Academics

Areas of Concentration: Admiralty and Maritime Law, Contracts, Federal Jurisdiction, Criminal Sentencing

Professor Peláez has been a member of the Law Faculty since graduating from the Yale Law School, where he was a Sterling Fellow. He serves as a Distinguished Visiting Professor at China University of Political Science and Law, and is the Director of the joint Duquesne University-China University Summer Legal Study Program held annually in Beijing, P.R.C. The summer program attracts lawyers and law students from throughout the world.

Professor Peláez is a member of the bars of the Supreme Court of the United States, the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania and the United States District Court for the District of Colorado. He argues cases in state and federal appellate courts, where the panels of judges frequently include former students.

Professor Peláez has served as Vice Chair of the Pennsylvania Commission on Sentencing; Reporter for the Speedy Trial Act Planning Group for the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania; and as International Consultant to The China Center for International Legal Study (Beijing, P.R.C.). He co-authored (with James Wm. Moore) Vol. 7A (Admiralty) of Moore’s Federal Practice (2d ed.), annually authors the products liability materials for the Pennsylvania Bar Institute Civil Litigation Update, and is editor of Selected Laws and Readings of the Legal System of the P.R.C., updated annually and used in the Summer Law Program.