David Santee is the Assistant Dean for Trial Advocacy Programs and Externships at Villanova University School of Law. He is responsible for overseeing the law school’s trial advocacy programs and administering the law school’s externships. In addition, Dean Santee teaches a section of Trial Practice to students who are simultaneously enrolled in Evidence, so that students can put what they are learning in Evidence into practice in simulated trial advocacy exercises. He also teaches Trial Practice Competition, which is a course for students on Villanova Law’s National Trial Competition Team.
Dean Santee brings to Villanova four years of experience as an Assistant Defender with the Defender Association of Philadelphia, where he tried more than 250 criminal cases, and three years experience in private practice at Rawle & Henderson, LLP, where he handled matters in the areas of product liability, criminal defense, admiralty, insurance coverage, and appeals. He earned his B.A. magna cum laude in Sociology from Villanova, and his J.D. from Temple University James E. Beasley School of Law, where he served on the Temple Political and Civil Rights Law Review. Dean Santee joined Villanova as an Adjunct Professor in 2004, teaching Trial Practice Competition. In 2006, he joined Villanova Law full-time as an Assistant Professor of Legal Writing.
Dean Santee’s research and teaching interests focus on trial advocacy, pre-trial litigation skills, evidence, and criminal law and procedure.