Carly Toepke | SIU

Dr. iur. Carly Toepke, J.D. joined the SIU faculty as an Assistant Professor in 2024. She started her teaching career at the University of Lucerne in Lucerne, Faculty of Law in 2014.  She was a Marie Curie DREAM Research Fellow at the University of Lucerne in Lucerne, Switzerland, and the Swiss Paraplegic Research in Nottwil, Switzerland, from 2011 to 2015. In 2016, she completed a doctoral degree at the University of Lucerne, Faculty of Law, on the right to inclusive education for children with disabilities. Dr. Toepke taught at the University of Texas School of Law from 2015 to 2024, teaching Legal Research & Writing, Professional Responsibility, and Early Bar Prep for the Texas Law LL.M. Program. She was the Assistant Director of Graduate & International Programs at Texas Law, advising and overseeing programming for international students at Texas Law and those students who wanted to study abroad.

Dr. Toepke earned a J.D. from University of Illinois at Chicago School of Law in Chicago, Illinois in 2011. While earning that degree, she studied abroad at the University of Lucerne during 2L year. This experience is what sparked her journey into the Human Rights Law field and passion for educational exchange. She received bachelor’s degrees in Political Science and German from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 2008.

She is licensed to practice law in Illinois and a member of the American Bar Association.

"While my teaching is centered on legal writing to help students develop the skills necessary to present legal information, my research focus is on human rights law and ethics. I focus particularly on the rights of learners with disabilities to inclusive education and the moral principles that govern the behavior of legal professionals."