Etienne C. Toussaint (@ProfToussaint) is an Associate Professor of Law at the University of South Carolina, where he teaches Contracts, Business Associations, Law and Political Economy, the Reconstruction Constitution, and Critical Legal History. As a private law scholar, his research examines the historical development of poverty, food insecurity, and environmental injustice within the U.S. political economy, emphasizing the intersections of race, culture, and social movements that challenge the economic ordering established by private law.
His scholarship has been published or is forthcoming in leading law journals, including the Columbia Law Review, California Law Review, Georgetown Law Journal, and Harvard Environmental Law Review. Additionally, he has contributed to leading online platforms such as Virginia Law Review Online, UCLA Law Review Discourse, and Columbia Law Review Forum. His scholarship has been competitively selected for presentations at conferences and workshops across the country, including the Harvard/Stanford/Yale Junior Faculty Forum, the Georgetown University Law Center’s Law & Humanities Interdisciplinary Workshop, and The University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School’s Junior Faculty Business & Financial Law Workshop.
Professor Toussaint has received national recognition for his contributions to legal scholarship and education. He was honored with the National Bar Association’s 40 Under 40 Award in 2024 and was elected as a fellow of the American Bar Foundation in 2023. In the same year, he also received both the Faculty Scholarship Award and the Faculty Diversity Leadership Award from USC Law. Prior to his current role, he taught at the University of the District of Columbia, where he received the 2018 Outstanding Neophyte Law Professor Award and co-directed the Community Development Law Clinic.
Areas of Expertise: Community Economic Development, Environmental and Food Justice, Critical Legal History