Niki Kuckes

Photo of Niki Kuckes
Niki KuckesProfessor of Law

Contact Information

401-254-4505nkuckes@rwu.eduSSRN Author PageCurriculum Vitae

Education

J.D., Yale
B.A., Cornell University

After a successful term at Yale Law School (where she served on the Yale Law Journal, the Yale Journal of Law and Policy, and the Yale Journal of International Law), Niki Kuckes won a coveted clerkship with Judge (now Justice) Antonin Scalia. She moved on to develop a sophisticated litigation practice in Washington, D.C, where for almost two decades she focused on white collar criminal matters, copyright and First Amendment, and legal malpractice cases. Professor Kuckes has used this expertise to develop a strong reputation in the areas of grand juries and prosecutorial ethics. Before coming to RWU, Professor Kuckes was "Distinguished Practitioner in Residence" at Cornell Law School.

Professor Kuckes was awarded tenure and promoted to Full Professor in 2009, and she brings her deep practice experience to her teaching of Civil Procedure, Intellectual Property, and Professional Responsibility.

Books

“Rewriting Grand Jury History,” in Grand Jury 2.0, edited by Roger Fairfax (Durham, North Carolina: Carolina Press, 2011)

Articles

Iancu v. Brunetti: Free Speech Meets Immoral and Scandalous Trademarks in the Supreme Court, 25 Roger Williams University Law Review 80 (2020)

Matal v. Tam: Free Speech Meets Disparaging Trademarks in the Supreme Court, 23 Roger Williams University Law Review 122 (2018)

Designing Law School Externships That Comply with the FLSA, 21 Clinical Law Review 79 (2014)

The State of Rule 3.8: Prosecutorial Ethics Reform Since Ethics 2000, 22 Georgetown Journal of Legal Ethics 427 (2009)

Civil Due Process, Criminal Due Process, 25 Yale Law and Policy Review 1 (2006)

The Democratic Prosecutor: Explaining the Constitutional Function of the Federal Grand Jury, 94 Georgetown Law Journal 1265 (2006)

The Useful, Dangerous Fiction of Grand Jury Independence¸ 41 American Criminal Law Review 1 (2004)

Close Course Type Descriptions

Course Types

We have classified RWU Law classes under the following headers. One of the following course types will be attached to each course which will allow students to narrow down their search while looking for classes.

Core Course

Students in the first and second year are required to take classes covering the following aspects of the law—contracts, torts, property, criminal law, civil procedure, and constitutional law, evidence, and professional responsibility.  Along with these aspects, the core curriculum will develop legal reasoning skills.

Elective

After finishing the core curriculum the remaining coursework toward the degree is completed through upper level elective courses.  Students can choose courses that peak their interests or courses that go along with the track they are following.

Seminar

Seminars are classes where teachers and small groups of students focus on a specific topic and the students complete a substantial research paper.

Clinics/Externships

Inhouse Clinics and Clinical Externships legal education is law school training in which students participate in client representation under the supervision of a practicing attorney or law professor.  RWU Law's Clinical Programs offer unique and effective learning opportunities and the opportunity for practical experience while still in law school.