About Donna
Donna Shestowsky combines rigorous psychological training with a legal education. She earned a B.A. and an M.S. in psychology from Yale University, then completed both a J.D. and a Ph.D. in psychology at Stanford University in 2003. That dual training shaped the path she followed as an academic and educator.
Her early career included a visiting appointment at the Kellogg School of Management in 2003. The next year she joined the faculty at the University of California, Davis School of Law as a professor of law. She has occupied that role since 2004, building a career that bridges law and psychological science. In 2017 she also joined the Psychology Graduate Group at UC Davis, signaling continued ties to the psychology department and graduate training.
In 2018 she took on the role of Director of Lawyering Skills Education at UC Davis School of Law. In that capacity she has been responsible for coordinating clinical and skills-based components of the law curriculum, overseeing instruction aimed at preparing students for practice, and guiding curriculum development related to lawyering skills. Colleagues and students note that her background in empirical psychology informs how she structures skills training and assesses student learning.
Her academic profile includes membership in a number of professional organizations. She is a fellow of the American Bar Foundation and holds memberships in the American Bar Association, the American Psychology-Law Association, the Association of American Law Schools, and the International Association for Conflict Management. She is also a member of the Massachusetts Bar. Those affiliations reflect interests that cross disciplinary and professional boundaries, from legal education and bar affairs to the application of psychological research to legal problems.
Shestowsky’s work sits at the juncture of law and psychology. She teaches courses and develops programs that draw on research about decision-making, communication, and dispute resolution. Her approach emphasizes empirical inquiry alongside doctrinal learning, and she often brings interdisciplinary methods into classroom discussion and program design.
She continues to live and work in Davis as a member of the UC Davis School of Law faculty. She currently teaches at UC Davis School of Law and directs the lawyering skills education program there.
