Faculty Profile

Professor Robert S. BarkerRobert S. Barker

Duquesne University Distinguished Professor of Law
412.396.6301
412.396.5035 (fax)
barker@duq.edu

 

Areas of Concentration: Constitutional Law, Legal Process, Comparative Law, Civil Procedure, International Law

Professor Barker earned his undergraduate degree at Duquesne University, where he majored in History and Political Science and was captain of the debate team.

He graduated in 1966 from Duquesne University School of Law, where he was Case Editor of the Duquesne University Law Review. Following his admission to the Pennsylvania bar, he served for two years as a U.S. Peace Corps Volunteer in Panama. Upon his return to Western Pennsylvania, he worked as an attorney for Neighborhood Legal Services, an official of the City of Pittsburgh’s Model Cities Program, an associate of the law firm of Rose, Schmidt and Dixon, and Assistant Dean and Assistant Professor at Duquesne University School of Law.

In 1974, he earned a Master’s degree in American History at Duquesne. Thereafter, as Assistant Allegheny County Solicitor, he was Legal Counsel to Pittsburgh International Airport for six years, and served as Vice Chairman and, later, Chairman of the American Bar Association Committee on Airport Law. He returned to the full-time Duquesne Law faculty in 1982.

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Scholarship

Barker Addresses Venezuelan Conference

Prof. Barker recently addressed, by a video teleconference, Venezuelan journalists and jurists gathered at the U.S. Embassy in Caracas on "La Independencia de la Corte Suprema de los Estados Unidos y la Designación de sus Magistrados," and held a press conference thereafter, on July 8, 2009.

 

book cover

Constitutional Adjudication: The Costa Rican Experience / by Robert S. Barker (Vandeplas, 2008)

Speaking Engagements, 2011-2012

  • "El Derecho Natural y la Constitución de los Estados Unidos," at the Universidad Bernardo O'Higgins and at the international seminar on "El Legado Jurídico de la Revolución Francesa en las Américas," Santiago, Chile, April 26,28, 2011.
  • "La Corte Suprema y el Desarrollo de Constitucionalismo de los Estados Unidos Unidos," at the Institute for Juridical Research , Universidad Católica Andrés Bello (Caracas, Venezuela, May 17, 2011).
  • "La Constitución de los Estados Unidos y su influencia en la Constitución Venezolana de 1811," at the Universidad Católica Andrés Bello (Caracas, Venezuela, May 17, 2011), and at the Universidad Fermín Toro and the Universidad Centroccidental (Barquisimeto, Venezuela, May 19, 20, 2011).
  • "El Estado de Derecho y la Independencía Judicial: La Experiencia de los Estados Unidos," at the Seminar "Justicia Constitucional y Estado de Derecho," co-sponsored by the Inter-American Bar Association and the Barra de Abogados de Nicaragua, Managua, April 8, 2011.
  • "Latin American Constitutionalism: An Overview," presented February 16, 2012 at the Seminar on Comparative Constitutional Law held at Willamette University College of Law, Salem, Oregon.
  • "La Educación Jurídica en los Estados Unidos: Exitos y Desafios," to be presented at the Judicial School of Costa Rica, San José, March 27, 2012.
  • "La Doctrina de las Cuestiones Políticas y la Separación de Poderes en los Estados Unidos," to be presented at the International Seminar in "The Political Question Doctrine and the Separation of Powers," March 28, 2012 at the Supreme Court of Justice of Costa Rica.

Subject Matter Areas

Teaching
  • Constitutional Law
  • Comparative Law
  • International Law
Scholarship
  • United States Constitution
  • Latin American Constitutionalism
  • Comparative Constitutionalism