Brian Leiter's Law School Reports

15 most cited Law & Social Science faculty in the U.S., 2019-2023

Based on the latest Sisk data, here are the fifteen most-cited law faculty in "law & social science" (excluding economics; including "law & society," "empirical legal studies," sociology, political science, psychology, anthropology) in the U.S. for the period 2019-2023 (inclusive) (remember that the data was collected in late May/early June of 2024, and that the pre-2024 database did expand a bit since then).  Numbers are rounded to the nearest ten.    Faculty for whom roughly 75% or more of their citations (based on a sample) are in this area are listed; others with less than 75% of their citations in this field (but still a plurality) are listed in the category of "other highly cited scholars who work partly in this area." 

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Michigan Law wins summary judgment in discrimination lawsuit brought by faculty member

We noted the case two years ago, and it has now been resolved in favor of the University of Michigan Law School and its former Dean Mark West.  The court describes emails from Dean West to Professor Beny "as immature, awkward, and unprofessional, but likely not harassing," but also held that, "The undisputed facts in this record show that the defendants took disciplinary action against the plaintiff because of her disruptive and unprofessional conduct, and not because of her race or sex or because she engaged in protected activity."  (For some examples, see the emails described at pages 9-10.)  The complaint airs a lot of other dirty laundry, as seemed inevitable given that Professor Beny alleged differential treatment of her compared to other faculty who were alleged (or found) to have engaged in unprofessional conduct.

Interesting initiative to increase legal services in rural areas...

...from the University of Georgia. Other flagships in states with under-served rural communities may want to take a look at this.

15 most cited Law & Economics faculty in the U.S., 2019-2023

Based on the latest Sisk data, here are the fifteen most-cited law faculty in law & economics (including behavioral law & economics) in the U.S. for the period 2019-2023 (inclusive) (remember that the data was collected in late May/early June of 2024, and that the pre-2024 database did expand a bit since then).  Numbers are rounded to the nearest ten.    Faculty for whom roughly 75% or more of their citations (based on a sample) are in this area are listed; others with less than 75% of their citations in this field (but still a plurality) are listed in the category of "other highly cited scholars who work partly in this area." 

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Citation lists going forward (IMPORTANT UPDATE)

Going forward, I won't produce any "most cited" ordinal lists in specialty areas when the citation total for the five-year period is below 300.  Partly this is for reasons of time, but partly it is that I'm skeptical that as the citation numbers get smaller, ordinal differences are very meaningful.   That means for some of the "low citation" fields, I'll be more likely to list "top five" than "top ten."  As in the past, I will also list up to five highly cited scholars who work partly in the field in question, but only if they have more citations than the least-cited scholar on the ordinal list (e.g., the 5th, 10th or 20th-cited scholar). 

A further difficulty is that Sisk et al. were not able to correct this time for et al. citations to multi-author casebooks, which matters in areas like torts and property.  So I may not do those lists at all this time around.

More "most cited" lists coming soon.

UPDATE:   Thoughtful advice from a Dean elsewhere persuaded me that limiting the most-cited lists, as I proposed above, was a disservice to younger (and thus, on average, more diverse) scholars, since the tops of the lists are dominated by faculty in their 50s, 60s and 70s (with occasional exceptions).  Given the importance these lists have acquired, it seems worth the extra effort to make them reasonably complete.  This means it will take longer to produce them, and there will probably be increased need to post "corrected" lists, since oversights at the bottom of each list are more likely.  I appreciate those readers who take time to send corrections, and I am grateful for constructive advice like that from the Dean who persuaded me my original plan was a mistake.

Curricular areas of interest to hiring committees, 24-25

Northwestern's Professor Lawsky has collected some very interesting information.  It's too bad we don't have data for earlier years, so I can only report my anecdotal sense.  This is a good year for "business law," but every year is a good year for the business law subjects.   It seems like a comparatively good year for three areas in particular:  evidence, labor & employment law, and family law.  Health law has been on a steady rise, it has seemed to me, and that continues this year (although one would like to know how many of these jobs are more bioethics, and how many are more the regulatory side of health law [the latter being the crucial area in practice]).

20 most cited Administrative and/or Environmental Law faculty in the U.S., 2019-2023 (CORRECTED)

Based on the latest Sisk data, here are the twenty most-cited law faculty in administrative and/or environmental law in the U.S. for the period 2019-2023 (inclusive) (remember that the data was collected in late May/early June of 2024, and that the pre-2024 database did expand a bit since then).  Numbers are rounded to the nearest ten.    Faculty for whom roughly 75% or more of their citations (based on a sample) are in this area are listed; others with less than 75% of their citations in this field (but still a plurality) are listed in the category of "other highly cited scholars who work partly in this area."  (Note that Ricky Revesz, who was #1 last time, is currently in government service, so was not part of the Sisk study.)

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Just a note that you can advertise exclusively on this blog--information here.  Traffic this fall should be especially strong with new "most cited' lists coming out most weeks for the next few months.

Books

Forgive the navel-gazing here, but perhaps some readers will be interested in some of the three books of mine that have appeared this year.

(1)  Marx, co-authored with Jaime Edwards, has just appeared.   Here's what the political philosopher Allen Buchanan (emeritus, Duke University; Laureate Professor, University of Arizona; author of Marx and Justice:  The Radical Critique of Liberalism [1982], among many other books) had to say about it:

A tour de force. Not only the best available introduction to Marx’s thought and to post-Marx Marxist theories, but also of interest to specialists. The organization is excellent, and the writing is always clear and jargon-free. It covers all the main topics that a book on Marx should address. It is remarkably fair and balanced, sympathetic to Marx’s ideas, but also appropriately critical of them.

You can read other reactions to the book here, including a lengthy excerpt from a referee report that gives a good sense of the volume.

(2) The fifth volume of Oxford Studies in Philosophy of Law, which I edit with Leslie Green, will be available next month.  It includes new essays on philosophy of tort, criminal, and international law; on French legal realism and Bulygin's jurisprudence; and a variety of topics in general jurisprudence.  The authors are an international group of scholars from New Zealand, Singapore, France, Argentina, the U.K., as well as the United States.

(3)  For any Spanish readers, Teoría del derecho realista:  Ensayos selectos is a Spanish translation by the Mexican legal philosopher Francisco M. Mora-Sifuente of eight of my articles on realist jurisrpudence and related themes; it includes a new preface by me, and an introduction to my work by Dr. Natalia Scavuzzo from the University of Genoa (the leading center of Italian legal realism).  The book was published earlier this year by Zela Grupo Editorial, the leading South American publisher of legal philosophy.  (The essays translated are:  "What is a Realist Theory of Law?"; "Legal Realism and Legal Doctrine"; "Legal Realisms, Old and New"; "In Praise of Realism (and Against 'Nonsense' Jurisprudence)"; "Explaining Theoretical Disagreement"; "Constitutional Law, Moral Judgment and the Supreme Court as Super-Legislature"; "The Roles of Judges in Democracies:  A Realistic View"; and "The Paradoxes of Public Philosophy.")

In Memoriam: Frederick Schauer (1946-2024)

I was shocked to learn from David Law on Facebook that Professor Schauer has died (yesterday according to his Virginia colleague Larry Solum).   He started his academic career at West Virginia University, moved to the College of William & Mary, then to the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor (where I was fortunate to have him), then to Harvard's Kennedy School and finally to the University of Virginia School of Law.  He was a prolific and wide-ranging scholar, one of the most-cited in the United States, but also well-known and influential internationally.  He first made a name for himself with his philosophically-minded work on free speech (his 1982 Free Speech:  A Philosophical Enquiry is still the best introduction to the subject), but then branched out widely into legal and jurisprudential topics, include rules, precedent, legal reasoning, stereotypes, American legal realism, constitutional law and theory, and a variety of topics in evidence law. 

At Michigan, I took a course with him on "American Legal Realism and Critical Legal Studies" in the fall of 1985, which proved to be a rather decisive event in my own intellectual trajectory.  Fred also kindly supervised as an independent study my "second dissertation" on legal indeterminacy and legal realism, and provided invaluable support on the law teaching market.  Fred was a friend and supporter for many years thereafter, for which I was very grateful.

Part of the shock is that Fred never seemed old.  Condolences to his wife, the psychologist Barbara Spellman.  I will add links to memorial notices as they appear.  I'll also open comments for remembrances from those knew Professor Schauer or for those who wish to comment on the significance of his work.

(Please submit your comment only once, it may take awhile to appear.)

UPDATE:  The Virginia memorial notice.

ANOTHER:  Professor Christoph Bezemek, Professor of Public Law & Political Theory at the University of Graz, kindly shared a copy of the laudation he delivered on the occasion of Professor Schauer receiving an honorary degree from the Vienna University of Economics and Business:  Download Bezemek laudatio Schauer

Chicago Alumni & Fellows on the law teaching market, 2024-25

MOVING TO FRONT, ORIGINALLY POSTED AUGUST 12

This post is strictly for schools that expect to do hiring this year.

In order to protect the privacy of our candidates, please e-mail me to get a copy of the narrative profiles of our candidates who are on the entry-level market this year and participating in the FAR.

We have an excellent group of ten candidates this year, three Bigelow fellows, one Behavioral Law & Economics Fellow, and seven JD alumni (one of whom is also a Bigelow).  They cover a wide range of curricular areas, including administrative law, antitrust, bankruptcy, business organizations/corporate law, civil procedure, commercial law, constitutional law, contracts, criminal law, criminal procedure, environmental law, European Union law, evidence, family law, federal courts, First Amendment, human rights, immigration law, intellectual property, international law, international organizations, labor & employment, law & politics, law, law & religion, law & psychology, law & technology, legal history, legal profession/professional responsibility, patents, professional responsibility, property, regulated industries, state & local governnment law, and torts. 

Our candidates include former judicial clerks (at all levels, from state Supreme Courts to the U.S. Supreme Court); former Law Review editors; JD/PhDs (in history) and a JSD; current and former VAPs and Fellows; and accomplished practitioners as well as scholars, some with multiple publications, and all have writing samples available upon request.

If when you e-mail, you tell me a bit about your hiring needs, I can supply some more information about all these candidates, since we have vetted them all.

10 most cited Law & Technology faculty in the U.S., 2019-2023 (CORRECTED)

Based on the latest Sisk data, here are the ten most-cited law faculty in law & technology (including Internet law, informational privacy, cybersecurity, AI/robotocs) in the U.S. for the period 2019-2023 (inclusive) (remember that the data was collected in late May/early June of 2024, and that the pre-2024 database did expand a bit since then).  Numbers are rounded to the nearest ten.    Faculty for whom roughly 75% or more of their citations (based on a sample) are in this area are listed; others with less than 75% of their citations in this field (but still a plurality) are listed in the category of "other highly cited scholars who work partly in this area."

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20 most cited Constitutional Law faculty in the U.S., 2019-2023

Based on the latest Sisk data, here are the twenty most-cited law faculty in constitutional law in the U.S. for the period 2019-2023 (inclusive) (remember that the data was collected in late May/early June of 2024, and that the pre-2024 database did expand a bit since then).  Numbers are rounded to the nearest ten.    Faculty for whom roughly 75% or more of their citations (based on a sample) are in this area are listed; others with less than 75% of their citations in this field (but still a plurality) are listed in the category of "other highly cited scholars who work partly in this area."

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Lateral hires with tenure or on tenure-track, 2024-25

These are non-clinical/non-LRW appointments that will take effect in summer or fall 2025 (except where noted); (new additions will be in bold.)  Last year's list is here.

 

*Devon Carbado (criminal procedure, constitutional law, Critical Race Theory) from the University of California, Los Angeles to New York University (effective January 2025).

 

*Anne Maria Lofaso (labor & employment law) from West Virginia University to the University of Cincinnati (effective January 2025).

 

*Mary-Rose Papandrea (First Amendment, media law) from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill to George Washington University.

 

*Gregory Shill (corporate, securities regulation, transportation law & policy) from the University of Iowa to Arizona State University.

 

*Charles Tyler (federal courts, constitutional law, civil procedure) from George Washington University to the University of California, Irvine (effective January 2025).

 

*Richard Winchester (tax, corporate) from Seton Hall University to Brooklyn Law School (effective January 2025).

First FAR distribution for 24-25

Professor Lawksy reports there are 352 candidates, roughly the same as last year.

Fellowships for Aspiring Law Teachers, 24-25 edition

The Blog Emperor has updated his invaluable list.

Ten most cited law faculty in the U.S., 2019-2023

Based on the latest Sisk data, here are the ten most-cited active law professors in the U.S. for the period 2016-2020 (inclusive) (remember that the data was collected in late May/early June of 2024, and that the pre-2024 database did expand a bit since then).  Numbers are rounded to the nearest ten.  (Law professors not teaching in 2024-25--e.g.,those who are now retired, in government service, etc.--are not included [faculty merely on sabbatical are counted].)

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Top 50 U.S. law faculties in scholarly impact, 2024

Professor Greg Sisk & colleagues at the University of St. Thomas have updated their scholarly impact rankings (last edition), looking at mean and median citations to tenured faculty scholarship for the years 2019-2023 inclusive, using fall 2024 faculty rosters as the benchmark (so, e.g., faculty on indefinite leave in government service are not counted).  (Sisk et al. studied 100 faculties and ranked 64; I print the top 50 below, but the full rankings are available in their article.)  The weighted score represents the sum of the mean citations for the tenured faculty times 2, plus the faculty median.  Where the median is low relative to the immediate competition that's an indicator that a few highly cited faculty are carrying the school; in other cases, where the median is quite high, it's an indicator of more across-the-boards scholarly impact.  By noting age, one can see that some faculties are heavily dependent on their most senior members for their citations.  Ties reflect the normalized weighted scores.

The citation counts were done in late May/early June of this year in the Westlaw law journals database as follows:  TE(Brian /2 Leiter) and date (aft 2018) and date (bef 2024).  "TE" limited the results to the body of the text, thus eliminating references to names in acknowledgments.  Although the searches were done in late spring/early summer, it's clear the pre-2024 database expanded slightly after then .  Across whole schools this won't matter, since the database was relatively stable during the window when the data was collected.   Professor Sisk & colleagues this year took extra steps to include authors in et al. cites (the details are in their article).

Citations to faculty scholarship in law journals are, of course, only one metric of scholarly distinction and accomplishment (for limitations of the measure, see the discussion in the Sisk article).  Still, it is a useful check on uninformed opinions, and tracks rather well the actual scholarly output of different schools.  Do remember that citation counts vary by field, which is why the ten most-cited faculty at each school is dominated by faculty in fields like constitutional and public law, corporate law, criminal law & procedure, law & economics, and intellectual property.

Over the next six months or so, I will post new lists of the most-cited scholars by specialty utilizing the Sisk data.  I may post shorter lists this time around (e.g., top 5 rather than top 10), depending on my schedule.

Results for the top 50 below the fold:

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