Five Questions with Professor Sharon L. Davies
Professor Sharon L. Davies was a Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar and a Notes and Comments Editor of the Columbia Law Review while in law school at Columbia University. After graduation she worked as an Associate Attorney for Steptoe and Johnson in Washington, D.C. and Lord, Day & Lord Barrett Smith in New York City. Professor Davies, who joined Ohio State in 1995, served for five years as an Assistant United States Attorney in the Criminal Division of the United States Attorney's Office in the Southern District of New York, widely thought to be the premier U.S. Attorney's Office in the country.
What was your toughest subject as a law student?
Evidence. Partly because the course was taught by U.S. District Court Judge and famed evidence thinker, the Hon. Jack Weinstein. And partly because I understood even as we studied the rules that a mastery of evidence came not just from understanding what the rules said and were trying to achieve, but how the best lawyers used them in practice.
Why Moritz?
Moritz’s top notch faculty, strong students, and skilled administration were all big draws. The Columbus area was also quite inviting. Also, at the time my husband and I joined the faculty, the school needed two criminal law specialists, which fit our areas of expertise and interest.
What book would you never get tired reading?
The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho
I hope my students ...
… remain open to the discovery of new strengths and ideas. That they are willing to rethink what they think they know, and learn more about what they know they don't. In short, that they discover the joys of life-long learning.
If you could meet anyone, who would it be? Why?
Abraham Lincoln, because he had the courage, foresight and determination to save a nation.
