Shawn Vance
Courses: Civil Law Property, Sale & Lease, Employment Discrimination, Employment Law, Labor Law, LA Bar Exam Prep I, and LA Bar Exam Prep II
Expertise: Employment Discrimination, Employment Law, Title VI Claims in Farm Programs, Louisiana Property Disputes, and General Sale & Lease Law
Shawn D. Vance was appointed to the position of Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs at Southern University Law Center on August 1, 2019. Prior to that time, Mr. Vance served as the Associate Vice Chancellor of Academic Support, Academic Counseling, and Bar Support Programs for a two-year period. He has served as an Associate Professor since August 2014. He began his employment with SULC in 2000. Mr. Vance serves as the Faculty Representative for the Law Center on the Louisiana Supreme Court’s Committee on Bar Admissions. He also serves on the Board of Directors for the Louisiana Resource Center for Educators.
Mr. Vance has a private legal practice and previously served as Of Counsel with the law firm, Jackson Bell, Attorneys at Law located in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. While handling a wide array of legal issues, Mr. Vance’s legal area of focus is employment law with a special emphasis on employment discrimination claims. He also teaches courses in Employment Law, Property, Sales and Lease, as well as LA Bar Exam Prep. Mr. Vance has assisted several of the largest employers in the state of Louisiana in drafting new policies and procedures and conducted seminars for their managerial teams.
Mr. Vance earned a B.S. degree in Chemistry from Southern University A&M College. After an honors-filled matriculation, he earned his J.D. degree from the Southern University Law Center. In an effort to gain a better understanding of the area of employment law, Mr. Vance earned an LL.M degree in Labor and Employment Law from Georgetown University Law Center.
Mr. Vance was formerly employed in the Office of Civil Rights of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). During his tenure with the USDA, the Baton Rouge native was involved in the reorganization of the Department’s civil rights activities, specifically its administrative adjudication of discrimination complaints filed by USDA customers. He served as the lead adjudicator of the USDA’s Program Complaints Division and managed its law intern program.
Mr. Vance has conducted employment-based training all across the country for the federal government as well as private sector employers. He has served as a guest speaker for national conferences. He is a noted litigator of employment law claims against the federal government and has been asked to provide training to other attorneys in the area of employment law. His success rate in employment law claims is outstanding – having lost only one claim in more than two decades of practicing law. Mr. Vance provides legal representation to both employers and employees. This course of action has granted him tremendous insight into various legal claims and the basis for the same. Mr. Vance has authored several scholarly articles in legal journals and periodicals where he has proposed new legislation, provided clarity on different legal topics, and challenged the correctness of legal decisions.