
Elizabeth Boals
Assistant Dean, Part-time and Online Education
(202) 274-4186
eboals@wcl.american.edu
Dean Elizabeth Ippolito Boals is the Assistant Dean of Part-time and Online Education and Faculty Director of the Criminal Justice Practice and Policy Institute at the American University Washington College of Law (AUWCL). Her areas of specialization include: Criminal Law and Procedure, Evidence, Trial Advocacy, Expert Testimony, and Jury Selection. Dean Boals is a recipient of the AUWCL Faculty Leadership Award, AU Outstanding Teaching Award and is a long-time member of the National Institute of Trial Advocacy (NITA) teaching faculty.
Before joining the faculty at AUWCL, Dean Boals defended the U.S. Department of Commerce on alleged violations of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act and the Fair Labor Standards Act. She was a named partner at Lay, Ippolito & Dillard, PLLC, and prior to that, an attorney at Zwerdling, Paul, Leibig, Kahn, Thompson & Wolly, P.C. where she served as counsel to the International Union of Police Associations. Dean Boals began her legal career as an assistant public defender in the Office of the Public Defender in Alexandria, Virginia handling a felony caseload from trials in District Court through appeals to the Virginia Court of Appeals. Dean Boals has served as an elected member of the Virginia State Bar Disciplinary Committee.
Dean Boals’ publications include NITA case files and teaching manuals: State v. Sanchez, State v. Peyton, Addison v. Peyton, and Stanton v. Armstrong. She co-authored the second and third editions of Expert Testimony: A Guide for Expert Witnesses and the Lawyers Who Examine Them. Dean Boals lectures frequently both domestically and abroad on topics related to expert witness testimony and eye witness identification and trial skills. In particular, Dean Boals is on the faculty of the Comparative Advocacy; Mastering Trial Advocacy Course offered at Oxford University, Annual Georgetown Law Center/NITA Intensive Session in Trial Advocacy Skills; SEAK 21st Annual National Expert Witness Conference, and Expert Testimony and Trial Skills Conference in Santiago, Chile.