Faculty & Staff

Lisa Hoppenjans is an Associate Professor of Practice and Director of the First Amendment Clinic, which represents clients in matters advancing and defending freedom of speech, press, and assembly. Lisa has successfully represented clients in a range of First Amendment and media law matters in federal and state court, including civil rights cases asserting the right of access to public fora, challenges to unconstitutional content and viewpoint-based restrictions on speech, and matters asserting rights of access to court records and other public records. She has also defended clients against suits asserting defamation or other speech-based torts.

Prior to joining the law school, Lisa was a partner at the law firm of Dowd Bennett LLP, where her practice focused on complex civil litigation, appellate litigation, and internal investigations.

Lisa graduated summa cum laude and Order of the Coif from the Duke University School of Law and received a Master of Arts in Mass Communication from the University of North Carolina. She served as a law clerk to the Hon. Susan H. Black of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit. Prior to her legal career, Lisa was a newspaper reporter for The News & Observer of Raleigh, North Carolina, and the Winston-Salem Journal.

Benjamin Wilson is the Stanton Foundation Legal Fellow in the First Amendment Clinic, which represents clients in matters advancing and defending freedom of speech, press, and assembly. Ben is passionate about the First Amendment, in particular the rights of freedom of speech and freedom of the press. He recently co-founded a nonprofit organization in Missouri called MO Free Speech, which seeks to educate residents of Missouri about the fundamental value of freedom of speech, as well as its fascinating history in the state.

Before joining the First Amendment Clinic, Ben was a civil litigator for two large law firms in Missouri. He defended a variety of companies, including several Fortune 500 product manufacturers, in both federal and state courts in Missouri and Illinois.

Before his legal career, Ben lived in Belgium for a year, which led him to study linguistics at the University of Iowa. He then worked in public relations for a major scientific software company for several years. He obtained his law degree, cum laude, from St. Louis University School of Law. During law school, Ben was a judicial extern for the Hon. G. Patrick Murphy in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Illinois. After graduating, he served as a law clerk for the Hon. David R. Herndon and the Hon. William D. Stiehl, also in the Southern District of Illinois.