Photo: David Stout

David Stout

Senior Lecturer III

Education

  • A.B. 1976, Harvard College
  • M.A. 1978, University of London
  • J.D. 1982, University of New Mexico School of Law
  • Member New Mexico Bar

Contact Information

 Ph.: 505-277-0080
 Office: 1127
 

Profile

David Stout teaches in the Legal Analysis and Communication program and also teaches Torts, Torts II, Evidence, Insurance Law, Advanced Legal Analysis, and Professional Responsibility. Stout joined the faculty as a full-time instructor in 2012. He was born and raised in Albuquerque and is a 1982 graduate of the University of New Mexico School of Law. Stout clerked for the Hon. Santiago E. Campos of the United States District Court for the District of New Mexico. Following his clerkship, he has been a practicing lawyer for 38 years. Stout has litigated cases in state and federal court and has been active in our appellate courts.

He has represented the victims of injuries from the fault of others as well as those individuals who have been wrongfully abused by insurance companies. His primary areas of practice have included products liability, governmental torts and insurance related matters. Stout is AV rated by Martindale-Hubbell and is listed in the peer reviewed “Best Lawyers” in the areas of products liability, personal injury and insurance law. Stout was elected to the American Law Institute in 2005.

Stout is a past president of the New Mexico Trial Lawyers Association. He has been involved in the Association’s amicus curiae work for the past 20 years both at its chair and as a brief writer. He has also been the chair of numerous Supreme Court committees, including the Uniform Civil Jury Instruction Committee, the Committee on the Code of Judicial Conduct, and the Code of Professional Conduct Committee. Stout is currently a member of the Disciplinary Board. He is a member of the State Bar’s Lawyer’s Assistance Committee that seeks to help lawyers struggling with addiction, depression and other conditions that interfere with their professional and personal lives.

He has been active in continuing legal education and has lectured extensively on practice-related topics, including expert testimony, professional conduct, insurance bad faith and many other subjects.

When he is not working Stout enjoys playing tennis, hiking, and baking cookies. He and his wife, Mary, have five adult daughters between them, six grandchildren, and three great-grandchildren. Stout’s daughter, Kelly Stout Sanchez, is a 2009 graduate of the UNM School of Law.

Courses

Elements of Legal Argumentation I (ELA-I)

ELA-I is the foundational legal analysis and communication course. In the context of a problem solving approach to legal writing students learn how to do the information gathering, pre-thinking and argument development that are essential to good legal communication. Students learn to identify legal issues presented by specific fact situations. They are given an overview of collecting relevant information, including an introduction to legal research. Students learn how to connect this information as they analyze a legal problem in preparation for writing both predictive and persuasive documents. Students learn how to determine relevant legal rules and apply those rules to specific facts to arrive at a reasonable conclusion in a specific case. Students practice organizing the information and their analysis into a logical and coherent structured proof of their conclusion and then effectively presenting the proof in a specific written or oral format to a specific audience. Students also learn to perfect the mechanics of their documents as they learn techniques for effective revising and editing. Assignments include short in class and out of class information gathering, pre-writing, writing and oral communication exercises as well as lengthier writing assignments. In addition, students are introduced to client communications and legal drafting.

Elements of Legal Argumentation II (ELA II)

The second semester ELA-2 course continues the study and practice of legal reasoning and communication that was begun in ELA-1. Students will have the opportunity to use their basic understanding of the core concepts and tools learned in ELA-1 as they complete a variety of both oral and written presentations. Focus is on argumentation and rhetoric as the means to building strong and persuasive documents and presentations. Students continue to practice the process of legal writing as they research, analyze, organize, write and revise litigation and other practice related documents. The primary context for the work done in ELA-2 involves writing briefs to a specific court. In addition to writing complete briefs, students will complete several smaller assignments focusing on specific skills related to strong argumentation and development of legal proofs. Students will also give several oral arguments and presentations in class throughout the semester. Additionally, students will be introduced to the role of ADR in client representation and will begin to learn about court and ethical rules related to brief writing and client representation.

Publications

Bar & Trade Publications

Subrogation in New Mexico, NEW MEXICO TRIAL LAWYER'S LITIGATION MANUAL (3rd ed. 2015).

Judicial Evaluation of Expert Opinions: Recent Developments, 41 N.M. TRIAL LAW. (January/February 2011).
Available at: UNM-DR

Insurance Bad Faith and Punitive Damages After Sloan v. State Farm, 35 N.M. TRIAL LAW. (January/February 2005).
Available at: UNM-DR

You've Got it Coming—Winning Discovery through Effective Motions Practice, 22 N.M. TRIAL LAW. (March 1994).
Available at: UNM-DR

The Government Contractor Defense, PRODUCT LIABILITY REPORTER (April 1994).

1993 Amendments to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, 22 N.M. TRIAL LAW. (February 1994).
Available at: UNM-DR

Cipollone v. Liggitt Group, Inc., Federal Preemption and the Preservation of State Common Law Claims, 21 N.M. TRIAL LAW. (June 1993).
Available at: UNM-DR

The Government Contractor Defense, 21 N.M. TRIAL LAW. (May 1993).
Available at: UNM-DR

Through the Looking Glass Darkly: Cleveland v. Piper Aircraft and Second Collision Liability, 19 N.M. TRIAL LAW. (July/August 1991).
Available at: UNM-DR

Popular Press

'Off with their heads’ won’t make ABQ safer, ALBUQUERQUE J. (June 10, 2019)
Available at: UNM-DR

Presentations

New Mexico Trial Lawyer Presentations

New Developments Daubert/Aberico, September 23, 2011

Reflections or Projections? Re-thinking Loss of Consortium Damages, January 28, 2011

When are the policy limits the policy limits?, February 13, 2009

Issues of Agency: Knowing When Liability is Vicarious, April 29, 2005

Punitive Damages – Here today, gone tomorrow?, April 25, 2003

Insurance Coverage: Bad Faith and Good Faith – Drawing the Lines, April 26, 2002

Breach of the Duty to Defend and the Refusal to Settle: Opportunities for a Full Recovery, January 14, 2000

Using Uniform Jury Instructions, December 12, 1997.

Litigation Strategies for Damage Caps, October 24, 1997

Federal Preemption and Responses to the Government Contractor's Defense, October 9, 1992.

The Needle in the Haystack -- The Effective Use of Computer Transcripts, with Dean A. Finch, Randy LaMar, May 1, 1992.

Vehicle Product Liability and the Crashworthiness Case, September 14, 1990.

Judicial Presentations

Anatomy of a Toxic Tort, Judicial Conclave 2012, Panelist

The New Code of Judicial Conduct, Judicial Conclave 2012

Between a rock and a hard place: navigating the troubled waters of Alberico and Rule 702, Judicial Conclave 2011, Panelist

Civil Jury Instruction Workshop, New Mexico Judicial Conclave, June 7, 2001

Other Presentations

Update on Daubert, New Mexico Black Lawyers Association Seminar, October 9, 2009

Computer-Facilitated Document Organization, Presentation to University of New Mexico law students, April 4, 2003

Meditations on Effective Brief Writing, Presentation to University of New Mexico law Students, November 12, 2002

An Introduction to the Federal Tort Claims Act, Albuquerque Bar Association, June 6, 2000

Equal Rights in New Mexico, State Bar Presentation, October 23, 1999.

An Introduction to the Federal Tort Claims Act, Albuquerque Bar Association Presentation, March 4, 1997

Meditations on Effective Briefs, Continuing Legal Education of the State Bar of New Mexico, June 3, 1994

Briefs

Brief for The American Association on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities at al. as Amicus Curiae, Bobby James Moore v. Texas; Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas (2016) (No. 15-797) (co-counsel with James Ellis, Ann M. Delpha, Carol M. Suzuki, David J. Stout & April Land).
Available at: UNM-DR

Published Decisions

Kitts v. General Motors Corp., 875 F.2d 787 (10th Cir. 1989).

Trujillo v. City of Albuquerque, 1998-NMSC-031, 125 N.M. 721.

Singhas v. N.M. State Highway Department, 1997-NMSC-054, 124 N.M. 42.

Brooks v. Beech Aircraft Corporation, 120 N.M. 372 (1995).

Dunleavey v. Miller, 116 N.M. 353 (1994).

California First Bank v. State, 111 N.M. 64 (1990).

Perry v. Williams, 2003-NMCA-084, 133 N.M. 844.

Powell v. New Mexico State Highway & Trans. Depart., 117 N.M.  415 (Ct.  App. 1994).

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