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Joshua Paul Fershee, JD

Dean, School of Law

Professor

Joshua Fershee

Contact

JoshuaFershee@creighton.edu
School of Law
Deans
Faculty - Law
Administration - Law
LAWC - Ahmanson Law Center

Joshua Paul Fershee, JD

Dean, School of Law

Professor


Joshua Fershée, JD, became the 11th dean of the Creighton University School of Law on July 1, 2019. Fershée previously served as associate dean for faculty research and development, professor of law, and director of LLM programs at West Virginia University College of Law.
 
Earning a bachelor’s degree in social science from Michigan State University in 1995, Fershée began his career in public relations and media outreach before attending the Tulane University School of Law, graduating summa cum laude in 2003 and serving as editor in chief of the Tulane Law Review. He worked in private practice at the firms of Davis Polk & Wardell in New York and Hogan & Hartson, LLP, in Washington, D.C., before joining the legal academy.
 
Fershée joined the faculty of the University of North Dakota School of Law in 2007, and later served as associate dean for academic affairs and research. He was awarded the North Dakota Spirit Faculty Achievement Award in 2010 for significant contributions in teaching, research, and service. Fershée began his teaching as a visiting assistant professor at Penn State Law.
 
While at West Virginia University, Fershée facilitated creation of the law school’s first LL.M. Program in Energy and Sustainable Development and was a co-investigator on a $1.2 million grant to advance science and engineering for localized gas utilization. He also headed the Economic and Community Development Group and was a faculty researcher in the Center for Innovation in Gas Research and Utilization, a multidisciplinary center housed in West Virginia University’s Statler College of Engineering and Mineral Resources. Fershée was awarded the 2014-15 Outstanding Faculty Award by the West Virginia Law Review at West Virginia University College of Law.
 
Fershée’s research has appeared in a variety of journals, including the Harvard Journal on Legislation, Harvard Business Law Review Online, William and Mary Environmental Law and Policy Review, and the Energy Law Journal, and he recently contributed a book chapter published by Oxford University Press. He is the author of Energy Law, A Context and Practice Casebook (Carolina Academic Press) and co-author of Unincorporated Business Entities (LexisNexis, 5th ed.). Fershée is also an editor of the Business Law Prof Blog.
 

Position

Professor

Books

  • Joshua P. Fershee, Energy Law: A Context and Practice Casebook (2d. ed) 2021
  • Amy L. Stein and Joshua P. Fershée, Light-Duty Vehicles, in Legal Pathways to Deep Decarbonization in the United States 353 (Michael B. Gerrard & John C. Dernbach eds) 2019
  • Ruven Fleming & Joshua P. Fershee, The ‘Hydrogen Economy’ in the United States and the European Union: Regulating Innovation to Combat Climate Change, in Innovation in Energy Law and Technology: Dynamic Solutions for Energy Transitions 137 (Donald Zillman, Martha Roggenkamp, Leroy Paddock & Lee Godden eds) 2018
  • Joshua P. Fershee, Energy Law: A Context and Practice Casebook 2014
  • Larry E. Ribstein, Jeffrey M. Lipshaw, Elizabeth S. Miller & Joshua P. Fershee, Unincorporated Business Entities (5th ed.) 2013
  • Joshua P. Fershee, Renewables Mandates and Goals, in The Law of Clean Energy: Efficiency and Renewables 77, Michael B. Gerrard ed. 2011

Articles

  • Joshua P. Fershée, The Benefits and Burdens of Limited Liability, 22 TRANSACTIONS: TENN. J. BUS. L. 313 2021
  • Joshua P. Fershée, The Benefits and Burdens of Limited Liability, 22 TRANSACTIONS: TENN. J. BUS. L. 313 2021
  • Joshua P. Fershée, Oil & Gas Survey: West Virginia, 6 TEX. A&M J. PROP. L. 210 2020
  • Joshua P. Fershee, This, I Believe: A New Look at Corporate Purpose, Director Primacy and the Business Judgment Rule, 21 Transactions: Tenn. J. Bus. L. 301 2020
  • Joshua P. Fershée, A Look Back and a Look Ahead at Creighton University School of Law, Neb. Law., at 35, Sept./Oct 2019
  • Joshua Fershée, An Overt Disclosure Requirement for Eliminating the Duty of Loyalty, 20 Transactions: Tenn. J. Bus. L. 979 2019
  • Oil and Gas Survey: West Virginia, 5 Texas A&M J. of Property L. 169 2019
  • Jeffrey B. Jacquet, Anne N. Junod, Dylan Bugden, Grace Wildermuth, Joshua T. Fergen, Kirk Jalbert, Brian Rahm, Paige Hagley, Kathryn J. Brasier, Kai Schafft, Leland Glenna, Timothy Kelsey, Joshua Fershee, David L. Kay, Richard C. Stedman & James Ladleec, A Decade of Marcellus Shale: Impacts to People, Policy, and Culture from 2008 to 2018 in the Greater Mid-Atlantic Region of the United States, 5 Extractive Industries and Soc'y 596 2018
  • Joshua P. Fershee, The End of Responsible Growth and Governance?: The Risks Posed by Social Enterprise Enabling Statutes and the Demise of Director Primacy, 19 Transactions: Tenn. J. Bus. L. 361 2018
  • Joshua P. Fershee, Facts, fiction, and perception in hydraulic fracturing: Illuminating Act 13 and Robinson Township v. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, 116 W. Va. L. Rev. 819 2014
  • Joshua P. Fershee, LLCs and Corporations: A Fork in the Road in Delaware?, 1 Harvard Business Law Review Online 82 (2011), http://www.hblr.org/2011/06/llcs-and-corporations-a-fork-in-the-road-in-delaware/ (invited submission) (cited and quoted in Brief for Amicus Curiae Larry E. Ribstein at 14-15, Roni, LLC, v. Arfa, Sept. 9, 2011 (No. 601224/2007)) 2011
  • Joshua P. Fershee, When Prayer Trumps Politics: The Politics and Demographics of Renewable Portfolio Standards, 35 Wm. & Mary Envtl. L. & Pol’y Rev. 53 2010
  • Joshua P. Fershee, The Rising Tide of Climate Change: What America’s Flood Cities Can Teach Us About Green Energy Policy, and Why We Should Be Worried, 39 Envtl. L. 1109 2009
  • Joshua P. Fershee, Changing Resources, Changing Markets: The Impact of a National Renewable Portfolio Standard on the U.S. Energy Industry, 29 Energy L.J. 49 (2008), excerpt reprinted in Chris Wold, David Hunter & Melissa Powers, Climate Change and the Law 699 2008

Publications

  • Joshua Fershée, On Corporate Purpose, Director Primacy, and the Business Judgment Rule, THE CLS BLUE LION SKY BLOG (Dec. 4, 2020), https://clsbluesky.law.columbia.edu/2020/12/04/on-corporate-purpose-director-primacy-and-the-business-judgment-rule. 2020

Presentations

  • Ipse Dixit Podcast, Discussion: The End of Responsible Growth and Governance?: The Risks Posed by Social Enterprise Enabling Statutes and the Demise of Director Primacy, Oberlin, Ohio, April 10 2019
  • Association of American Law Schools, AALS Annual Meeting, Section Chair/Panel Moderator, Section on Agency, Partnership, LLCs, and Unincorporated Associations Program: Respecting the Entity: The LLC Grows Up (with Elizabeth Miller, Baylor; Tom Rutledge, Stoll Keenon Ogden PLLC; Christopher Bradley, Kentucky), New Orleans, Louisiana, Jan. 5 2019
  • West Virginia University, 2018 Center for Innovation for Gas Research and Utilization Open House, Introduction: Interdisciplinary Shale Gas Research: Economic & Community Development, Morgantown, West Virginia, Dec. 4 2018
  • American Bar Association, LLC Institute, Presentation: “You Can’t Pierce the Corporate Veil of an LLC: Because It Doesn’t Have One”, Arlington, Virginia, Nov. 2 2017
  • Energy Impacts Research Coordination Network, Energy Impacts Symposium, Plenary Speaker, “Community Planning and the North Dakota Sovereign Wealth Fund”, Columbus, Ohio, July 26 2017
  • American Institute of Chemical Engineers, Center for Technology Initiatives, Natural Gas Utilization Workshop: Overcoming Hurdles of Technology Implementation, Session 1: Solving Challenges from the Policy and Market Perspectives: “A Natural (Gas) Evolution: Law and Policy Challenges and Opportunities in the Shale Gas Era”, Morgantown, West Virginia, Nov. 2 2016
  • West Virginia Division of Energy, 2016 Governor's Energy Summit: Tackling America’s Energy Challenges, Poster Presentation: Assessing and Comparing Alternatives in Determining Energy Law and Policy for the Electricity Sector, Roanoke, West Virginia, Oct. 6 2016
  • John Marshall Law School Center for Real Estate Law, 14th Kratovil Conference: Fracking, Energy Sources, Climate Change & Real Estate, “Providing Fuel for Transportation in the New Energy Mix”, Chicago, Illinois, Sept. 29 2015
  • Harvard Law School’s Environmental Law Program/Duke University’s Nicholas Institute, Workshop: Power Shift: Regulating the Evolving Electricity Sector, Invited Discussant, Washington, DC, Feb. 16 2015
  • Texas A&M University School of Law/Texas A&M Law Review, Sixth Annual Energy Symposium, Keynote Speaker: “An Environmental Dream or Regulatory Nightmare? In Pursuit of a New Public Trust Through Hydraulic Fracturing Law and Regulation”, Fort Worth, Texas, May 21 2014
  • Northwestern Law/Searle Center on Law, Regulation, & Economic Growth, Second Conference on Federalism and Energy in the United States, “Collapsed (Federal) Cooperation: A New Trust Doctrine for Hydraulic Fracturing Regulation” (invited conference speaker), Chicago, Illinois, Nov. 15 2013
  • Richmond Law Review Symposium, University of Richmond, The Allen Chair Symposium: The Energy-Water Nexus, “Waste(d) Water: Assessing and Addressing Hydraulic Fracturing Risks” (invited), Richmond, Virginia, Oct. 18 2013
  • London Symposia, The Oxford and Cambridge Club, London Symposium on Climate Change, “The Future Has Gas: Recognizing Risks and Reaping Rewards from Shale Fuels, A Learning Opportunity” (accepted), London, United Kingdom, June 23 2013
  • Warsaw University of Life Sciences (SGGW), Invited Speaker Panel, “The Oil and Gas Evolution: Learning from the Hydraulic Fracturing Experiences in North Dakota and West Virginia”, Warsaw, Poland, June 14 2013
  • University of Minnesota Consortium on Law and Values in Health, Environment & the Life Sciences and University of Minnesota Law School, Legal & Policy Pathways for Energy Innovation Conference, “The Role of Natural Gas in a Clean(er) Energy Future”, Minneapolis, Minnesota, April 25 2013
  • Washington & Lee University School of Law, Journal of Energy, Climate, and the Environment, The "All of the Above" Strategy: Evaluating the Obama Administration and the Future of Federal Law and Policy on Energy and Climate Change, “Respecting the Resource: Battling Climate Change and Fulfilling the Promise of Shale Gas” (invited symposium speaker), Lexington, Virginia, Feb. 1 2013
  • Northwestern Law/Searle Center on Law, Regulation, & Economic Growth, Federalism and Energy in the United States, “Respecting Boundaries: A Cooperative Model for Regulating Hydraulic Fracturing”, Chicago, Illinois, March 2 2012
  • William and Mary Environmental Law and Policy Review, Diversify Your Portfolio: Regulating Energy Sources with Renewable Energy Portfolio Standards, “Balancing Power: Rethinking Renewable Energy Standards”, Williamsburg, Virginia, Jan. 29 2010
  • Washington and Lee School of Law, Frances Lewis Law Center: Spring 2010 Faculty Workshop Series, Driving Technology: Issues and Challenges in Changing Transportation Fuel Sources, Jan. 28 2010