Prof. Barbara Glesner Fines

University of MO-Kansas City School of Law

Barbara Glesner Fines is the Rubey M. Hulen Professor of Law and Dean Emerita of the University of Missouri - Kansas City School of Law, where she has been a member of the faculty since 1986.  She served as Executive Associate Dean from 2008 to 2016 and as Dean from 2017 to 2023. Glesner Fines received her master of law degree from Yale University and her J.D. (cum laude) from the University of Wisconsin Law School.

Professor Glesner Fines is an expert on professional ethics, legal education and the professional identity formation of law students. She has authored numerous articles and books on these subjects and is a fellow in the Holloran Center for Ethical Leadership. She has created several innovative programs at the School of Law.  She helped to found the UMKC School of Law Child and Family Law Program, which is currently ranked as one of the top four programs of its kind in the United States.  She is also one of the founding faculty members of the School of Law’s Center for Law, Entrepreneurship and Innovation.

Glesner Fines currently teaches Professional Responsibility, Client Interviewing, and Family Violence.  She also directs the Self-Help Legal Clinic.  Students in the clinic provide instruction, referral, brief advice, and limited scope representation to self-represented litigants in a variety of subject areas.  Students learn technology skills to build self-help resources and community education skills in pro se classes.