About Professor Shelby
I joined Chicago-Kent College of Law as the Ralph Brill Endowed Chair Professor of Law in July 2023. I specialize in corporate and securities law and teach a variety of courses such as Contracts, Business Associations, Securities Regulation, Corporate Finance, and a seminar on Investment Funds. I was previously a professor of law at Washington and Lee University School of Law and served as a visiting associate professor of law with The George Washington University Law School during the spring 2021 semester. I was also the J.B. and M.K. Pritzker Family Foundation Distinguished Visiting Professor of Law with Northwestern Pritzker School of Law during the 2022–2023 academic year.
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My research generally encompasses regulatory issues related to hedge funds and other pooled investment vehicles. It has utilized a range of theoretical frameworks to scrutinize the blurred distinctions between public and private investment funds resulting from financial innovation, systemic risk, and retailization. It further examines the extent to which the regulatory apparatus provided under corporate and securities laws, filtered through a Critical Race Theory lens, could better protect against more expansive notions of systemic risk generated by racist practices and policies. I have published articles in the Northwestern University Law Review, the California Law Review, the Business Lawyer, Boston College Law Review, among other journals and periodicals. I am currently under contract with Cambridge University Press for my forthcoming book project, Markets for Black Pain: Law and Marginalization as a Commodity.
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In terms of honors and awards, I received the DePaul College of Law Excellence in Teaching Award in May 2016 and the DePaul University Excellence in Teaching Award in September 2018. I also received the Ethan Allen Fellowship from W&L law school for scholarly excellence in June 2020.
With respect to my public service, I have recently been appointed to serve as the Co-Chair of the African American Affairs Committee of the ABA Section of Civil Rights and Social Justice. I have also founded DaCasiom®, LLC (www.dacasiom.com) as a vehicle to assist students in higher education who are facing adversities such as poverty and limited familial support. I do so through my DaCasiom® Blog, Care Package Program, and Speaking Engagements. The DaCasiom® Blog includes periodic postings related to the ways in which my experiences as a former foster youth have shaped my career trajectory, and other related topics.
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I received my B.S. in finance from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and my J.D. from Northwestern Pritzker School of Law. I then practiced law in the Investment Funds, Advisers and Derivatives Group with Sidley Austin LLP for almost four years. As an associate in this group, I represented clients in regulatory and corporate matters involving hedge funds, commodity pools and derivatives trading. After leaving Sidley, I completed the William H. Hastie Fellowship at the University of Wisconsin Law School, which is a competitive two-year LL.M. program designed to prepare candidates for a career in law academia.