Professor Merkel came to Western State from the University of Virginia School of Law, where he co-directed the Legal Research and Writing program for several years. Earlier, he served as directing attorney for the Georgia Legal Services Program in Savannah. In law school, he served as a research assistant for the National Clearinghouse for Criminal Justice Planning and Architecture, and as managing editor of the Illinois Bar Journal Recent Decisions. Professor Merkel has written a number of articles and co-authored two monographs
Courses: Remedies, Torts, Legal History, Professional Skills.
Publications
OXFORD COMPANION GUIDE TO THE SUPREME COURT, James W. Ely et al. eds. 1992 & 2003) (four attributed articles in anthology).
PROSECUTION PLANNING CONCEPTS (1976) (principal author).
THE GRAND JURY COMPLEX (1976) (principal author).
Physicians Policing Physicians: The Development of Medical Staff Peer Review Law at California Hospitals, U.S.F. L. REV. (forthcoming, Spring 2004).
Railroad Consolidation and Late-19th Century Federalism, 11 W. LEGAL H. 215 (1998).
Going National: The Life Insurance Industry's Campaign for Federal Regulation after the Civil War, 65 BUS. H. REV. 528 (1991).
At the Crossroads of Reform: The First Fifty Years of American Legal Aid, 1876-1926, 27 HOUS. L. REV. 1 (1990).
The Origins of an Expanded Federal Question Jurisdiction, 58 Bus. H. Rev. 336 (1984).
Tax Reform with a Political View: The Hyattsville Single Tax Experiment in the Maryland
Courts, 79 MD. HIST. MAG. 145 (1984).
Note, Illinois Innkeeper Lien Laws Violate Due Process, 61 ILL. B. J. 262 (1973).
Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes: Law and the Inner Self, 2 W. ST. U. CONSUMER L. J. 89 (1993) (book review).
Federal Justice in California: The Court of Ogden Hoffman, 1851-1891, 5 W. LEGAL HIST. 253 (1992) (book review).
Enterprise and American Law, 1836-1937, 1 W. ST. U. CONSUMER L. J. 119 (1992) (book review).
The Guardian Life Insurance Company, 1860-1920, 63 BUS. HIST. REV. 458 (1989) (book review).
Legal Malpractice (3d ed.), 18 W. ST. U. L. REV. 513 (1990) (book review).
John Marshall's Achievement, 17 W. ST. U. L. REV. 517 (1990) (book review).
In Pursuit of Justice, 17 W. ST. U. L. REV. 239 (1989) (book review).
A Great and Shining Road, 62 BUS. HIST. REV. 705 (1988) (book review).
Two Jewish Justices, 16 W. ST. U. L. REV. 337 (1989) (book review).
Salmon P. Chase: A Life in Politics, 16 W. ST. U. L. REV. (1988) (book review).
The Morgans: Private International Bankers, 64 VA. Q. REV. 153 (1988) (book review).
The Life and Legend of Jay Gould, 63 VA. Q. REV. 362 (1987) (book review).
Railroads, Reconstruction and the Gospel of Prosperity, 8 PUB. HIST. 97 (1986) (book review).
Louis D. Brandeis, Justice for the People, 60 VA. Q. REV. 734 (1986) (book review).
Presentations
Speaker, "American Jurisprudence from Holmes to the Legal Realists," University of California at Irvine, Irvine, California (1996, 1997, 1998).
Commentator, American Historical Association Pacific Coast Branch Annual Meeting, "Race, Privacy and Legal Culture," San Francisco State University, San Francisco, California (1996).
Speaker, "The Future of the Legal Services Corporation," California State University, Long Beach, California (1996).
Public Service
Faculty Member, California Judicial Education and Research (California Continuing Judicial Studies Program) (1991 - present). (Duties include presenting a week-long seminar on jurisprudence for California trial judges.)
Member, Huntington Library Legal History Research Group, San Marino, California (1996 - 2000).
Judge, Western Legal History Award of the Ninth Circuit Historical Society (1993-1994).
Counsel for appellant (with two students) in Ninth Circuit civil rights appeal (1991-1993).
Member, State Bar of California Committee on the History of Law in California (1989-1990).
Pro bono attorney for non-profit organization.