Cara Foos Pierce

Professor Pierce earned her J.D., cum laude from SMU Dedman School of Law in 2002 after attending Southwestern University in Georgetown, Texas, where she received a B.A., with honors, in Business and Political Science. After law school, she clerked for the Honorable David C. Godbey, U.S. District Judge in the Northern District of Texas, before joining the Litigation Section of Akin Gump Strauss Hauer and Feld LLP.'s Dallas office, where she worked for five years. She then served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Department of Justice for twelve years, prosecuting primarily human trafficking, organized crime, civil rights and crimes against children offenses. In 2020, she joined the Texas Attorney' General's Office as the Chief of the Human Trafficking and Transnational Organized Crime Division. In 2023, she served as an Adjunct Professor in Civil Procedure for William and Mary School of Law's L.LM. Program.

Professor Pierce’s teaching at SMU Dedman School of Law includes criminal law, civil rights, and civil procedure. Professor Pierce also plans to launch the SMU Master of Legal Studies Program in Fall 2025.