Profile

Andrew W. Jurs is a Visiting Professor of Law at the University of Oregon, as well as the Clemens J. Smith Faculty Research Scholar and a Professor of Law at Drake University Law School in Des Moines, Iowa. He teaches Expert Evidence, Evidence, Criminal Procedure – Investigation, Criminal Procedure – Adjudication, and Criminal Law. In 2020, he received the Stevens Faculty Scholar of the Year award at Drake and has twice been named the Forrest Outstanding Professor of the Year by the Drake graduating class, in 2018 and 2014. Prior to entering academia, he was an Assistant Attorney General at the Colorado Attorney General’s Office and a Deputy District Attorney in the Denver area.  

 

His research agenda investigates the management and evaluation of expert evidence in the judicial system using an empirical approach. He is the author of a textbook on courtroom use of expert witnesses, EXPERT EVIDENCE, published in 2019 by Carolina Academic Press. Notable articles include A Tale of Two Dauberts: Discriminatory Effects of Scientific Reliability Screening, 79 OHIO ST. L.J. 1107 (2018) (coauthored); Expert Prevalence, Persuasion and Price: What Trial Participants Really Think About Experts, 91 IND. L.J. 353 (2016); An Overreaction to a Nonexistent Problem: Empirical Analysis of Tort Reform from the 1980s to 2000s, 3 STANFORD J. COMPLEX LITIG. 62 (2015) (coauthored); Gatekeeper with a Gavel: A Survey on Judicial Management of Challenges to Expert Reliability and Their Relationship to Summary Judgment, 83 MISS. L.J. 325 (2014); Et Tu, Plaintiffs? An Empirical Analysis of Daubert’s Effect on Plaintiffs, and Why Gatekeeping Standards Matter (a Lot), 66 ARK. L. REV. 975 (2013) (coauthored); The Stricter Standard: An Empirical Assessment of Daubert’s Effect on Civil Defendants, 62 CATH. U. L. REV. 675 (2013) (coauthored); Questions from the Bench and Independent Experts: A Study of the Practices of State Court Judges, 74 U. PITT. L. REV. 47 (2012); and Balancing Legal Process with Scientific Expertise: A Comparative Assessment of Expert Witness Methodology in Five Nations, and Suggestions for Reform of Post-Daubert U.S. Reliability Determinations, 95 MARQ. L. REV. 1329 (2012).  

 

Professor Jurs was elected as a member of the American Law Institute in December 2020. He also has an appointment as a member of the National Institute of Standards and Technology, Organization of Scientific Area Committees’ Legal Task Group, and served as a member of the executive committee of the AALS Section on Evidence from 2015 to 2019 with a term as Chair from 2017 to 2018. As Chair, Jurs hosted a panel discussion at the AALS Annual Meeting entitled Daubert After 25 Years: A Prospective Look at the Next Great Challenges in Expert Reliability.