Professor Ferriell Publishes Contracts Textbook

November 11, 2004

Jeffrey T. Ferriell, professor of law at Capital University Law School, has published Understanding Contracts, a new contracts hornbook designed for use primarily by first-year law students. Professor Ferriell co-authored the book with Professor Michael J. Navin.

According to Professor Ferriell, the book relies on established common law principles as reflected by both appellate cases and the Restatement (Second) of Contracts, as well as on relevant provisions of Article 2 of the Uniform Commercial Code. It includes limited materials on the United Nations Convention on the International Sale of Goods, the UNIDROIT Principles on Commercial Contracts, and on modern statutes dealing with methods of electronic contracting.

“The book provides students with clear explanations and examples of the areas of contract law students find most difficult; it focuses attention on the leading contracts cases that many first-year students encounter,” said Professor Ferriell. “The book’s detailed table of contents also provides students with a brief outline of a law of contracts course.”

Professor Ferriell’s co-author, Michael J. Navin, was a long-time member of the faculty and former Dean at Dickinson College of Law in Carlisle, Pennsylvania before his unexpected death in February 2004.

Professor Ferriell grew up in Columbus, Ohio and Hayward, California. He earned his undergraduate degree at Ohio State University in 1975 and his law degree from Santa Clara University in 1978. At Santa Clara he was a comments editor of the Santa Clara Law Review, chair of the Moot Court Board, and received the award for the Outstanding Graduate of the Class of 1978. He received his LL.M. from the University of Illinois in 1983.

Professor Ferriell has taught at the University of Illinois College of Law, Santa Clara University, Ohio Northern University and the University of San Diego. He is a regular adjunct faculty member at the Moritz College of Law at the Ohio State University. He joined the faculty at Capital University Law School in 1986, where he teaches Contracts, Secured Transactions, and Debtors' & Creditors' Rights. Other courses he has taught include Antitrust, Bankruptcy Reorganizations, Payment Systems, Consumer Law, Federal Courts, Legal Research and Writing, Real Estate Finance, and Professional Responsibility. He served as advisor to Capital’s National Moot Court Team from 1987-2002.

In addition to Understanding Contracts, Professor Ferriell is the author of a two-volume treatise on the Uniform Commercial Code in Ohio, Baldwin's Ohio Practice, Commercial Code (West 1996), as well as numerous articles on bankruptcy law and jurisdiction.