The purpose of this website is to offer information to students and others interested in one or more of the above areas of law. Those interested in the law and history of the American Constitution, including first amendment issues, are invited to look at the links in the Constitutional Law and American Legal History sections, which include important documents in American constitutional history and a short timeline of events in American legal and political history. Those interested in the law of evidence may compare the Texas Rules of Evidence and Federal Rules of Evidence side-by-side, and may peruse other links concerning the law of evidence, including some essays on the nature, purpose and use of particular aspects of the law of evidence. Issues of legal professionalism, that is, issues concerning the future of the profession, and the rules of attorney conduct are separated into the legal ethics and professional responsibility links, respectively. In the professional responsibility section of this site, you will find links to the Texas Disciplinary Rules of Professional Conduct and the Comments to those Rules, as well as a frames page allowing you to look at the Texas Rules and the Comments side-by-side. There is also a link to an external site which lists all Texas ethics opinions. If you are interested in filing a disciplinary complaint against a Texas lawyer, please go to the following site for information: http://www.texasbar.com/. Then click on "Client Assistance & Grievance," and follow the directions. I do not give advice concerning client grievances against lawyers.

Michael Ariens is a Professor at St. Mary's University School of Law in San Antonio, Texas. I received a B.A. from St. Norbert College in 1979, a J.D. in 1982 from Marquette University, and an LL.M. from Harvard University in 1987. After clerking at the Wisconsin Court of Appeals and practicing law as an associate in a law firm in Washington, D.C., I began teaching at St. Mary's University in 1987. I have also taught at Southern Methodist University, Catholic University of America, and the University of Innsbruck.

Professor Ariens teaches in the following areas:
• American Legal History
• Church and State
• Constitutional Law
• Evidence

• Professional Responsibility

The material on this website is posted for the educational benefit of those who visit the site. The usual disclaimer that no legal opinions are offered on this site is now made. If you have any questions about the information posted on this website, please feel free to contact me using the linked button above.

This site has been created using FrontPage software, and is probably best browsed via Internet Explorer.

Thanks to Stephen Daniel and Mynor Rodriguez (both Class of '02) for doing the heavy lifting in creating this website.

Copyright 2002-2005 by Michael Ariens to all original material. No copyright is asserted to publicly available material, including cases and statutes, nor to material linking visitors to the ABA or other web sites containing relevant information.