Robert T. Sherwin
Email: robert.sherwin@ttu.edu
Phone: (806) 834-7288
In the fall of 2008, Professor Sherwin returned to the Texas Tech University School of Law—his alma mater—to direct the storied Red Raider advocacy program. Since then, the law school's interscholastic advocacy teams have claimed 92 state, regional, national, and international championships, along with 103 Best Brief and Best Advocate awards.
In both 2019 and 2020, Professor Sherwin led Tech Law's advocacy program to the number-one national ranking in the American Bar Association's Competitions Championship (the program ranked second nationally in 2018 and 2021). In 2016, the school's moot court program was ranked first in the country by the University of Houston's Blakely Advocacy Institute. Over a three-year period, he coached the law school's teams to three national championships at both of the nation's two major moot court tournaments—the 190-team National Moot Court Competition in 2011 and 2012, and the 225-team ABA National Appellate Advocacy Competition in 2013. In 2016, the law school again claimed the national championship at the National Moot Court Competition, and in 2021-22, it won the ABA NAAC and National Moot Court Competition in consecutive years.
In addition to directing the Tech Law advocacy program, Professor Sherwin teaches Entertainment Law, Commercial Litigation, Trial Advocacy, and Appellate Advocacy. His scholarship primarily explores issues at the intersection of intellectual property and civil procedure. He has written extensively on the subject of litigation bullying, including Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation, or “SLAPP” suits. In 2017, his work in this area led to his appointment as the Reporter on the Uniform Law Commission's Drafting Committee on Anti-SLAPP Legislation. In that capacity, he was responsible for crafting the Uniform Public Expression Protection Act—a uniform anti-SLAPP act adopted by the Commission in July of 2020. He now works to educate state legislatures, judges, and attorneys about the uniform act and free-speech issues generally.
From 2001 through 2007, Professor Sherwin was an associate at the Fort Worth firm of Brackett & Ellis, P.C. He maintained a diverse litigation and appellate practice, representing clients in copyright and trademark disputes, complex business litigation, and antitrust matters. He was named a “Rising Star” by Texas Monthly magazine in 2007 and 2008 and a “Top Attorney” by Fort Worth, Texas magazine in 2006 and 2007. He is admitted to practice in Texas, the Supreme Court of the United States, and the United States District Courts for the Northern and Eastern Districts of Texas.
![Photo Description Photo Description](/law/faculty/headshots/r_sherwin.jpg)
Education
- B.S., magna cum laude, Texas Christian University, 1998
- J.D., cum laude, Texas Tech University School of Law, 2001
Courses
- Commercial Litigation
- Entertainment Law
- Appellate Advocacy
- Trial Advocacy
- Introduction to the Study of Law
Selected Publications and Presentations
The Changing Landscape of the Texas Citizens Participation Act, 52 TEXAS TECH LAW REVIEW ___ (forthcoming 2020) (co-written with Laura Lee Prather).
Shoot First, Litigate Later: Declaratory Judgment Actions, Procedural Fencing, and Itchy Trigger Fingers, 70 OKLAHOMA LAW REVIEW 793 (2018).
Evidence? We Don't Need No Stinkin' Evidence!: How Ambiguity in Some States' Anti-SLAPP Laws Threatens to De-Fang a Popular and Powerful Weapon Against Frivolous Litigation, 40 COLUMBIA JOURNAL OF LAW & THE ARTS 431 (2017).
#havewereallythoughtthisthrough?: Why Granting Trademark Protection to Hashtags is Unnecessary, Duplicative, and Downright Dangerous, 29 HARVARD JOURNAL OF LAW & TECHNOLOGY 455 (2016).
Clones, Thugs, ‘N (Eventual?) Harmony: Using the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure to Simulate a Statutory Defamation Defense and Make the World Safe from Copyright Bullies, 64 DEPAUL LAW REVIEW 823 (2015).
Free Speech, the Communications Decency Act, and “Big Tech” Censorship, presented to the Lubbock Area Bar Association, June 2021.
Legislative Changes to the Texas Citizens Participation Act (co-presenter), presented to University of Texas School of Law Continuing Legal Education (available at https://utcle.org/ecourses/OC7946), August 2019.
Panelist — Social Media and Government Accountability in the Age of Fake News, presented at State Bar of Texas Annual Meeting, June 2018.
Tie Goes to the Runner! (Or Does it?): One Lawyer's Take on Baseball's Rules and an
Age-Old Argument Settler, presented at the National Baseball Hall of Fame's Cooperstown Symposium on Baseball
and American Culture, June 2016.
Lessons From Our Founding Fathers: The Art of Negotiating as an Inherent Principle in Successful Advocacy, (co-presenter), presented at Legal Writing Institute Biennial Conference, July 2014.
“Source” of Protection: The Status of the Reporter's Privilege in Texas and a Call to Arms for the State's Legislators and Journalists, 32 TEXAS TECH LAW REVIEW 137 (2000).
School of Law
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Address
Texas Tech University School of Law, 3311 18th Street, Lubbock, Texas 79409-0004 -
Phone
806.742.3791 -
Email
law@ttu.edu