Professor Cynthia Nicoletti, a legal historian, began teaching at the Law School in 2014. A three-time University of Virginia graduate, Nicoletti is also a recipient of the American Society for Legal History’s William Nelson Cromwell Prize for best dissertation in legal history. She is working on a book, “The Treason Trial of Jefferson Davis: Secession in the Aftermath of the American Civil War.”
Where are you from originally?
New York City (Manhattan).
Was there anything you wished you would have done differently in law school that you did not realize until later?
I spent a lot of time in law school focused on the particulars of legal rules. I wish I’d been able to zoom out a little more and to think about law more creatively. I got there, but it took a while. Law school would have been far more enjoyable if I’d been able to take a step back and think more holistically about the law and the work it does in structuring human relations.
When you were a kid, what did you want to be when you grew up?
I wanted to be the announcer at Yankee Stadium after hearing the late, great Bob Sheppard.
If you weren’t teaching law, what would you be doing?
I’d be a history professor, assuming that my dreams of baseball-announcing are out of reach.
Which UVA Law class would you most like to take?
This is cheating, but I’ll pick two. I’d like to take Remedies with Professor Douglas Laycock or Professor Toby Heytens and the Legal History of the 1960s with Professor Risa Goluboff.
What’s your favorite spot in Charlottesville, and why?
I’m a triple ‘Hoo, so I’d have to pick the Lawn at night.
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