Linda S. Eads

Headshot of Linda S. Eads, III, emeritus faculty member at SMU Dedman School of Law.

Professor Emeritus of Law

Emeritus faculty

Email

leads@mail.smu.edu

Professor Linda Eads served as Associate Provost responsible for faculty affairs in the Provost's Office and served as the Director of the Hunt Leadership Scholars Program. She also served on various committees and task forces, including the Educational Programs Committee, the Center for Teaching Excellence Advisory Committee and the Community Engagement Council.

Professor Eads has taught at Dedman School of Law since January 1986. She taught in the areas of evidence, legal ethics, constitutional law and women and the law. She has published articles in these areas in the California Law Review, the Washington University Law Quarterly and the Texas Journal of Women and Law. She also has co-authored a student guide titled QUESTIONS & ANSWERS:  CONSTITUTIONAL LAW.

For three years, Professor Eads chaired the Texas State Bar’s committee that studied possible changes in the disciplinary rules that govern lawyer behavior. She was asked to chair this committee by the Texas Supreme Court. In 2007, Linda received the State Bar’s President’s Award—the highest award given by the State Bar of Texas—for her work in chairing this committee.

From January 1999 to September 2000, Professor Eads was on leave from the University in order to assume the post of Deputy Attorney General for Litigation for the State of Texas. In this position she directed the State’s civil litigation and supervised more than 300 lawyers in the 10 civil litigation divisions in the Texas Attorney General’s Office.

Professor Eads received her B.A. in International Studies with Honors from the American University located in Washington, D.C. and she earned her J.D. with Honors from the University of Texas at Austin. Prior to joining the Law School faculty, Professor Eads served as a trial attorney with the Tax Division of the United States Department of Justice.

Professor Eads was named to the American Law Institute and is recognized as one of Texas' top women lawyers. At Southern Methodist University she received the University Scholar/Teacher of the Year Award, the University Golden Mustang Teaching Award, the Law School’s Don Smart Teaching Award (4 times), and the Law School’s Don Smart Directed Research Award (3 times). At the United States Department of Justice, she received the United States Attorney General's Special Commendation Award and several Outstanding Attorney Awards.

Area of expertise

  • Evidence
  • Legal Ethics
  • Constitutional Law
  • Women and the Law

Education

B.A., American University
J.D., University of Texas

Books

Student guide, QUESTIONS & ANSWERS: CONSTITUTIONAL LAW (Lexis Pub.) (with McGreal).

Articles

Getting it Right:  The Trial of Sexual Assault and Child Molestation Cases Under Federal Rules of Evidence, 413-415, 18 Behavior Sciences and the Law 169-216 (2000) (co-authored)

Book chapters

Freedom of Speech in THE FOUR FREEDOMS:  FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT AND THE EVOLUTION OF AN AMERICAN IDEA 39 (Jeffrey A. Engel ed., Oxford University Press 2016)

Other publications

Corporate America and its Ethical Choices
SMU-McGuire Center for Ethics and Public Responsibility, paper No. 19 (2004)

Monthly column for the TEXAS LAWYER on legal ethics

Betty Crocker or Barbara Jordan:  Limited Roles for Women and the Effect of Reproductive Technology on Motherhood, Texas Journal of Women and the Law, (Spring 1998)

Presentations

Changes in Referral Fee Practice in Texas
Dallas Bar Association (July, 2004)

Legal Ethics and Professionalism
Annual meeting of the Public Investors Arbitration Bar Association
Ft. Myers, FL (October, 2004)

Can Lawyers Achieve Civil Responsibility While Still Maximizing Wealth
SMU Corporate Counsel Symposium (October, 2004)

Organized and Moderated
Dallas Young Lawyer’s yearly forum on important legal issues

Ethical Considerations in Corporate Governance
National Association of Securities Law Administrators (yearly meeting)
New Orleans, LA

Ethical Considerations in Corporate Governance
Board of Directors of the McGuire Center

Moderator, debate between various Texas Supreme Court candidates