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Veronica Finkelstein
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Veronica
Finkelstein
Associate Professor of Law

LL.M Columbia University School of Law
J.D. Emory University School of Law
B.A. The Pennsylvania State University

Licensed to practice in Pennsylvania and New Jersey

Contact

Email: vjfinkelstein@widener.edu

AboutPublications
About

Veronica J. Finkelstein is an Associate Professor of Law at Widener University Delaware Law School. An experienced litigator, teacher, and scholar, Professor Finkelstein writes and teaches in the areas of civil procedure, evidence, litigation and advocacy, professional responsibility, legal writing, and criminal law and procedure. Her recent scholarship also explores persuasion, decision-making, professional identity, and access to justice.

Professor Finkelstein is the co-author, with Kristin L. Walker, of Case Closed: A Practical Guide to Mastering Pretrial Advocacy (Wolters Kluwer 2025) and, with Bernard A. Burk and Nancy B. Rapoport, of Ethical Lawyering: A Guide for the Well-Intentioned (2d ed., Wolters Kluwer 2024). Her law journal articles address litigation and advocacy, evidence, professional responsibility, legal education, access to justice, and the ways lawyers and legal decision-makers process information and make decisions. She also writes regularly for practicing lawyers, including columns and articles for Law360, New Jersey Lawyer, and the National Institute for Trial Advocacy.

Before entering academia full time, Professor Finkelstein spent more than a decade as an Assistant United States Attorney in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. She served as Senior Litigation Counsel, Civil Division Paralegal Supervisor, and Civil Division Training Officer. Her practice included affirmative and defensive civil litigation, False Claims Act and qui tam matters, tort and employment litigation, medical malpractice, and appellate work. She investigated and prosecuted fraud claims involving pharmaceutical companies, hospitals, and defense contractors and tried numerous cases on behalf of the United States. She received the Executive Office for United States Attorneys’ Director’s Award for Superior Performance as a Civil Assistant United States Attorney in 2014.

Before joining the Department of Justice, Professor Finkelstein clerked for Justice Jane Cutler Greenspan of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania and practiced commercial and construction litigation at Duane Morris LLP and Cohen Seglias Pallas Greenhall & Furman PC. She also serves as an arbitrator for the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.

Professor Finkelstein is a longtime faculty member and program director for the National Institute for Trial Advocacy, where she teaches trial, deposition, motion, negotiation, and legal-writing skills. She previously taught federal prosecutors and government lawyers through the Department of Justice’s National Advocacy Center.

Her teaching and advocacy work have received numerous honors. In 2025, the National Institute for Trial Advocacy presented her with the Jo Ann Harris Public Service Award. She received the 2024 Edward D. Ohlbaum Paper in Advocacy Award, was named Rutgers Law School Adjunct Professor of the Year each year from 2017 through 2023, and previously received Drexel University’s Adjunct Award for Teaching Excellence.

Professor Finkelstein earned her J.D., with honors, from Emory University School of Law, where she was selected for the Order of the Barristers and competed successfully in national and international moot court competitions. She earned dual B.A. degrees, both with honors and distinction, from The Pennsylvania State University. She is currently completing an LL.M. at Columbia Law School.

Outside the classroom, Professor Finkelstein is an avid baker and competitive equestrian.

Publications
Books

Veronica J. Finkelstein & Kristin L. Walker, Case Closed: A Practical Guide to Mastering Pretrial Advocacy (Wolters Kluwer 2025)

Bernard A. Burk, Veronica J. Finkelstein, & Nancy B. Rapoport, Ethical Lawyering: A Guide for the Well-Intentioned (2d ed. Wolters Kluwer 2024) (1st ed. 2021)

Book Chapters

Veronica J. Finkelstein, Putting Practice Into Palsgraf: Incorporating Experiential Learning into Doctrinal Classes to Develop Skills and Competencies, in Experiential Education in the Law School Curriculum (Emily Grant, Sandra Simpson, & Kelly Terry eds., 2017)

Articles and Essays

Veronica J. Finkelstein, Justice on Trial: Integrating Ethics in Law School Advocacy Courses, 13 Emory Corp. Governance & Accountability Rev., 45 (2026)

Veronica J. Finkelstein, Crafting Captivating Cases: Teaching Law Students to Use Evidence Narratively, 76 Syracuse L. Rev. 467 (2026)

Veronica J. Finkelstein, Planting Seeds for the Future: Encouraging Professional Identity Formation in Law School Trial Advocacy Courses, 44 Rev. Litig. 405 (2025).

Veronica J. Finkelstein, The Quest to Normalize Questments, 97 Temp. L. Rev. Online 1 (2025).

Veronica J. Finkelstein, It’s Not Personal, It’s Strictly Business: The Need to Amend the Federal Rules of Evidence to Permit Live Corporate Designee Testimony at Trial, 11 Emory Corp. Governance & Accountability Rev. 243 (2024)

Veronica J. Finkelstein, Inherently Incompatible: The Irreconcilable Tension Between Corporate Negligence Claims and the Federal Tort Claims Act, 10 Emory Corp. Governance & Accountability Rev. 174 (2023)

Veronica J. Finkelstein, Holding the Line: Challenging Corporate Negligence Claims Under the Federal Tort Claims Act, 71 DOJ J. Fed. L. & Prac. 63 (2023)

Veronica J. Finkelstein & Emily Grubb Coffing, Narrowing in on Notice: Varying Approaches to Administrative Exhaustion, 71 DOJ J. Fed. L. & Prac. 81 (2023)

Veronica J. Finkelstein & Katherine Avetta, Federal Rule of Evidence 106: Both a Sword and a Shield, 69 DOJ J. Fed. L. & Prac. 111 (2021)

Veronica J. Finkelstein & Aidan Carickhoff, Remote Control: Best Practices for Online Depositions, 69 DOJ J. Fed. L. & Prac. 99 (2021)

Veronica J. Finkelstein, Your First Trial, 68 DOJ J. Fed. L. & Prac. 65 (2020)

Veronica J. Finkelstein & Nicole E. Crossey, Making Every Word Count: Using Strategic Editing to Increase the Readability of Your Appellate Brief, 67 DOJ J. Fed. L. & Prac. 85 (2019)

Veronica J. Finkelstein, Searching for Bright-Lines in the Darkness: Enforcing Quality of Care Standards Using the False Claims Act, 64 U.S. Att’ys’ Bull. 73 (Nov. 2016)

Veronica J. Finkelstein, Better Not Call Saul: The Impact of ‘Criminal Attorneys’ on Their Clients’ Sixth Amendment Right to Effective Assistance of Counsel, 83 U. Cin. L. Rev. 1215 (2015)

Veronica J. Finkelstein, Managing the Risk: Rule 30(b)(6) Depositions in Cases Where the Government Is a Party, 13 Appalachian J.L. 1 (2013)

Veronica J. Finkelstein, Giving Credit Where Credit Isn’t Due (Process): The Risks of Overemphasizing Academic Misconduct and Campus Hearings in Character and Fitness Evaluations, 38 J. Legal Prof. 25 (2013)

Veronica J. Finkelstein, A Trap for the Unwary: Corporate Depositions Under Virginia Supreme Court Rule 4:5(b)(6), 25 J. of Civ. Litig. 345 (2013)

Veronica J. Finkelstein, Dollars and Horse Sense: Why Prudent Buyers and Sellers Should Account for Article 2 of the Uniform Commercial Code in Their Equine Sales Contracts, 5 Ky. J. Equine Agri. & Nat. Resources L. 181 (2013)

Veronica J. Finkelstein, Discord and Harmonia: Kenneth Burke’s Rhetorical Theory and Kritik Permutations, 38 Speaker & Gavel 37 (2001)