Education
B.A., University of Chicago
J.D., University of Wisconsin Law School

Areas of Expertise
Constitutional Law
Contracts
Jurisprudence

Professor R. Randall Kelso is the Spurgeon E. Bell Distinguished Professor of Law at South Texas College of Law Houston.  He teaches and writes primarily in the area of Constitutional Law.  He also teaches Contracts, and has taught Professional Responsibility and Jurisprudence in the past.  He earned his B.A., in Mathematics, from the University of Chicago in 1976, and his J.D. from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1979.

Professor Kelso’s current research projects focus on building a set of Constitutional Law materials accessible online for students at South Texas College of Law, at other law schools, and the public in general.  With his father, Charles D. Kelso, an Emeritus Professor of Law at the University of the Pacific, McGeorge School of Law, he has published: Charles D. Kelso & R. Randall Kelso, The Path of Constitutional Law (2007) (with Yearly Updated Supplements through 2020) (E-Treatise on United States Supreme Court doctrine interpreting the United States Constitution); Charles D. Kelso & R. Randall Kelso, American Constitutional Law: An E-Coursebook Volumes 1 & 2 (2020 Orig. Ed. 2014) (Volume 1: The Structural Constitution: Separation of Powers and Federalism; Volume 2: Individual Economic, Civil, and Political Rights in the Constitution Exclusive of the First Amendment); Charles D. Kelso & R. Randall Kelso, American Constitutional Law: An E-Coursebook Volume 3: The First Amendment (2020 Orig. Ed. 2014); and R. Randall Kelso & Charles D. Kelso, Studying Law: An Introduction (2d ed. 2010) (legal methods materials on studying law in a common-law legal system, with particular focus on the United States).  All of these books are available online at: https://libguides.stcl.edu/kelsomaterials

Professor Kelso’s articles have appeared in the Texas Law Review, Wisconsin Law Review, University of Pennsylvania Journal of Constitutional Law, Seton Hall Journal of Constitutional Law, Cardozo Law Review, Hastings Law Review, Pepperdine Law Review, and Quinnipiac Law Review, among others.

Professor Kelso has been a visiting law professor at the University of the Pacific, McGeorge School of Law and the University of Aarhus School of Law in Aarhus, Denmark. Prior to joining the faculty of South Texas College of Law in 1983, he taught Legal Research and Writing at the University of Miami School of Law from 1979-1980 and at Columbia University School of Law from 1980-1982.