Daniel Blinka

Professor Daniel D. Blinka teaches courses in evidence, trial practice, criminal law, and constitutional criminal procedure. He is also directs the Law School's Certificate in Litigation program. In addition to his J.D., he holds a PhD in United States history from the University of Wisconsin, Madison. Professor Blinka is the author of books and articles on evidence law, criminal procedure, legal history, and other subjects. His books are published by leading law book publishers, Thomson-Reuters ("West") and LexisNexis. His work is often relied upon by courts, lawyers, and other legal commentators. He has published several volumes on federal evidence law in the influential series Wright & Miiller, Federal Practice and Procedure. These include the 2025 publication of revised volume 21 (with K.W. Graham), which analyzes the background of the Federal Rules of Evidence and the keystone rules found in Article I (Rule 101 through 107). In 2020 he published volume 30 in the series, which analyzes the Sixth Amendment Confrontation Clause. He plans to publish several more volumes in the near future. In addition to his ongoing work on evidence law, Professor Blinka is presently researching the history of jury trials at the time of the founding.

In addition to his teaching and scholarly interests, Professor Blinka is working with the Wisconsin Judicial Council to revise the Wisconsin Rules of Evidence.

Professor Blinka has received the Law School's teaching award on multiple occasions in addition to Marquette University's teaching excellence award. He strongly believes that the Law School's primary mission is to prepare students for the practice of law; theory and policy must foster the development of critical judgment and the analytic skills needed to serve clients and the justice system. Before joining the faculty, Professor Blinka served as a trial lawyer in the office of the district attorney for  Milwaukee County. He currently chairs the Wisconsin Board of Bar Examiners.