Introduction
David A. Grenardo is a professor of law and associate director of the Holloran Center for Ethical Leadership in the Professions. He joined St. Thomas Law in 2022. Grenardo was previously a professor at St. Mary's University School of Law (Texas) where he taught Professional Responsibility, Contracts, Sports Law, Business Associations, Civil Procedure, and International Sports Law.
Grenardo earned the prestigious Warren E. Burger Prize awarded by the American Inns of Court for his article, Civility Rules: Debunking the Major Myths Surrounding Mandatory Civility for Lawyers and Five Mandatory Civility Rules That Will Work. He received the national award and made his acceptance speech at the Supreme Court of the United States on October 28, 2023. Grenardo has researched and promoted civility for over a decade, and he is the leading proponent of mandatory civility in the legal academy.
He has presented on professionalism and ethics multiple times locally, statewide and nationally, including at the American Bar Association's Annual Meeting and the ABA's Annual National Conference on Professional Responsibility. Grenardo has also been quoted in the ABA Journal on the topic of civility.
As a former four-year letterwinner playing Division I football, Grenardo brings a unique perspective to sports law. Grenardo has spoken across the country and internationally on issues related to sports law, including at the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization’s (UNESCO) 4th Global Forum Against Racism and Discrimination in Barcelona, Spain.
Grenardo has been quoted in multiple media outlets on sports law, including by the New York Times, ESPN, USA Today, the Associated Press (AP), and the Boston Globe. He has also spoken on the radio multiple times in the area of sports law, including an appearance on Knowledge@Wharton Business Radio on Sirius XM. His op-eds on sports (as they relate to business and society) have appeared in, among other publications, Fortune Magazine (solicited), AP News, Yahoo! Finance, Houston Chronicle, and the San Antonio Express-News.
Grenardo practiced law in California and Texas for three large law firms - Jones Day, DLA Piper, and King & Spalding - for nearly a decade before joining the legal academy in 2011. He represented clients in a wide variety of complex commercial litigation matters, including contract, tort and product liability cases. He dedicated a significant part of his practice to pro bono work, which included protecting the rights of, among others, domestic violence victims, the developmentally disabled and First Amendment litigants.
Grenardo has received numerous awards for his pro bono efforts, including the Frank J. Scurlock Award, awarded by the State Bar of Texas, the Harriet Buhai Center for Family Law Pro Bono Panel Volunteer of the Year, the Wiley W. Manuel Award bestowed by the State Bar of California, the San Diego Volunteer Lawyer Program Distinguished Service Award, and Texas Civil Rights Project Pro Bono Champion.
Grenardo's scholarship focuses on professional responsibility, sports law, legal pedagogy, and the practice of law. He has published or forthcoming articles in the Harvard Journal of Sports & Entertainment Law, the Georgetown Journal of Legal Ethics, Pepperdine Law Review, Brooklyn Law Review, Oregon Law Review, the Berkeley Journal of Entertainment & Sports Law, the Journal of Catholic Legal Studies, and the University of North Carolina School of Law's First Amendment Law Review, among others.
The 3L graduating classes of 2024 and 2025 at the University of St. Thomas School of Law selected Grenardo as the Professor of the Year two years in a row. St. Mary's University School of Law's Phi Delta Phi chapter (which consists of students in the top 20 percent of their class) honored Grenardo as the Faculty Member of the Year in 2017, and he was also selected as the Professor of the Year by the Student Bar Association at St. Mary's Law School in 2014. He was also selected as the recipient for the law school of the 2022 Distinguished Faculty Award bestowed by the St. Mary's Alumni Association. He earned his B.A. from Rice University and his J.D. from Duke University School of Law.