Richard Kuhns

Professor Richard Kuhns was a graduate of Stanford Law School and received an LLM (Master of Laws) and SJD (Doctorate of the Science of Law) from the University of Michigan Law School. He taught law for over forty years and was tenured at the University of Iowa College of Law and Washington University Law School in St. Louis (WashU Law). He was an expert in and wrote textbooks on evidence and constitutional criminal procedure.

At WashU Law, Professor Kuhns taught Criminal Procedure, Criminal Law, Evidence, and Children & the Law. While teaching Children & the Law, he helped develop coordination between the Legal Services of Eastern Missouri Children’s Unit and WashU Law students. Professor Kuhns believed in increasing the diversity of law faculty and students, and he actively supported groups such as OUTLaw – advocating for LGBTQIA+ students, faculty, and staff – and the Women’s Law Caucus.

Over many years on the law school faculty, Professor Kuhns often made his friendships with colleagues interesting through practical jokes. He also brought his sense of humor into the classroom – both his own and, occasionally, the classrooms of his colleagues. He enjoyed interacting with his students, often challenging them to develop both sides of an argument in order to help them use critical thinking skills.

Over the course of his career, Professor Kuhns worked as a visiting instructor at numerous law schools across the country. Because of his expertise on jury instructions and grand juries, he was occasionally interviewed for local, national, and international media reports, on topics such as the prosecution of the police officer who killed Michael Brown in 2014 in Ferguson, Missouri. Professor Kuhns served on the Iowa Supreme Court Advisory Committee on Rules of Evidence.

Professor Kuhns had a long-standing friendship with US District Judge Emeritus Thelton Henderson, whom he met interning – and later working – at the East Bayshore Legal Aid Society in East Palo Alto, California, in the late 1960s.  Professor Kuhns’ last book, Breaking New Ground, is an expansive account of Judge Henderson’s trailblazing career and numerous far-reaching legal decisions. In 2002, as part of Professor Kuhns’ interest in expanding students’ understanding of human and civil rights, he arranged for Judge Henderson to speak at Washington University Law School.