
Associate Professor Jules Epstein.

Widener Law Associate Professor Jules Epstein is the recipient of the 2011 Lindback Foundation Award for Distinguished Teaching, an honor bestowed annually to a member of the Widener University faculty. Epstein recently accepted the award at the university’s first faculty meeting of the new academic year. Widener Acting Provost Stephen Wilhite presented Epstein with the award, highlighting student reactions to Epstein’s teaching that praised his ability to make abstract legal concepts come alive through colorful stories and an engaging personality. “This professor’s enthusiasm for teaching made me want to learn more,” Wilhite read from Epstein’s nomination.“This is a tremendous honor. I value teaching. I love to teach,” Epstein said, accepting the award. “I view this as an award to the law school and my colleagues there. I can’t do what I do without them, without our dean and without our vice dean.”
Epstein joined the Delaware-campus faculty of Widener Law in 2003 and teaches criminal law, criminal procedure and evidence courses. He came from the highly respected Philadelphia criminal defense and civil
Associate Professor Jules Epstein, Widener University President James T. Harris, and Acting Provost Stephen Wilhite.

rights firm of Kairys, Rudovsky, Messing &amp; Feinberg, LLP, where he was a partner. He is the first member of the university faculty who is based on the Delaware campus to receive the award.
A 1978 graduate of the University of Pennsylvania School of Law, Epstein began his legal career with the Defender Association of Philadelphia. He was an adjunct professor at the University of Pennsylvania from 1988 through 2006. He has authored dozens of articles and book chapters and lectured around the country, with his work concentrating in recent years on capital cases, eyewitness and forensic issues.
Epstein has taught death penalty law nationally to judges and attorneys and continues to handle capital cases pro bono at the appellate and post-conviction stages. He serves as faculty for the National Judicial College, where he teaches judges courses in advanced evidence and capital case law. He is a member of a Pennsylvania work group revising suggested standard jury instructions for criminal cases. He also sits on a Commonwealth commission addressing issues in wrongful conviction cases.The Lindback Foundation Award is endowed by the Christian R. and Mary F. Lindback Foundation, a Philadelphia-based foundation that provides grants to institutions of higher education for the promotion of excellence in teaching.