Academics

Areas of Concentration: Constitutional Law, Trial Advocacy, Criminal Process and Procedure

Professor Antkowiak has served as a practicing attorney since his graduation Magna Cum Laude from Harvard Law School in 1977. He has served as an Assistant United States Attorney and as a criminal defense counsel in state and federal Courts throughout the Commonwealth. In that capacity, he has tried a multitude of cases before state and federal Court juries in matters ranging from complex white collar crime to criminal homicide. He has also argued numerous times before the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit and the Superior and Supreme Courts of Pennsylvania.

He teaches courses in Constitutional Law, Criminal Process, Trial Advocacy, Federal Criminal Law, directs the first-year Legal Research and Writing Program, serves as an advisor to the Innocence Project and assists in coaching the trial moot court teams. In 2003, he was named editor of the Pennsylvania Suggested Standard Jury Instructions - Criminal, a standard guide to criminal jury instructions used by Common Pleas courts throughout the Commonwealth.

His other recent publications include:

• "Five Hot Topics: Issues of Pressing Importance in Pennsylvania Appellate Courts", Duquesne University Law Review, Spring, (2004)
• "The Ascent of an Ancient Palladium: the Resurgent Importance of Trial by Jury and the Coming Revolution in Pennsylvania Sentencing", 13 Widener Law Journal 11 (2003)
• "Suppressing the Sound of Incrimination: a Passage Through the Pennsylvania Wiretap Act" Pennsylvania Bar Quarterly, (2003)