Headshot of Gordon Van Kessel

Gordon Van Kessel

Emeritus Professor of Law

Bio

Gordon Van Kessel hails from Sonora, California, and received both his undergraduate and graduate degrees from UC Berkeley. While a student at Boalt Hall (1962-65), he was a member of the California Law Review and the Assistant Varsity Boxing Coach.

He began his career by clerking with Justice Raymond Peters of the California Supreme Court and subsequently held positions both in civil and criminal practice. In the criminal area, he has worked both as a criminal defense lawyer and as a prosecutor. He joined the Hastings faculty in 1971.

Scholarship

Books


Criminal Justice Advocates Manual (Hastings Center for Trial and Appellate Advocacy 1977) (with Forrest B. Smith & Carlyn Christianson) (editor).

Journal Articles


Effective Client Selection in Transactional Clinics,, 16 Tenn. J. Bus. L. 389 (2014). FULLTEXT

Quieting the Guilty and Acquitting the Innocent: A Close Look at a New Twist on the Right to Silence, 35 Ind. L. Rev. 925 (2002). FULLTEXT

European Perspectives on the Accused as a Source of Testimonial Evidence, 100 W. Va. L. Rev. 799 (1999). FULLTEXT

A Summary of Mirjan R. Damaška’s Evidence Law Adrift, 49 Hastings L.J. 359 (1998). FULLTEXT

Hearsay Hazards in the American Criminal Trial: An Adversary-Oriented Approach, 49 Hastings L.J. 477 (1998). FULLTEXT

Chief Justice Roger Traynor and the United States Supreme Court: Contrasting Approaches to Search and Seizure, 25 Pac. L.J. 1235 (1994). FULLTEXT

Adversary Excesses in the American Criminal Trial, 67 Notre Dame L. Rev. 403 (1992). FULLTEXT

The Suspect as a Source of Testimonial Evidence: A Comparison with the English Approach, 38 Hastings L.J. 1 (1986). FULLTEXT

Prosecutorial Discovery and the Privilege Against Self-Incrimination: Accommodation or Capitulation, 4 Hastings Const. L.Q. 855 (1977). FULLTEXT

San Francisco Criminal Justice Project, 58 A.B.A. J. 263 (1972) (with Richard B. Morris). FULLTEXT

San Francisco Committee on Crime Reports on the Public Defender’s OfficeBarristers’ Bailiwick (Dec. 1970-Jan. 1971).

Right to Counsel in Criminal Post-Conviction Review Proceedings, 51 Cal. L. Rev. 970 (1963). FULLTEXT

Chapters In Books


European Trends Towards Adversary Styles in Criminal Procedure and Evidence, in The Japanese Adversary System in Context: Controversies and Comparisons 225 (Malcolm M. Feeley & Setsuo Miyazawa eds., Palgrave Macmillian 2002). CATALOG

The Expanding Right to Silence in Europe and America: Is it a Good Thing and Where Should it End?, in New Trends in Criminal Investigation and Evidence 393 (C.M. Breur ed., 2000). CATALOG

Book Reviews


Book Review, 8 Eur. J. Crime Crim. L. & Crim. Just. 390 (2000) (reviewing Honorable Russell Fox, Justice in the Twenty–First Century (2000)).