Rodney D. Chrisman

Education

• J.D., University of Kentucky College of Law, magna cum laude
• B.B.A. in Accounting, Eastern Kentucky University, summa cum laude

Areas of Interest/Teaching

Law and economics; business associations; federal income taxation; business planning; securities regulation; commercial law; Christian jurisprudence and Christian legal thought; legal history; legal education and faculty development

Selected Publications

Books

Law & Economics: A Christian Perspective (Logia Press, 2016).

Articles

• Biden v. Nebraska: Student Loan Debt Forgiveness and the Dangers of the Administrative State, 18 Liberty U. L. Rev. 403 (2024).
• Racial Reconciliation: A Biblical Framework, 17 Liberty U. L. Rev. 507 (2023).
• Can a Merchant Please God?: The Church’s Historic Teaching on the Goodness of Just Commercial Activity as a Foundational Principle of Commercial Law Jurisprudence, 6 Liberty U. L. Rev. (2012).
• LLCs Are the New King of the Hill: An Empirical Study of the Number of New LLCs, Corporations, and LPs Formed in the United States Between 2004–2007 and How LLCs Were Taxed for Tax Years 2002–2006, 15 Fordham J. Corp. & Fin. L. 459 (2010).
• Stoneridge v. Scientific-Atlanta: Do Section 10(b) and Rule 10b-5 Require a Misstatement or Omission?, 26 Quinnipiac L. Rev. 839 (2008).
• “Bright Line,” “Substantial Participation,” or Something Else: Who Is a Primary Violator Under Rule 10b-5, 89 Ky. L.J. 201 (2001).
• Protecting the Great Riches of Your Client’s Good Name: Kentucky Tradename Infringement Law, 65 Kentucky Bench & Bar 25 (Nov. 2001).

Biography

Rodney D. Chrisman serves at Liberty University School of Law as Vice Dean for Academic Affairs and Faculty Development and as Professor of Law. In his role as Vice Dean, he helps lead the law school’s academic programs, curriculum, faculty development, and efforts to help students grow in the Lord and form them for lives of professional excellence, leadership, and service. Central to his work is Liberty Law’s distinctive mission of providing rigorous legal education in fidelity to the Christian faith and preparing students to understand the practice of law not simply as a profession, but as a calling through which they can love and serve their neighbors, pursue justice, and glorify God.

Vice Dean Chrisman’s teaching and scholarship lie primarily at the intersection of business and commercial law, taxation, law and economics, and Christian legal thought and jurisprudence. He has taught courses including Business Associations, Federal Income Taxation, Securities Regulation, Business Planning, Secured Transactions, Law and Economics, Lawyering Skills, Jurisprudence, Legal History, and related subjects. His scholarship frequently examines fundamental questions about law, justice, markets, institutions, and public policy from a distinctly Christian perspective.

He is the author of Law & Economics: A Christian Perspective, which examines the influential law-and-economics movement in light of a Christian understanding of law, justice, and the proper purposes of civil government. His current scholarship continues that project by examining the limits that a Christian conception of justice places on cost-benefit analysis, economic efficiency, and other consequentialist approaches to law and public policy. He is also working on a revised second edition of Law & Economics: A Christian Perspective.

Vice Dean Chrisman’s other scholarship spans business organizations, securities regulation, constitutional structure, public policy, commercial jurisprudence, and Christian legal thought. His recent articles include “Biden v. Nebraska: Student Loan Debt Forgiveness and the Dangers of the Administrative State” and “Racial Reconciliation: A Biblical Framework.” Earlier scholarship includes “Can a Merchant Please God?,” which examines the historic Christian understanding of commerce as a foundation for commercial-law jurisprudence, as well as empirical and doctrinal work on limited liability companies and federal securities law.

An important part of Vice Dean Chrisman’s academic work is the development of Christian legal thought and Christian legal education. He has spoken at academic and professional gatherings on subjects including Christian legal education, the Christian understanding of financial markets, law and public policy, and the vocation of the Christian lawyer and law professor. His presentations have included programs sponsored by the Christian Legal Society, the Southeastern Association of Law Schools, Hillsdale College, and New Saint Andrews College. He has participated in the Liberty University Law Review’s annual Supreme Court Review, analyzing significant decisions of the United States Supreme Court from both a doctrinal perspective and a Christian-worldview perspective; he has also contributed to Law Review symposia addressing broader legal and cultural questions, including a biblical approach to racial reconciliation.

Chrisman is deeply committed to the formation and mentoring of law students and to connecting rigorous classroom education with excellence in legal practice. He has coached Liberty Law students in national advocacy and negotiation competitions, including championship teams at the 2026 National Tax Moot Court Competition, the 2026 Tulane Professional Football Negotiation Competition, and the 2015 Irving R. Kaufman Memorial Moot Court Competition at Fordham University, a national competition focused on securities regulation issues. He views such opportunities as an extension of Liberty Law’s broader goal of preparing lawyers who are highly competent, deeply principled, and prepared to lead and serve in the legal profession.

Before entering legal academia, Chrisman practiced law in Kentucky: His work at Stoll, Keenon & Park, LLP, involved corporate and securities law, taxation, bankruptcy and commercial law, and business litigation. He later operated his own law practice, which concentrated on corporate, tax, and other business-law matters. He also taught in Liberty University’s School of Business and served as a bivocational pastor. Those experiences continue to inform his approach to legal education, particularly his emphasis on the relationship between legal doctrine, practical judgment, Christian vocation, and service to clients and communities.

Chrisman earned his J.D. magna cum laude from the University of Kentucky College of Law, where he was elected to the Order of the Coif and served on the Kentucky Law Journal. His student scholarship received both the Colvin P. Rouse Kentucky Law Journal Award for Best Note and first place in the Kentucky Bar Association Student Writing Competition. He earned his B.B.A. in Accounting summa cum laude from Eastern Kentucky University.

Across his teaching, scholarship, and academic leadership, Chrisman’s work is animated by the conviction that excellent legal education requires more than the transmission of legal rules. It requires the formation of lawyers who can think carefully about truth, justice, human nature, institutions, and the proper purposes of law—and who are prepared to use their gifts faithfully in service to God and neighbor.