Western State College of Law

Dean Adams brings to Western State a diverse background of creating and administering community clinical and legal services programs, as well extensive academic experience, both as an administrator and in front of a classroom. Prior to joining Western State, Adams served as a professor of law and Associate Dean for international, online and graduate programs at the Shepard Broad Law Center at Nova Southeastern University (NSU). While at NSU, he held additional positions to include as Acting Dean, Director of the Law Center’s Civil Clinic and as Director of Clinical Programs.

Prior to his time at NSU, Professor Adams held the position of Elderly Projects Director at the Center for Governmental Responsibility at the Holland Law Center at the University of Florida. Adams was also a legal services corporation attorney representing indigent persons for approximately nine years in Indiana and Florida. In addition to experience as a law professor, Adams has chaired the Association of American Law Schools’ Section on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Issus as well as its Section on Aging and the Law. He is also a prior chair of the Florida Bar’s Public Interest Law Section. The National Lesbian and Gay Law Association presented its Dan Bradley Award for significant contributions made to lesbian and gay rights to Dean Adams in 1994. Dean Adams received his Bachelors Degree and his JD, cum laude, from Indiana University.

Courses taught: Torts, Criminal Law

Criminal Law 110D (night) - syllabus - Dean William Adams

Law Review/Journal Articles

Book Review, 30 The Journal of Legal Medicine 141 (2009) (reviewing David G. Smith & Judith D. Moore, Medicaid Politics and Policy: 1965-2007 (2009)).

Leo C. Goodwin Symposium: Thirty Years After Anita Bryant’s Crusade: The Continuing Role of Morality in The Development of Legal Rights for Sexual Minorities, Introduction: The Florida Example, 32 Nova L. Rev. 515 (2008), (Co-authored with Professor Anthony Niedwiecki)

Tort Law: 2005-2008 Review of Florida Case Law, 33 Nova. L. Rev. 21 (2008)

Criminal Law: 2004-2007 Review of Florida Law, 32 Nova L. Rev. 1 (2007)

Tort Law: 2003-05 Review of Florida Law 30 Nova L. Rev. 75 (2005)

Criminal Law: 2002-2004 Survey of Florida Law, 29 Nova L. Rev. 1 (2004)

Tort Law: 2001-2003 Survey of Florida Law, 28 Nova L. Rev. 317 (2004)

Tort Law: 2001 Survey of Florida Law, 26 Nova L. Rev. 225 (2002)

The Intersection of Elder Law & Criminal Law: More Traffic than One Might Assume, 30 Stetson L. Rev. 1331 (2001)

Criminal Law: 2000 Survey of Florida Law, 25 Nova L. Rev. 1 (2001), (Co-authored with Professor Mark Dobson)

A Look at Lesbian and Gay Rights in Florida Today: Confronting the Lingering Effects of Legal Animus, 24 Nova L. Rev. 751 (2000)

Is It Animus or a Difference of Opinion? The Problems Caused by the Invidious Intent of Anti-Gay Ballot Measures, 34 Willamette L. Rev. 449 (1998)

Can We Relax Now? An Essay about Ballot Measures & Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Rights after Romer v. Evans, 2 Nat’l J. Sex. Orient. L. 188 (1996)

Whose Family Is It Anyway? The Continuing Struggle for Lesbians and Gay Men Seeking to Adopt Children, 30 N.Eng.L.Rev. 579 (1996), in Arthur S. Leonard, Homosexuality and the Constitution (Garland Press, 1998)

The Incarceration of Older Criminals: Balancing Safety, Cost, and Humanitarian Concerns, 19 Nova L. Rev. 465 (1995), excerpted in Lawrence A. Frolik and Allison M. Barnes, Elderlaw, Cases and Materials (Second Edition, Lexus Law Publishing, 1999)

Pre-Election Anti-Gay Ballot Initiative Challenges: Issues of Electoral Fairness, Majoritarian Tyranny, and Direct Democracy, 55 Ohio St. L.J. 583 (1994)

"But Do You Have to Tell My Parents?" The Dilemma for Minors Seeking HIV-Testing and Treatment, 27 J. Marshall L. Rev. 493 (1994)

Representing the Client Who Is Older in the Law Office and in the Courtroom, 2 Elder L.J. 1 (1994). (Co-authored with Professor Rebecca Morgan)

Amicus Brief in Opposition to Florida's Anti-Gay Constitutional Amendment, 2 Nat'l J. Sex. Orient. L. 102 (1995)

Having It All--Offering Criminal and Civil Inhouse and Extern Programs, Fla. B. J. 65, no. 7 (Jul./Aug. 1991): 39-40. (Co-authored with Professors Randolph Braccialarghe and Howard R. Messing)

Books/Chapters

AIDS and HIV in David S. Clark, Encyclopedia of Law and Society: American and Global Perspectives (Sage 2007)

AIDS: Cases and Materials (3d ed., with Teacher's Manual), (Carolina Academic Press, 2002), [Editor, Co-authored with Professors Robert Jarvis (Nova Southeastern Law Center), Mary Anne Bobinski (University of Houston), Michael L. Closen (John Marshall Law School), and Arthur S. Leonard (New York Law School)]

Elders and the Courts, in Elders, Crime, and the Criminal Justice System: Myth, Perception, and Reality in the 21st Century (Springer, 2000)