and legal education. In 2024, she was appointed to serve on the Minnesota Supreme Court Implementation Committee to develop alternative pathways for attorney licensing in Minnesota.
Professor Chomsky received a B.S. degree from Brown University and a J.D. degree, summa cum laude, from Georgetown University. In law school, she was Case and Note Editor of the Georgetown Law Journal and earned the Francis E. Lucey, S.J. Award for maintaining the highest academic average in her graduating class. After completing her J.D., she clerked for Judge Spottswood W. Robinson III of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit from 1979 to 1980. Following her clerkship, she worked for the law firm of Stefanson, Landberg & Alm in Moorhead, Minnesota. Professor Chomsky then served as an associate with Sharp, Green & Lankford in Washington, D.C., for four years, before joining the faculty of the University of Minnesota Law School in 1985.
Professor Chomsky served as co-president of the Society of American Law Teachers (2000-2002) and is a member of the American Law Institute. She served as Coordinator for the University of Minnesota's Early Career Teaching Program: Pursuing Excellence in Multicultural Education from 1999-2004, and as Co-Coordinator of the University's Multicultural Fellows Program from 2003-2008. She is an active member of Minnesota Women Lawyers and served as President in 1993-94. She also served on the Minnesota Women Lawyers Task Force on the Status of Women in the Legal Profession.
