Prof. Stephanie H. Barclay

Associate Professor of Law, University of Notre Dame Law School

Professor Stephanie Barclay joined the faculty of Notre Dame Law School as an Associate Professor of Law in July 2020. Her research focuses on the role our different democratic institutions play in protecting minority rights, particularly at the intersection of free speech and religious exercise. Barclay’s academic writing has been published or is forthcoming in publications such as the Harvard Law Review, the Washington University Law Review, the Notre Dame Law Review, and the Boston College Law Review. Her recent article, "An Economic Approach to Religious Exemptions," was selected for the 2020 Stanford/Harvard/Yale Junior Faculty Forum. Barclay has frequently appeared in the national media to discuss First Amendment issues, including appearances on BBC World News, Wall Street Journal Live, and Fox News. And her work has been featured in media outlets such as The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, USA Today, Bloomberg BNA, Deseret News, The Hill, and Law 360. Barclay is a Nootbar Fellow at the Nootbar Institute for Law, Religion, & Ethics at Pepperdine University, and a Faculty Affiliate at the Constitutional Law Center at Stanford Law School.

Prior to joining the Notre Dame faculty, Barclay was an Associate Professor of Law at BYU Law, where she was twice voted Professor of the Year by her second- and third-year students. Before becoming a professor, Barclay litigated First Amendment cases full-time at The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, where she represented many organizations and individuals at both the trial and appellate level, including before the U.S. Supreme Court. Barclay has three times been named a Washington D.C. Super Lawyer Rising Star (for 2016, 2019, and 2020). Before joining Becket, Barclay worked at Covington in Washington, D.C., where she drafted multiple Supreme Court briefs, including defending the rights of a Muslim prison inmate seeking to wear a religious beard. She served as lead counsel on multiple additional trials and appeals.

Barclay was nominated to serve as the Chair Elect for the AALS Law and Religion Section, and as a subcommittee chair for the JRCLS International Religious Freedom Committee. She graduated summa cum laude from BYU Law School, where she was elected to the Order of the Coif. Barclay also clerked for the Honorable N. Randy Smith on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.