Faculty/Staff Profile
Professor Rory Bahadur joined the Washburn Law faculty in 2007 and is one of only 26 teachers nationwide included in the book, What the Best Law Teachers Do. He teaches Torts, Civil Procedure, Products Liability, Privacy, Admiralty and Maritime Law, and Federal Courts and presents nationally and internationally on assessment and teaching methods. He was voted Professor of the Year at Washburn in 2010, 2012, and 2021 and awarded the Ned Fleming Excellence in Teaching Award in 2023.
Prior to joining Washburn Law, Professor Bahadur practiced admiralty and maritime law in south Florida. Professor Bahadur has a Bachelor of Science degree in Zoology (Honors) from the University of the West Indies and a Master of Arts in Marine Affairs from the University of Miami's Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science. Before earning his juris doctor from St. Thomas University School of Law where he graduated summa cum laude and first in his class, he worked for the National Marine Fisheries Service as a marine biologist in Alaska's Aleutian Islands and Bering Sea, and for the United States Army Corps of Engineers as a shipboard, marine endangered species consultant.
His recent scholarship examines the influence of implicit bias and systemic racism on the law, teaching, and assessment. He is the co-author of a torts casebook and author of a civil procedure casebook. In his spare time, he is a USSF certified competitive soccer coach, certified Kansas City BBQ society judge, a member of a competition BBQ team, and is advanced open water and mixed gas/research diver SCUBA certified.
Reconceptualizing Ford as the Jurisprudential Vehicle Driving Interstate Federalism off the Specific Personal Jurisdictional Map?, __ Tennessee Law Review ___ (forthcoming).
Civility as Morally Justified Oppression, __ Texas Journal on Civil Liberties and Civil Rights ___ (forthcoming).
Bad Math, Bar Sauce and the ABA as a Shill for the NCBE, 66 Howard Law Journal 323 (2022) (with Kevin Ruth).
Law School Rankings and the Impossibility of Anti-Racism, 53 St. Mary’s Law Journal 991 (2022).
Actively Achieving Greater Racial Equity in Law School Classrooms, 70 Cleveland State Law Review 709 (2022) (with Catherine Bramble).
Reexamining Relative Bar Performance as a Function of Non-Linearity, Heteroscedasticity, and a New Independent Variable, 52 New Mexico Law Review 119 (2022) (with Kevin Ruth and Katie Tolliver Jones).
Directed Questions: A Non-Socratic Dialogue about Non-Socratic Teaching, 99 University of Detroit Mercy Law Review 1 (2021) (with Kris Franklin).
Quantifying the Impact of Matriculant Credentials & Academic Attrition Rates on Bar Exam Success at Individual Schools, 99 Detroit Mercy Law Review Online 6 (2021) (with Kevin Ruth).
Socratic Teaching and Learning Styles: Exposing the Pervasiveness of Implicit Bias and White Privilege in Legal Pedagogy, 18 Hastings Race & Poverty Law Journal 114 (2021) (with Liyun Zhang). Cited in:
Blinded us with Science? A Reexamination of the Bar Ninja and Silver Bullet Bar Program Cryptids, 49 Journal of Law & Education 241 (2020).
Newsworthiness as an Internet-Era Mitigant of Implicit Bias, 88 UMKC Law Review 1 (2019).
Individual Sovereignty, Freer Sex and Diminished Privacy: How an Informed and Realistic Modern Sexual Morality Provides Salvation from Unjustified Shame, 8 Elon Law Review 245 (2016).
Maritime Removal: An Unlikely Heuristic for Anchoring Three Non-Textual Principles of Original Federal Jurisdiction, 43 The Journal of Maritime Law and Commerce 195 (2012). Cited in:
The Scientific Impossibility of Plausibility, 90 Nebraska Law Review 435 (2011).
Almost a Century and Three Restatements After Green it's Time to Admit and Remedy the Nonsense of Negligence, 38 Northern Kentucky Law Review 61 (2011).
Electronic Discovery, Informational Privacy, Facebook and Utopian Civil Justice, 79 Mississippi Law Journal 317 (2009).
Constitutional History, Federal Arbitration and Seamens' Rights Sinking in a Sea of Sweatshop Labor, 39 Journal of Maritime Law and Commerce 157 (2008).
Protecting Cruise Line Employees' Rights to Maintenance and Cure: The Need for Pre-Trial Adjudications, 18 University of San Francisco Maritime Law Journal 221 (2006).
Tracking the Circularity of Confession Jurisprudence after Massiah & Miranda: Can a Superficial Application of Property Law Make Sense out of Nonsense? 16 St. Thomas Law Review 287 (2003).
Note, Big Boats, Big Crews, the Biggest Seas and Little Licenses: Exposing the Regulatory Paradox Allowing the Existence of the 'Uninspected Fish Processing Vessel', 15 St. Thomas Law Review 219 (2002).
A Critical Race Approach to Systemic Inequity, (forthcoming, Carolina Academic Press).
Civil Procedure: An Active Learning Approach, 2nd ed. (West Academic Publishing, 2024).
Torts: A Contemporary Approach, 4th ed., Interactive Casebook Series (West Academic Publishing, forthcoming 2024) (co-authored with Meredith J. Duncan and Ronald Turner).
Civil Procedure: An Active Learning Approach, (West Academic Publishing, 2021).
Torts: A Contemporary Approach, 3rd ed., Interactive Casebook Series (West Academic Publishing, 2018) (co-authored with Meredith J. Duncan and Ronald Turner).
"Chat GPT-4 Understands Academic Attrition’s Impact on Bar Passage, but does Anyone Else?," Washburn Law Journal Blog (September, 2023) (with Kevin Ruth).
"An Immigrant Contextualizes the George Floyd Verdict," Washburn Law Journal Blog (April 25, 2021).
"Should I Teach to the A or the C Student And Can Active Learning Render this Question Moot," Idea of the Month, Institute for Law Teaching and Learning, January, 2018.
"Random Thoughts About Resistance To Active Learning," Idea of the Month, Institute for Law Teaching and Learning, November, 2017.
Review, "The Master’s Tools: Deconstructing the Socratic Method and its Disparate Impact on Women Through the Prism Of The Equal Protection Doctrine," (Tanisha Makeba Bailey, 3 University of Maryland Law Journal of Race, Religion, Gender & Class 125 (2003)) Article of the Month (March 2017), Institute for Law Teaching and Learning.
"Turning Socratic Lecture Notes into a Handout," Idea of the Month, Institute for Law Teaching and Learning, December, 2016.
Review, "Do We Need Subject Matter-Specific Pedagogies?," (Kris Franklin, 65 Journal of Legal Education 839 (2016)) Article of the Month (August 2016), Institute for Law Teaching and Learning.
Review, "Tired of Talking: A Call for Clear Strategies for Legal Education Reform: Moving Beyond the Discussion of Good Ideas to the Real Transformation of Law Schools," (Sara Rankin, 10 Seattle Journal for Social Justice 11 (2011)) Article of the Month (April 2016), Institute for Law Teaching and Learning.
Review, "White Privilege and the Case-Dialogue Method," (Rob Trousdale, 1 Seattle Journal for Social Justice 29 (2010)) Article of the Month (December 2015), Institute for Law Teaching and Learning.
Review, "Challenging Carnegie" (Kristin Holmquist, 61 Journal of Legal Education 353 (2012)) Article of the Month (September 2015), Institute for Law Teaching and Learning.
"Making Explicit the Link between Briefing and Exam Writing," Idea of the Month, Institute for Law Teaching and Learning, May 2015.
Review, "Theory Saved my Life" (Kris Franklin, 8 New York City Law Review 599 (2005)) Article of the Month (February 2015), Institute for Law Teaching and Learning.
Review, 'Teaching for Tomorrow: Utilizing Technology to Implement the Reforms of MacCrate, Carnegie and Best Practices" (Stephen M. Johnson, 92 Nebraska Law Review 46 (2013)) Article of the Month (August 2014), Institute for Law Teaching and Learning.
"Good Teaching Is Both Important And Quantifiable," Idea of the Month, Institute for Law Teaching and Learning, May 2014.
Review, "A Way Forward for an Ailing Legal Education Model" (James Moliterno, 17 Chapman Law Review 73 (2013)), Article of the Month (February 2014), Institute for Law Teaching and Learning.
"Good Teaching is Quantifiable," Idea of the Month, Institute for Law Teaching and Learning, November 2013.
Review, "Rethinking U.S. Legal Education: No More Same Old Same Old" (Nancy Rapoport,, 45 Connecticut Law Review 1409 (2013)), Article of the Month (August 2013), Institute for Law Teaching and Learning.
Review, "The Analytic Classroom" (Todd F. Pettys, 60 Buffalo Law Review 1255 (2012)), Article of the Month (April 2013), Institute for Law Teaching and Learning.
"Nike Commercials and Good Teaching: Just Do It!," Idea of the Month, Institute for Law Teaching and Learning, January 2013.
Review, "Teaching That Emphasizes Active Engagement: Improving Learning for Middle School Students" (Peter Lorain, National Education Association website), Article of the Month (October 2012), Institute for Law Teaching and Learning.
"Teaching Statutory/Rule Interpretation," Idea of the Month, Institute for Law Teaching and Learning, July 2012.
Review, "Alternative Justifications for Academic Support II: How 'Academic Support Across the Curriculum' Helps Meet the Goals of the Carnegie Report and Best Practices" (Louis N. Schulze Jr., 40 Capital University Law Review 1 (2012)), Article of the Month (May 2012), Institute for Law Teaching and Learning.
"Treyvon Martin and Comments on the Florida Self Defense Law," Arizona State Law Journal Blog, April 10, 2012.
"Using Formative Assessment to Speed Up Doctrinal Coverage," Idea of the Month, Institute for Law Teaching and Learning, January 2012.
Presented, Plenary Session on Assessment, Association of American Law Schools (AALS) 2024 Workshop for New Law Teachers, Washington, DC, June 7, 2024 (with Kris Franklin).
"Civility in PIF: Making Systemic Racism feel Warm and Fuzzy," University of Denver Sturm College of Law, Interrogating the Hidden Curriculum: Implications for Formation of Professional Identity symposium, Denver, Colorado, September 22, 2023 (work in progress).
Presented expertise on innovative teaching methods which has been explored in his most recent article, "Directed Questions: A Non-Socratic Dialogue about Non-Socratic Teaching," and his book "Civil Procedure Casebook" at New Vision University and Free University in Tbilisi, Georgia, July 6, 2023.
"Implicit Bias: Why We are not Ourselves," Missouri Department of Revenue CLE, Jefferson City, Missouri, June 2023.
Plenary Presenter, "Assessment," American Association of Law Schools (AALS) Workshop for New Law School Teachers, Washington, D.C., June 9, 2023 (with Kris Franklin).
Presenter, "Directed Reading," Institute for Law Teaching and Learning (ILTL), Compliance with ABA Standards Conference, Sacramento, California, June 2, 2023 (with Kris Franklin).
Presenter, "Exploring the Impossibility of Anti-Racism in the Context of Law School Rankings," Earl E. O’Connor Inn of Court Ethics CLE, Overland Park, Kansas, May 2023.
Panelist, "Examining Analyses and Commentary of Institutional Bar Exam Performance," 2022 AccessLex Legal Education Research Symposium, Nashville, Tennessee, November 8, 2022.
"Implicit Bias: Why We Are Not Ourselves," Kansas Women Attorneys Association 33rd Annual Conference, Lindsborg, Kansas, July 15, 2022.
Invited Presenter, Two-day Faculty Development Workshop on Assessment facilitated by a Slovenian NGO funded by the US State Department, Tashkent State University of Law, Tashkent Uzbekistan, June 2022 (with Kris Franklin).
Plenary presentation, "Assessment and Feedback," Association of American Law Schools (AALS) 2022 Workshop for New Law School Teachers, Washington, DC, June 3, 2022 (with Kris Franklin).
"Implicit Bias: Why We are not Who We Think We Are," Spring 2022 Zoom CLE Webinar, Kansas Department of Administration, Office of Chief Counse, Topeka, Kansas, April 8, 2022.
Invited presenter, "Law School Rankings and the Impossibility of Anti-Racism," University of Oregon School of Law, Eugene, Oregon, April 7, 2022.
Plenary Presenter, "Assessment," Association of American Law Schools (AALS) Workshop for New Law School Teachers, Washington, D.C., June 3, 2021 (virtual).
Panelist, Topeka Black Agenda, Omni Circle meeting, Topeka, Kansas, May 12, 2021 (discussion on community policing, implicit bias, racial profiling, qualified immunity, and over-policing in the Black Community).
Presenter, "Drafting and Grading Exams and Providing Meaningful Feedback," Association of American Law Schools (AALS), Faculty Focus National Webinar Series, April 6, 2021.
Invited Presenter, "Increasing Engagement in Law School Classrooms by Implementing Active Learning," Brigham Young University, J. Reuben Clark Law School, March, 2021.
"An Active Learning Approach to Teaching Civil Procedure," West Academic, February 24, 2021 (live webinar).
Invited Presenter, "Increasing Engagement in Law School Classrooms by the Implementation of Active Learning," University of South Carolina School of Law, Columbia, South Carolina, January, 2020.
Presenter / Panelist, "Strategies for Bar Prep Success," Southeastern Association of Law Schools (SEALS) Annual Conference, Boca Raton, Florida, August 2, 2019.
Participant, "Mock Interviews for Prospective Law Students," Southeastern Association of Law Schools (SEALS) Annual Conference, Boca Raton, Florida July 31, 2019.
Plenary Presenter / Panelist, "Demonstrating How to Engage and Motivate Students," Southeastern Association of Law Schools (SEALS) Annual Conference, Boca Raton, Florida, July 30, 2019.
Invited Presenter, "West Academic, Engaged Learning Forum," Southeastern Association of Law Schools (SEALS) Annual Conference, Boca Raton, Florida, July 29, 2019.
Invited Participant, West Academic Legal Distance Learning Conference, St. Paul, Minnesota, July, 2019.
Plenary Presenter, "Assessment," American Association of Law Schools (AALS) Workshop for New Law School Teachers, Washington, D.C., June 8, 2019.
"Three Tangible Active Learning Methods to Teach Legal Analysis to First Year Students," Association of Academic Support Educators (AASE) Annual Conference, Seattle University School of Law, Seattle, Washington, May 22, 2019.
Featured Speaker, "Implicit Bias and the Morality of Newsworthiness," Day Long In-Service Faculty Teaching Workshop, DePaul University, Chicago, Illinois, December 6 2018, (with Russell McClain, Kris Franklin and Paula Manning).
"Introduction to Law School Skills Workshop," Council on Legal Education Opportunity (CLEO), University of Mississippi Robert C. Khayat Law School, Oxford, Mississippi, June 8, 2015.
"Evaluation/Assessment and Feedback with Active Learning," The Association of American Law Schools Workshop for New Law School Teachers, Washington, DC, June 5, 2015.
"Active and Multimodal Classroom Instruction," Duke University School of Law, Durham, North Carolina, February 23, 2015.
"Alternative Assessment Strategies," University of the Pacific McGeorge School of Law, Sacramento, California, February 18, 2015.
"Active and Multimodal Instruction in the Doctrinal Classroom," St. Thomas University School of Law, Miami Gardens, Florida, October 10, 2014.
"Learning the Building Blocks of Legal Analysis in the Large Classroom," New York Law School, New York, October 6, 2014.
Presenter, "Introduction to Legal Analysis," American Bar Association, Council on Legal Education Opportunity (CLEO) Six Week Pre-Law Summer Institute, Day Long Plenary, University of Mississippi School of Law, Oxford, Mississippi, June 2014.
Presenter, "Modeling Active Learning in Large Doctrinal Classes," Institute for Law Teaching and Learning, Best Law Teachers Conference, Northwestern University School of Law, Chicago, Illinois, June 2014.
Presenter, "Introduction to the Study of Law," American Bar Association, Council on Legal Education Opportunity (CLEO) Six Week Pre-Law Summer Institute, Day Long Plenary, University of Mississippi School of Law, Oxford, Mississippi, June 2014.
Presenter, "Evaluation Assessment and Active Learning," The Association of American Law Schools (AALS) Workshop for New Law School Teachers, Plenary Session, Washington, D.C., June 21, 2014.
Presenter, "Designing Effective ASP Teaching and Learning Experiences," Association of Academic Support Educators (AASE) 2014 Annual Conference, Plenary Session, Indiana University Robert H. McKinney School of Law, Indianapolis, Indiana, May 31, 2014.
Presenter, "Formative Assessment in Large Classes," Institute for Law Teaching and Learning, Assessment Across the Curriculum Conference, University of Arkansas at Little Rock, Bowen School of Law, Little Rock, Arkansas, April 5, 2014.
Presenter /Moderator, "New Skills and New Teaching Methods," USAID Judicial Independence and Legal Empowerment Project (JILEP), Georgia Legal Education Conference, Tbilisi, Georgia, February 15, 2014.
Presenter, "The Purpose of Law School and International Trends in Legal Education," USAID Judicial Independence and Legal Empowerment Project (JILEP), Georgia Legal Education Conference, Tbilisi, Georgia, February 15, 2014.
Presenter, "A Practical Guide to Teaching Legal Analysis and Statutory Interpretation Actively," Free University School of Law, Tbilisi, Georgia, February, 2014.
Plenary Speaker, "Evaluation," Association of American Law Schools 2013 Workshop for New Law School Teachers, Washington, D.C., June 22, 2013 (discussed methods to evaluate students and provide feedback throughout the semester and addressed exam creation, grading, and post-exam review).
Presenter/Panelist, "Changing Our Approaches to Teaching to Enhance Feedback and Assessment," Southeastern Association of Law Schools (SEALS) Annual Meeting, Amelia-Island, Florida, July 29, 2012.
Presenter, "Evaluation," AALS Workshop for New Law School Teachers, Plenary Session, Washington, D.C., June 23 2012.
Presenter, "An Active Learning Approach to Introducing Skills and Problem Solving in Chilean Legal Education," Institute for Law School Teaching and Learning, Teaching Methods Training for Law Professors from Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Washburn University School of Law, Topeka, Kansas, January, 2012.
Presenter, "Principles of Academic Support Pedagogy: Creating Context," Workshop on Academic Support, American Association of Law Schools Annual Meeting, Washington, DC, January 7, 2012.
Presenter, "Comparing Lecturing and Multimodal Instruction," Free State University of Tbilisi Teaching Workshop, Washburn University School of Law, Topeka, Kansas, August, 2011.
Presenter, "Everything we need to Know about Teaching we Learned in Pre-School: Active Learning and how to not Teach to Engage Students," Adjunct Teaching Workshop, Washburn University School of Law, Topeka, Kansas, February, 2011.
Speaker, "Assessment and Feedback with Active Learning," Presidential Program I - Teaching Excellence: Integrating Knowledge, Skills, Values and Assessment, 2011 Annual Meeting of the American Association of Law Schools, San Francisco, California, January 7, 2011.
Presenter, "Admitting and Remedying the Nonsense of Negligence," University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Law, Kansas City, Missouri, April 9, 2010.
Presenter, "Everything We Need to Know About Teaching We Learned in Pre-school: Active Learning and How to Not Teach to Engage Students," Implementing Best Practices and Educating Lawyers: Teaching Skills and Professionalism Across the Curriculum, Institute for Law Teaching and Learning, Gonzaga University School of Law, Spokane, Washington, June 24, 2009.
Presenter, "Best Practices for Evaluating Academic Support Programs," LSAC Southwest Academic Assistance Training Workshop, Texas Tech University School of Law, Lubbock, Texas, November 10-11, 2006.
Panelist, "Around the World in 45 Minutes: Trends in Academic Assistance," LSAC Academic Assistance Training Workshop, June, 2005.
Executive Committee Member, Section on Empirical Study of Legal Education and the Legal Profession, Association of American Law Schools (AALS), 2023.
Completed Certificate of Inclusive Teaching and Learning at Center for Teaching Excellence and Learning (CTEL), May 2021.
Member, Board of Directors, The Center for Computer-Assisted Legal Instruction (CALI), 2020-2023.
Chair, American Association of Law Schools Section on Teaching Methods, 2017-2018.
Treasurer, American Association of Law Schools Section on Teaching Methods, 2015-2016.
National Academic Curriculum Consultant, Council on Legal Education Opportunity (CLEO), American Bar Association Division, 2013-2015.
Recipient, 2023 Ned Fleming Excellence in Teaching Award, Washburn University, Topeka, Kansas.
Recipient, The Dean Jennifer L. Rosato Excellence in the Classroom Award, Drexel University Kline School of Law, May 23, 2022.
Certificate of Teaching and Learning 2020-2021
Certificate of Inclusive Teaching and Learning 2020-2021