Hi! I’m Alison

I’m an author, lawyer, and law professor with a passion for telling stories. The law can seem very technical, but at heart it’s really just an extension of us. Focusing on the pivotal characters, conflicts, and turning points that underlie every law, I hope to craft a picture of our legal history that is dramatic, gripping, and readable while giving readers a careful and accurate picture of how the law really works.

A little about how I got here: Spurred by a lifelong yearning to write, I earned a bachelor’s degree in journalism, Spanish, and French from Butler University. When I switched gears and went to Yale Law School, I thought I was leaving behind the writer’s life. Years later, I found myself drawn back to the page as a way to help make sense — for myself and others — of the seemingly crazy legal system I work within (and sometimes against).

As a law professor at West Virginia University, I direct the Immigration Law Clinic and teach courses in property, administrative, and international law. I’m also co-founder of Bujuuko Foundation, a nonprofit that fosters young entrepreneurs in West Virginia and Uganda. The creative spirit knows no geographic or socio-economic bounds, and I can’t wait to see where the world’s entrepreneurs of tomorrow will take us. I grew up in Indiana and now live in West Virginia (but I still root for the Chicago Cubs).