Associate Professor of Law
Education
B.S., Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
J.D., Albany Law School, magna cum laude
Experience
Three decades in federal law enforcement:
- FBI Special Agent and Senior Executive
- Unit Chief, Legal Instruction Unit, FBI Academy
- Graduate Instructor – Constitutional Law and Policing
- Legal Advisor to FBI operational and executive personnel nationwide
- Legal Trainer to federal, state, and international law enforcement personnel
- Adjunct Professor, University of Virginia School of Continuing and Professional Studies
- Special Assistant United States Attorney, Western District of Oklahoma
- Assistant District Attorney, Saratoga County, New York
Biography
Carl Benoit is a former FBI Special Agent with more than 30 years of experience in law enforcement, legal instruction, and professional training. He began his career in 1987 as a police officer in upstate New York before earning his law degree magna cum laude from Albany Law School. After serving as an assistant district attorney and working in private practice, he entered federal service, where he held a variety of legal and leadership roles.
Throughout his career, Prof. Benoit has focused on training and education. He served as a legal instructor at the FBI Academy and later led the Bureau’s Legal Instruction Unit, overseeing legal education for agents, prosecutors, and law enforcement partners nationwide. He has trained operational personnel on topics including constitutional law, use of force, criminal procedure, and national security law. He has also deployed to critical incidents to provide legal guidance during high-risk operations.
Prof. Benoit has taught graduate-level courses in constitutional law, criminal law, and evidence for more than a decade and continues to lecture nationally and internationally on law enforcement legal issues. He is admitted to practice before the U.S. District Courts for the Northern District of New York and the Western District of Oklahoma; he is admitted to practice in New York and Virginia.