Debra M. Strauss is a Professor of Business Law at Fairfield University Charles F. Dolan School of Business, where she teaches International Law, the Legal Environment of Business, and Business Law and Ethics.
A Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Cornell University and Yale Law School, Debra Strauss served as a law clerk for the Honorable Charles L. Brieant, Chief Judge for the U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York, and was a Food and Drug Law Institute Scholar. In addition, she practiced law at Rogers & Wells in New York (now Clifford Chance LLP), specializing in commercial litigation. She returned to Yale Law School as the founding Director of Judicial Clerkship Counseling and Programs and went on to direct and author the report for the National Judicial Clerkship Study on behalf of the American Bar Association and the National Association of Law Placement. In addition, Professor Strauss was a member of the adjunct faculty at Pace University School of Law, where she developed and directed the Federal Judicial Extern Honors Program.
Professor Strauss has written numerous articles on the courts, judicial clerkships, and diversity issues. She is the author of the definitive book in the field – Behind the Bench: The Guide to Judicial Clerkships (BarBri Group 2002; 2nd edition, West Academic 2017; 3rd edition, West Academic Publishing 2023). Debra Strauss also gives presentations and provides consulting services for law schools, legal organizations, and the judiciary.
In the areas of international law and food safety, Professor Strauss has been noted for presenting models for civil lawsuits against terrorist groups and the labeling and monitoring of genetically modified organisms in food. Her work has been extensively cited by legal authorities and the courts as well as by other academics in the United States and internationally.
Debra Strauss is a founder and officer of the recently established Connecticut Chapter of the Federal Bar Association. Professor Strauss currently serves as Co-Chair of the Federal Judicial Law Clerk Committee of the FBA Judiciary Division and as a Law Clerk Advisor for the Judicial Intern Academy. Past President of the North East Academy of Legal Studies in Business and a reviewer for the American Business Law Journal, she is also a member of the American Bar Association International Law Section, the ABA Food and Agriculture Task Force, the Federal Bar Council, and the International Law, Ethics, and Environmental Law and Sustainability Sections of the Academy of Legal Studies in Business.