Margaret M. Lawton joined the Charleston School of Law in 2005. She teaches substantive criminal law and constitutional criminal procedure. Prior to coming to Charleston, she served on the faculty at the Appalachian School of Law, where she taught constitutional criminal procedure and trial advocacy.

Following a clerkship with the Hon. Thomas A. Flannery of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, Lawton prosecuted criminal cases as an assistant U.S. Attorney in Washington, D.C.

Lawton received her J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center, where she was a Public Interest Law Scholar and a member of the Order of the Coif. She also served as an editor of the Georgetown Law Journal’s Criminal Procedure Project and as a research assistant to Father Robert Drinan, a noted scholar of international human rights and legal ethics.

In addition to co-authoring two books on South Carolina crimes and criminal procedure, Lawton has published articles on Fourth Amendment issues.  She was named associate dean for academic affairs in August 2008.  She became a full professor in 2012.

Course Interests/Research/Teaching Areas

• Constitutional Criminal Procedure
• Substantive Criminal Law