School of Law Welcomes Three New Faculty Members

Photos Submitted

From left: Alena Allen, Caleb Griffin and Blair Bullock.

Alena Allen, Caleb N. Griffin and Blair Druhan Bullock joined the U of A School of Law faculty on June 1.

"Our new faculty are exceptional educators, scholars and community builders, and bring a wealth of professional accomplishments, expertise and experience to our law school," said Margaret Sova McCabe, dean of the law school. "Professors Allen, Griffin and Bullock will allow us to expand our curricular offerings, strengthen our contributions to research areas and publications at the national level, and enhance the campus' collaborative, innovative, diversity and inclusion priorities. We are delighted to have them."

ALENA ALLEN

Alena Allen joins the law school as associate dean for research and faculty development and professor of law. For the last decade, Allen taught Family Law, Health Law electives, Torts, and Feminist Jurisprudence at the Cecil C. Humphreys School of Law at the University of Memphis. She also served as co-lead of the University of Memphis campus-wide Eradicating Racism Initiative, Memphis law school faculty senator (2020-21), director of diversity (2017-18) and director of faculty research for Memphis Law (2020-21). 

Allen's research interests include the intersection of health policy and critical feminist theory. Her work has most recently been published in the North Carolina Law Review, the Fordham Law Review, and the Ohio State Law Journal. She currently serves on the Executive Committee for the Association of American Law Schools' Section on Scholarship and the Peer Review Committee for the Food and Drug Law Institute.  

Allen has received many awards and honors including the MLK50 Faculty Service Award for demonstrating outstanding service to the University of Memphis, the law school and the Memphis legal community; the Farris Bobango Faculty Scholarship Award for outstanding faculty scholarship; and Professor of the Year Award by the graduating class of 2013. She was also selected as a Tennessee Board of Regents Maxine Smith Higher Education Administration Fellow in 2015 and as an American Society of Medicine, Law, and Ethics/Saint Louis University Health Law Scholar in 2012-13.

She holds a Juris Doctor from Yale Law School and graduated magna cum laude from Loyola University with a Bachelor of Arts in psychology.

CALEB GRIFFIN

Caleb Griffin joins the law school as an assistant professor. Griffin's research focuses on corporate law, corporate governance and tech regulation. In particular, his recent work has critically examined the pivotal role that asset managers play in environmental, social and governance initiatives at public companies. In his most recent piece, "Systemically Important Platforms," he proposes innovative strategies for regulating Big Tech. His scholarship has been featured or is forthcoming in the Cornell Law Review, Maryland Law Review, Delaware Journal of Corporate Law, SMU Law Review and Columbia Business Law Review.

Prior to joining the law school, Griffin taught Contracts, Business Associations, Secured Transactions and related courses at Regent University School of Law, where he was awarded Professor of the Year twice. He also practiced corporate law at the firm of Vinson & Elkins LLP in Houston, Texas.

Griffin graduated cum laude from Harvard Law School with a Juris Doctor degree.

BLAIR DRUHAN BULLOCK

Blair D. Bullock joins the law school as an assistant professor. Bullock most recently served as Tulane Law School's Murphy Visiting Assistant Professor. Her interdisciplinary scholarship and research primarily focuses on employment discrimination and the labor market, empirically analyzing the impact of regulations, legislation, judicial decisions and agency guidance on the filing and outcome of legal actions and on societal outcomes. Bullock's scholarship has been featured or is forthcoming in the Alabama Law Review, Washington and Lee Law Review and the Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Economics and Finance.

Prior to joining academia, Bullock clerked for Judge Stephen A. Higginson of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. She then spent time in private practice representing national corporations in civil litigation, including labor and employment, state tax and contract disputes. Her experience includes extensive brief writing, both at the trial and appellate level, as well as in arbitration. She was also a member of a pro bono trial team that secured the exoneration of a wrongfully convicted man who spent over 14 years incarcerated in Florida.

Bullock received her Ph.D. in law and economics and her Juris Doctor from Vanderbilt University where she also served as the executive editor for the Vanderbilt Law Review.

About the University of Arkansas: As Arkansas' flagship institution, the U of A provides an internationally competitive education in more than 200 academic programs. Founded in 1871, the U of A contributes more than $2.2 billion to Arkansas' economy through the teaching of new knowledge and skills, entrepreneurship and job development, discovery through research and creative activity while also providing training for professional disciplines. The Carnegie Foundation classifies the U of A among the top 3% of U.S. colleges and universities with the highest level of research activity. U.S. News & World Report ranks the U of A among the top public universities in the nation. See how the U of A works to build a better world at Arkansas Research News.