Barbara Spellman
Visiting Professor of Law (Fall 2012–Spring 2013)
Areas of Teaching and Research
- Evidence
- Empircal methods in the law
- Psychology and the law
Education
- Ph.D., University of California, Los Angeles, 1993
- J.D., New York University School of Law, 1982
- B.A., Wesleyan University, 1979
Biography
Barbara Spellman joined the University of Virginia faculty in the psychology
department in 1997 and joined the University of Virginia School of Law in 2008.
She teaches evidence and various courses on the intersection of psychology and
law (e.g., Empirical Methods in Law, Psychology of the Deciders).
Spellman received her law degree from NYU in 1982. In the mid-1980s, she
practiced tax law at Chadbourne & Parke in New York City and worked as a
writer/editor at Matthew Bender Company. Spellman then studied cognitive
psychology at UCLA. Her research focused mostly on memory, analogical reasoning,
and causal reasoning. Her dissertation was entitled "The Construction of
Causal Explanations."
Spellman has published in both psychology journals and law reviews. She has edited
a special issue of Psychonomic Bulletin & Review (2010) on emerging
trends in psychology and law research. She is currently editor-in-chief of Perspectives
on Psychological Science.
