www.law.uga.edu

Paul M. Kurtz

Associate Dean for Academic and Student Affairs and J. Alton Hosch Professor of Law

B.A, J.D., Vanderbilt University
LL.M., Harvard University

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Courses

Criminal Law
Family Law

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Biographical Information

Paul M. Kurtz  has been a member of the University of Georgia School of Law since 1975, specializing in criminal law and family law. He has served as the law school's associate dean since 1991 and was named to a prestigious endowed position as the J. Alton Hosch Professor of Law in 1994.

As associate dean for academic and student affairs, Kurtz affects many aspects of faculty and student life. He supervises the law school's academic program and curriculum. It is he who decides who will teach a course, and where and when it will be taught. He also develops the law school's academic calendar and hires adjunct professors. In addition, Kurtz advises the dean, represents the school at events when the dean cannot be present and assists the institutional advancement team in alumni relations and fundraising efforts.

Kurtz's scholarship includes two books, Family Law: Cases, Text, Problems 5th edition (with professors Ira Ellman, Lois Weithorn, Brian Bix, Karen Czapanskiy and Maxine Eichner) and Criminal Offenses and Defenses in Georgia. He also serves as associate editor and a board of editors member for the Family Law Quarterly. In this capacity, he publishes his "Annual Survey of Periodical Literature" in the Family Law Quarterly.

Very active in legislative issues, Kurtz served as reporter for the Georgia Supreme Court's Indigent Defense Reform Commission (2000-03), which was the driving force behind landmark legislation enacted in 2003. He currently serves (by appointment of Chief Judge J.D. Smith of the Georgia Court of Appeals) on the 11-member Public Defender Standards Council, charged with the responsibility for delivering indigent criminal defense services within the state's criminal justice system. He was also instrumental on the Public Interest Loan Repayment Task Force that wrote legislation creating a state fund for this cause, which was passed by the Georgia Legislature in 2002.

In 2001, Kurtz was appointed as a commissioner to represent Georgia on the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws. He had previously served as a reporter for NCCUSL and was a member of the drafting committee of the Uniform Interstate Family Support Act from 1988 to 1992. He also served as a reporter to the NCCUSL drafting committee on the Status of Children of Assisted Conception from 1987 to 1988.

In addition, he is a member of the American Law Institute and served as adviser on the ALI Project on Principles of Family Dissolution in 1998-99.

Active in law school and university affairs, Kurtz has been elected by colleagues to three terms of service on the University Council as well as served two terms on the board of the Georgia Athletic Association. He has been a Senior Foundation Fellow since 1995, acting as a mentor to recipients of UGA's highest undergraduate scholarship.

Kurtz served as a law clerk to Chief Judge Harry Phillips of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit upon his graduation from law school. He then taught at the law schools of Boston University and Boston College before joining the faculty of the University of Georgia. During his tenure at UGA, Kurtz has been a visiting professor at the universities of Texas and Missouri, Vanderbilt University and Mercer University.

Kurtz earned his bachelor's and law degrees from Vanderbilt University and a Master of Laws from Harvard.

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