Merritt McAlister

Professor Merritt McAlister teaches and writes in the areas of federal courts, civil procedure, statutory interpretation, and constitutional law. Her scholarship focuses on judicial candor, transparency, and access to justice. Her current work considers the impact of nonprecedential decisionmaking in the federal courts of appeals.

Prior to joining the University of Florida law faculty, McAlister was a partner in the national appellate practice group of King & Spalding. While in private practice, McAlister was elected into the American Law Institute, named a Georgia Super Lawyer, and recognized for her pro bono work on behalf of prisoners and on LGBT civil rights issues.

McAlister clerked for Justice John Paul Stevens of the Supreme Court of the United States and Judge R. Lanier Anderson III of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit. She received her bachelor’s degree magna cum laude from Rice University and her law degree summa cum laude from the University of Georgia School of Law, where she served as Executive Articles Editor of the Georgia Law Review.