Abigail B. Willie, J.D.
Visiting Assistant Professor
School of Law
Education
B.A., University of Texas - Austin, 1996
J.D., Southern Methodist University Dedman School of Law, 2000
Practice Areas
Professor Willie brings more than two decades of private practice experience and government
service to the classroom setting, where she teaches a variety of business law and
UCC-based courses.
A proud native Texan, she graduated from The University of Texas at Austin (B.A.,
with special honors) in 1996, and from Southern Methodist University School of Law
(J.D., cum laude) in 2000, where she served as associate managing editor of the school’s
flagship law review, The Southern Methodist University Law Review. Following law school,
she served as law clerk to the Honorable George P. Kazen of the U.S. District Court
for the Southern District of Texas (2000-2001), then practiced as an attorney in the
Insolvency & Reorganization Section of Vinson & Elkins L.L.P. in Dallas, Texas (2001-2005).
In 2005, she returned to government service, serving as law clerk to the Honorable
Raymond W. Gruender of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit (2005-2006),
the Honorable Charles E. Rendlen, III of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern
District of Missouri (2006-2018), and the Honorable Alan S. Trust of the U.S. Bankruptcy
Court for the Eastern District of New York (2020-2023). She also has devoted considerable
time to pro bono appellate work in the area of bankruptcy law.
In addition, Professor Willie was awarded a one-year, in-residence Fellowship with
the prestigious Supreme Court Fellows Program for the U.S. Supreme Court (academic
year 2018-2019), where she served as the Fellow assigned to the Administrative Office
of the U.S. Courts, the central support entity for the Judicial Branch. Before entering
academics full-time in August 2023 as a Visiting Assistant Professor here at Saint
Louis University School of Law, she taught various business law classes at the School
of Law for a number of years as a Lecturer in Commercial Law, and also taught legal
research and writing in the L.L.M. program of another regional law school.
Research Interests
Professor Willie’s professional interests include bankruptcy law and creditor’s rights, federal courts (with an emphasis on non-Article III tribunals), and poverty law.