UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO LAW
SCHOOL
1111 EAST
60TH STREET
CHICAGO, ILLINOIS 60637
Telephone: (773) 702-9494
URL: http://www.law.uchicago.edu
The University of Chicago Law School occupies a unique
niche among this country's premier law schools. Located on a residential campus
in one of America's great
cities, Chicago
offers a rigorous professional education that blends the study of law with the
humanities, the social sciences, and the natural sciences. Students, faculty
and staff form a small, tightly‑knit community devoted to the life of the
mind. Learning is participatory. Chicago
does not seek to impose a single viewpoint or style of thought on its students.
Instead, faculty expose students to contrasting views, confident in their
abilities to choose their own paths.
History of The Law School
The University
of Chicago, one of the
youngest of the major American universities, was granted its charter in 1890
and opened its doors for classes in October 1892. The generosity of its
founding donors, led by John D. Rockefeller, enabled the first president of the
University, William Rainey Harper, to realize his bold ideas and extraordinary
standards in the creation of a new university. Harper insisted that the new
institution must be a true university, with a strong emphasis on both education
and scholarship.
The Law
School, part of Harper's
original plan but delayed in fulfillment until 1902, was a product of an
innovative spirit and a devotion to intellectual inquiry. The objective, in the
view of Harper and faculty members associated with him in the project, was to
create a new kind of law school, professional in its purpose, but with a
broader outlook than was then prevalent in the leading American law schools.
The aspirations of the new school were set by Harper's conception of legal
education in a university setting: education in law "implies a scientific
knowledge of law and of legal and juristic methods. These are the
crystallization of ages of human progress. They cannot be understood in their
entirety without a clear comprehension of the historic forces of which they are
the product, and of the social environment with which they are in living
contact. A scientific study of law involves the related sciences of history, economics,
philosophy ‑ the whole field of man as social being."
This animating philosophy has resulted in the Law School
playing a leading role in both legal education and legal scholarship since its
founding. Chicago was pivotal in almost all of the innovations made in legal
education during the last century: the recognition of administrative law,
legislation and comparative law as legitimate fields of legal study; the
introduction of other disciplines into the law school curriculum and the
appointment of faculty outside the law; the extension of the field of legal
research from concern with the rules of the law to empirically oriented
investigations of the legal system; and the broadening of the curriculum to
include clinical as well as academic offerings.
Education at The Law School
Chicago aims to train well‑rounded, critical and
socially conscious thinkers and doers. The cornerstones that provide the
foundation for Chicago's
educational mission are: the life of the mind, participatory learning, interdisciplinary
inquiry and an education for generalists.
What sets Chicago apart from other law schools is its
unabashed enthusiasm for the life of the mind ‑ the conviction that ideas
matter, that they are worth discussing and that legal education should devote
itself to learning for learning's sake.
Learning the law at Chicago therefore is a passionate ‑
even intense ‑ venture between and among faculty and students. It begins
in the classroom where students share the stage with the professor. The
professor does not lecture, but instead engages the group in a dialogue. Known
as the Socratic Method, this dialogue presents students with questions about
thorny legal concepts and principles. Energized by this dialogue within the
classroom, students seek opportunities outside the classroom for further
conversation and learning in one of Chicago's
clinical programs, with one of Chicago's three
student‑edited journals, or in one of Chicago's many extracurricular offerings.
Honoring Chicago's
history and commitment to interdisciplinary inquiry, faculty draw students'
attention to insights from the social sciences, the humanities, and the natural
sciences beginning on the first day of class. Chicago's unique first year required course,
"Elements of the Law," introduces students to the law as an
interdisciplinary field and gives students the tools to continue the
interdisciplinary inquiry throughout their legal education.
Although it is currently in vogue for law schools to
promote "specialties" and Chicago
could credibly claim more than 15 areas with a depth of curriculum warranting a
"specialty" label, Chicago
remains committed to legal education as an education for generalists. Emphasizing
the acquisition of broad and basic knowledge of law, an understanding of the functioning
of the legal system, and the development of analytic abilities of the highest
order, a Chicago
legal education prepares students for any professional role they might choose‑legal
practice or legal education, entrepreneurial ventures, corporations,
government, or non‑profit organizations.
Scholarship at The Law School
Every professor at Chicago is a distinguished scholar in
addition to being a dedicated teacher. Recognized as the most productive and
influential faculty of any law school, Chicago's academic faculty is a group of
about 40 professors engaged in research and writing on the most important
topics of the day. The clinical faculty of about 8‑10 pursue a
specialized niche of legal scholarship by engaging in ground‑breaking
advocacy efforts. The brief biographies of the faculty below provide an
introduction to their individual areas of expertise.
Dean and William B. Graham Professor of Law:
Saul Levmore
Assistant Dean for Admissions:
Ann Perry
Associate Dean for Library and Information Services:
Judith Wright
Associate Dean for Career Services:
Abbie Willard
Assistant Dean for LL.M. Program:
Richard Badger
Dean of Students:
Michele Baker Richardson
Associate Dean for Administration:
Karen Afshari
Associate Dean for Corporate and Legal Affairs:
David Zarfes
Assistant Dean for Communications:
Marsha Ferziger Nagorsky
Associate Dean for External Affairs:
Jonathan S. Stern
FULL TIME FACULTY
SAUL LEVMORE, (Dean and William B. Graham Professor of Law), born 1953; admitted to bar, 1983, Virginia. Education: Columbia College (B.A., 1973); Yale (Ph.D., 1978;
J.D., 1980); Chicago‑Kent (LL.D., 1995). COURSES:
Commercial Law, Comparative Law, Corporate Tax, Corporations, Public Choice
& the Law, Torts. Email: s‑levmore@uchicago.edu
DANIEL Y. ABEBE, (Assistant Professor of Law), born Normal, Illinois, May 26, 1975. Education:
Maryville University
of St. Louis (B.A., 1997); University
of Chicago (M.A., 2006); Harvard Law School
(J.D., 2000). Email: dabebe@uchicago.edu
ALBERT W. ALSCHULER, (Julius Kreeger Professor Emeritus of Law), born 1940; admitted to bar, 1965, Illinois. Education: Harvard (A.B.,
1962; LL.B., 1965). COURSES: Criminal Law, Criminal Procedure,
Jurisprudence. Email: awaa@midway.uchicago.edu
DOUGLAS G. BAIRD, (Harry A. Bigelow Distinguished Serv. Professor), born 1953. Education: Yale (B.A., 1975);
Stanford (Ll.D., 1994). COURSES: Civil Procedure, Commercial Law,
Contracts, Creditor's Rights. Email: douglas_baird@law.uchicago.edu
SHYAMKRISHNA BALGANESH, (Bigelow Teaching Fellow and Lecturer in Law), born India,
June 16, 1980. Education: National
Law School
of India (B.A., LL.B (Hons.),
2003); Oxford University
(B.C.L., 2004; M.Phil, 2005); Yale
University (J.D., 2007).
OMRI BEN‑SHAHAR, (Frank and Bernice J. Greenberg Professor of Law), born Tel‑Aviv, Israel. Education: Hebrew University
(LL.B., 1989); Harvard
University (Ph.D., 1995;
S.J.D., 1998). COURSES: Contracts, Sales, Insurance, e‑Commerce,
Law and Economics.
LISA E. BERNSTEIN, (Wilson‑Dickinson Professor of Law), born 1964; admitted to bar, 1994, New York. Education: University of Chicago (B.A., 1986); Harvard (J.D.,
1990). COURSES: Contracts, Corporate Governance, Corporations,
Law & Economics. Email: lisa_bernstein@uchicago.law.edu
EMILY BUSS, (Professor of Law and Kanter Director of Chicago
Policy Initiatives), born 1960;
admitted to bar, 1988, Pennsylvania; 1989, Maryland, 1997, Illinois.
Education: Yale (B.A., 1982; J.D., 1986). COURSES:
Juvenile Law, Civil Procedure, Evidence, Parent, Child, State. Email:
ebussdos@midway.uchicago.edu
MARY ANNE C. CASE, (Arnold I.
Shure Professor of Law), born 1957;
admitted to bar, 1986, New York.
Education: Yale (B.A., 1979); Harvard (J.D., 1985). COURSES:
Comparative Law, Constitutional Law, Employment Law, Family Law (Regulating
Family, Sex & Gender), International Transactions, Jurisprudence, Women
& the Law. Email: macase@law.uchicago.edu
R.H. COASE, (Clifton R. Musser Professor of Economics Emeritus & Senior Fellow
in Law & Economics), born 1910. Education:
University of London (B. Com., 1932; D. Sc., 1951); University of Cologne (Dr.
Rep. Pol. h.c., 1988); Yale (D. So.Sc., 1989); Washington (LL.D., 1990). COURSES:
Economic Analysis & Public Policy I, Economic Analysis & Public Policy
II, Regulated Industries.
HERSCHELLA G. CONYERS, (Clinical Professor), born Chicago; admitted
to bar, 1984, Illinois.
Education: University of Chicago (B.A., 1972); University of Chicago Law School
(J.D., 1983). COURSES: Criminal and Juvenile Justice Project, Pre‑trial
Advocacy. Email: herschella_conyers@law.uchicago.edu
ADAM COX,
(Assistant Professor of Law), born Ann
Arbor, Michigan, April 25, 1974; admitted to bar, 2001, New York. Education:
Princeton University
(B.S.E., 1996); University
of Michigan Law School
(J.D., 1999). COURSES: Civil Procedure, Immigration Law and the
Rights of Non‑Citizens, National Borders and Regulatory Policy, Law and
the Political Process. Email: adambcox@law.uchicago.edu
KENNETH W. DAM, (Max Pam Professor Emeritus of American & Foreign Law and Senior
Lecturer), born 1932; admitted to bar,
1959, New York.
Education: Kansas (S.B., 1954); University of Chicago (J.D., 1957). COURSES:
Antitrust, Constitutional Law, Financial Institutions, Intellectual Property,
International Commercial Arbitration, International Transactions. Email:
kenneth_dam@law.uchicago.edu
ROSALIND DIXON, (Assistant Professor), born
Cape Town, South Africa, April 25, 1979; admitted to bar, 2002, New South
Wales, Australia. Education: The University
of New South Wales (B.A., 2001; LL.B.,
2001); Harvard University (LL.M., 2004; S.J.D., 2008). COURSES:
Comparative Constitutional Law, Constitutional Law, Human Rights, Legal Theory.
RICHARD A. EPSTEIN, (James Parker Hall Distinguished Serv. Professor of
Law & Director, Law & Economics Program), born 1943; admitted to bar, 1969, California. Education: Columbia (A.B., 1964); Oxford University
(B.A., 1966); Yale (LL.B., 1968). COURSES: Communications, Contracts,
Land Use Planning, Property, Real Estate Transactions, Torts, Constitutional
Law, Corporations. Email: repstein@midway.uchicago.edu
LEE FENNELL, (Professor of Law), born
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, October 4, 1966; admitted to bar, 1990, California;
1991, U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia; U.S. Claims Court. Education:
Baylor University
(B.B.A., 1987); Georgetown University (J.D., 1990); University of Virginia
(M.F.J., 1998).
DANIEL R. FISCHEL, (Lee & Brena Freeman Professor Emeritus of Law
& Business), born 1950; admitted
to bar, 1977, Illinois.
Education: Cornell (B.A., 1972); Brown (M.A., 1974); University of Chicago
(J.D., 1977). COURSES: Agency & Partnership, Corporate
Finance, Corporations, Current Problems in Corporation Law, Non Profits. Email:
daniel_fischel@law.uchicago.edu
CRAIG B. FUTTERMAN, (Associate Clinical Professor of Law), born Chicago, Illinois,
March 2, 1966; admitted to bar, 1991, Illinois.
Education: Northwestern University (B.A., 1988); Stanford Law
School (J.D., 1991). COURSES:
Civil Rights, Pre‑Trial Practice, Trial Advocacy. Email:
futterman@uchicago.edu
JACOB GERSEN, (Assistant Professor of Law),
born New Sharon, Maine, July 15, 1973. Education: Brown
University (A.B., 1996); University of Chicago
(M.A., 1998; Ph.D., 2001); The University of Chicago Law
School (J.D., 2004). COURSES:
Administrative Law, Environmental Law, Torts, Insurance Law, Risk and Risk
Regulations, Legislation. Email: jgersen@uchicago.edu
TOM GINSBURG, (Professor), born Berkeley,
California, February 22, 1967; admitted to bar, 1997, California. Education:
University of California
Berkeley (B.A.,
1989; J.D., 1997; Ph.D., 1999). COURSES: Comparative Law,
International Law, East Asia. Email:
tginsburg@uchicago.edu
GIDON A.G. GOTTLIEB, (Leo Spitz Professor Emeritus of International Law
& Dip. Emeritus), born 1932;
admitted to bar, 1958, England.
Education: London School of Economics (LL.B., 1954); Trinity College
of Cambridge
(LL.B., 1956); Harvard (LL.M., 1957). COURSES: International Law,
International Organizations, Jurisprudence, Negotiation. Email:
gottlieb@uchicago.edu
BERNARD E. HARCOURT, (Julius Kreeger Professor of Law and Criminology), born New York, New York, January 28, 1963; admitted to bar, 1989, New York; 1990, Washington
D.C.; 1991, Alabama;
1996, Massachusetts.
Education: Princeton University (A.B., 1984); Harvard University
(J.D., 1989; M.A., 1998; Ph.D., 2000). COURSES: Criminal Law. Email:
bharcourt@law.uchicago.edu
R.H. HELMHOLZ, (Ruth Wyatt Rosenson Distinguished Service Professor of Law), born 1940; admitted to bar, 1965, Missouri. Education: Princeton University
(A.B., 1962); Harvard (LL.B., 1965); California,
Berkeley (Ph.D., 1966); Trinity
College (LL.D., 1992). COURSES:
Estates, Legal History, Natural Resources, Oil & Gas, Real Property. Email:
dick_helmholz@law.uchicago.edu
TODD HENDERSON, (Assistant Professor of Law),
born Chattanooga, Tennessee,
December 17, 1970; admitted to bar, 1999, Maryland. Education: Princeton University
(B.S.E., 1993); University
of Chicago Law School
(J.D., 1998). COURSES: Business Associations, Securities
Regulations, Intellectual Property, Bankruptcy. Email:
mhenderson@law.uchicago.edu
MARK J. HEYRMAN, (Clinical Professor and Faculty Director of Clinical
Programs), born 1949; admitted to bar,
1977, Illinois.
Education: Illinois (B.A., 1974); University of Chicago (J.D., 1977). COURSES:
Clinical Teaching, Law & Psychiatry, Trial & Appellate Advocacy. Email:
mheyrman@midway.uchicago.edu
JOSEPH ISENBERGH, (Harold J. and Marion F. Green Professor of Law), born 1945; admitted to bar, 1976, District of Columbia. Education: Columbia (B.A., 1966); University of Rochester
(A.M., 1967); Yale (J.D., 1976). COURSES: International
Transactions, Taxation, Federal. Email: joseph‑isenbergh@law.uchicago.edu
ALISON LACROIX, (Assistant Professor of Law),
born Milwaukee, Wisconsin,
January 12, 1974; admitted to bar, 2000, New
York. Education: Yale
University (B.A., 1996); Harvard University
(A.M., 2006); Yale
Law School
(J.D., 1999). COURSES: Legal History, Federalism, Constitutional
Law. Email: lacroix@uchicago.edu
WILLIAM M. LANDES, (Clifton R. Musser Professor of Law & Economics), born 1939. Education: Columbia (A.B., 1960; Ph.D., 1966). COURSES:
Antitrust, Art Law, Economic Analysis of Law, Intellectual Property. Email:
william_landes@law.uchicago.edu
BRIAN LEITER, (John P. Wilson Professor of Law and Director, Center for Law,
Philosophy, and Human Values), born New York, New York,
January 14, 1963; admitted to bar, 1988, New
York. Education: Princeton
University (A.B., 1984); University of Michigan (J.D., 1987; Ph.D., 1995). COURSES:
Jurisprudence, Evidence. Email: bleiter@uchicago.edu
JEFF LESLIE, (Associate Clinical Professor of Law), born Washington D.C., September 28, 1970; admitted to bar, 1997, Illinois. Education:
Yale University
(B.A., 1992); Yale
Law School
(J.D., 1997). COURSES: Housing Issues. Email: jleslie@law.uchicago.edu
JO DESHA LUCAS, (Professor Emeritus), born
1921; admitted to bar, 1952, Virginia.
Education: Syracuse University (A.B., 1947; M.P.A., 1951); University of Virginia
(LL.B., 1951); Columbia
(LL.M., 1952). COURSES: Admiralty, Civil Procedure, Local Government,
State & Local Taxation, Torts. Email:
jo_desha_lucas@law.uchicago.edu
ANUP MALANI, (Professor of Law), Education:
Georgetown (B.S.F.S, 1992); University of Chicago
(M.A., P.h.D., 1997; J.D., 2000). COURSES: Health Law, Bankruptcy
Law, Corporate Law.
IRINA MANTA, (Bigelow Teaching Fellow and Lecturer in Law), born Bucharest,
Romania, August
1, 1980. Education: Yale
University (B.A., J.D.).
RICHARD MCADAMS, (Professor of Law), born Atlanta, Georgia, August, 15, 1960; admitted to bar,
1987, Pennsylvania.
Education: University of North Carolina (B.A., 1982); University of Virginia
(J.D., 1985).
THOMAS J. MILES, (Assistant Professor of Law), born Cambridge, Massachusetts, July 15, 1968;
admitted to bar, Tufts University (B.A., 1990); University of Chicago (Ph.D.,
2000): Harvard Law School (J.D., 2003). COURSES: Torts, Criminal
Law, Economic Analysis of Law. Email: tmiles@law.uchicago.edu
PHIL CALDWELL NEAL, (Harry A. Bigelow Professor Emeritus), born 1919; admitted to bar, 1943, Illinois. Education: Harvard (A.B.,
1940; LL.B., 1943). COURSES: Antitrust, Civil Procedure, Conflict
of Laws, Constitutional Law.
MARTHA NUSSBAUM, (Ernst Freund Distinguished Service Professor of Law
& Ethics), born 1947. Education:
New York University (B.A., 1969); Harvard (M.A.,
1971; Ph.D., 1975). COURSES: Aesthetics, Ancient Greek
Philosophy, Feminism, Law & Literature, Moral Philosophy, Political
Philosophy. Email: martha_nussbaum@law.uchicago.edu
RANDAL C. PICKER, (Paul & Theo Leffmann Professor), born 1959; admitted to bar, 1986, Illinois. Education: University of Chicago (B.A, 1980; M.A., 1982; J.D.,
1985). COURSES: Bankruptcy, Commercial Transactions, Corporation
Reorganizations, Game Theory & the Law, Regulated Industries, Secured
Transactions. Email: r‑picker@uchicago.edu
ERIC A. POSNER, (Kirkland & Ellis Professor of Law), born 1965; admitted to bar, 1991, Maryland. Education: Yale (B.A.,
1988); Harvard (J.D., 1991). COURSES: Bankruptcy, Commercial Law,
Copyright Law. Email: eric_posner@law.uchicago.edu
JULIE ROIN, (Seymour Logan
Professor of Law), born 1955; admitted
to bar, 1981, District of Columbia.
Education: Radcliffe
College (B.A., 1977);
Yale (J.D., 1980). COURSES: Contracts, Federal Taxation,
International Taxation, Property, Local Government Law, State and Local
Taxation. Email: julie_roin@law.uchicago.edu
K. ARDEN ROWELL, (Bigelow Fellow and Lecturer in Law), born Denton, Texas, August 4, 1982; admitted to bar, 2007, Washington. Education:
University of Washington (B.A., 2001); University of Chicago Law
School (J.D., 2006). COURSES:
Administrative Law and Regulatory Theory, Environmental Law, Behavioral Law
& Economics, Law & Culture. Email: arden@uchicago.edu
ADAM MARCUS SAMAHA, (Assistant Professor of Law), born Colchester, Essex, UK, February 26, 1970;
admitted to bar, 1997, Minnesota. Education: Bowdoin
College (B.A., 1992); Harvard Law School
(J.D., 1996). COURSES: Constitutional Law, First Amendment Law,
Civil Procedure. Email: asamaha@uchicago.edu
RANDALL D. SCHMIDT, (Clinical Professor), born 1954; admitted to bar, 1979, Illinois. Education: Illinois (B.A., 1976); University of Chicago
(J.D., 1979). COURSES: Clinical Teaching, Employment
Discrimination, Evidence, Trial Practice, Admiralty. Email:
rschmid@midway.uchicago.edu
GEOFFREY R. STONE, (Edward H. Levi Distinguished Serv. Professor of Law), born 1946; admitted to bar, 1972, New York. Education: Pennsylvania (B.S., 1968); University of Chicago
(J.D., 1971). COURSES: Civil Procedure, Constitutional Law,
Criminal Procedure. Email: g‑stone@uchicago.edu
RANDOLPH N. STONE, (Clinical Professor), born 1946; admitted to bar, 1975, District
of Columbia; 1975, Wisconsin;
1977, Illinois.
Education: Wisconsin‑Milwaukee (B.A., 1972); Wisconsin (J.D., 1975). COURSES:
Clinical Teaching, Evidence, Legal Profession, Trial Advocacy, Criminal Law,
Race & Criminal Justice. Email: snar@midway.uchicago.edu
LIOR STRAHILEVITZ, (Professor of Law), born St. Louis, Missouri, December 3, 1973; admitted to bar, 2000,
Washington. Education: University
of California, Berkeley (B.A., 1996); Yale Law
School (J.D., 1999). COURSES:
Property, Privacy. Email: lior@uchicago.edu
DAVID A. STRAUSS, (Harry N. Wyatt Professor), born 1952; admitted to bar, 1980, District of Columbia. Education:
Harvard (A.B., 1973; J.D., 1978); Oxford
(B.Phil., 1975). COURSES: Administrative Law, Civil Procedure,
Constitutional Law, Federal Jurisdiction, Torts. Email:
david_strauss@law.uchicago.edu
DAVID A. WEISBACH, (The Walter J. Blum Professor of Law and Director,
Law & Economics Program), born
1963; admitted to bar, 1989, Illinois; 1990,
District of Columbia.
Education: Michigan
(B.S., 1985); Harvard (J.D., 1989). COURSES: Tax, Corporate Finance.
Email: d‑weisbach@uchicago.edu
JUDITH MARGARET WRIGHT, (Associate Dean for Library & Information
Services and Lecturer in Law), born
1944; admitted to bar, 1980, Illinois.
Education: Memphis State (B.S., 1966); University of Chicago
(M.A., 1971, Grad. Lib. Sch.); De Paul (J.D., 1980). Email:
jmwr@midway.uchicago.edu