Law School Faculty Quality: Who is Up and Who is Down Since 2003

MOVING TO FRONT from July 18 for benefit of readers who missed it during the summer

We ran our last reputational surveys of leading legal scholars in the Spring of 2003; I hope to run a new one in Spring 2007, since some perhaps meaningful changes have taken place in faculty rosters in the interim.  Here are the changes between the Spring 2003 rosters and the expected fall 2006 rosters.   Those listed as "gone" may have retired, taken a job elsewhere, been denied tenure, or, sadly, died since 2003; those who retired or left a tenured post for a tenured post elsewhere are listed accordingly in parentheses.  For "new" faculty that were lateral appointments, the school from which they were hired away is listed in parentheses after the faculty member's name.  The list aims to include only tenure-stream non-clinical faculty who are primarily in law (e.g., hold tenure in law); adjuncts and emeritus faculty are excluded.

Schools are listed based on their faculty quality rank in the 2003 survey.  The approximate faculty size range follows in parentheses after the school name.

1.  YALE LAW SCHOOL (50-59)

Gone (3):  Abraham Goldstein (retired), Carol M. Rose (retired, moved to Arizona), Ruth Wedgwood (Johns Hopkins).

New (10):  Yochai Benkler (NYU), Richard Brooks, John J. Donohue III (Stanford), Heather Gerken (Harvard), Christine Jolls (Harvard), Yair Listokin, Jonathan R. Macey (Cornell), Tracey Meares (Chicago), Robert C. Post (Berkeley), Alec Stone Sweet (Oxford).

2.  HARVARD LAW SCHOOL (70-79)

Gone (10):  Samuel Bagenstos, Christopher F. Edley, Jr. (Berkeley, to become Dean), Heather Gerken (Yale), Christine Jolls (Yale), Diane Ring, Margo Schlanger, Henry J. Steiner (retired), Detlev F. Vagts (retired), W. Kip Viscusi (Vanderbilt), Jonathan L. Zittrain.

New (14):  Rachel Brewster, Jody Freeman (UCLA), Jack L. Goldsmith III (Virginia), Adriaan Lanni, Daryl Levinson (NYU), Bruce Mann (Penn), John Manning (Columbia), Gerald Neuman (Columbia), Jed Shugerman, Matthew Stephenson, Jeannie Suk, George Triantis (Virginia), Mark Tushnet (Georgetown), Adrian Vermeule (Chicago).

2.  UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO LAW SCHOOL (30-39)

Gone (11):  Albert Alschuler (retired, moved to Northwestern), David Currie (retired), Kenneth Dam (retired), Daniel Fischel (retired, now adjunct at Northwestern), Jack L. Goldsmith III (Virginia, then Harvard), Gidon Gottlieb (retired), Philip Hamburger (Columbia), Jill Hasday, Tracey L. Meares (Yale), Alan O. Sykes, Jr. (Stanford), Adrian Vermeule (Harvard).

New (7):  Adam Cox, Jacob Gersen, M. Todd Henderson, Alison LaCroix, Anup Malani (Virginia), Thomas Miles, Adam Samaha.

4.  STANFORD LAW SCHOOL (40-49)

Gone (6):  Barbara A. Babcock (retired), Bernard S. Black (Texas), John J. Donohue III (Yale), Margaret Jane Radin (retired, moved to Michigan), William H. Simon (retired, moved to Columbia), Michael Wald (retired).

New (13):  Joshua Cohen (MIT), Robert Daines (NYU), Dan Ho, Amalia Kessler, Larry Kramer (as Dean, from NYU), Mark A. Lemley (Berkeley), Lawrence Marshall (Northwestern), Jennifer R. Martinez, Alison Morantz, Jane Schacter (Wisconsin), Norman Spaulding (Berkeley), Alan O. Sykes, Jr. (Chicago), David Victor (Stanford Prog. for Energy & Development).

5.  COLUMBIA LAW SCHOOL (50-59)

Gone (12):  Marvin Chirelstein (retired), Cynthia Estlund (NYU), Allan Farnsworth, Samuel Issacharoff (NYU), Bradley C. Karkkainen, David Leebron (Rice, to become President), Chen Lichtenstein, John F. Manning (Harvard), Gerald Neuman (Harvard), William M. Sage (Texas), Jeremy Waldron (NYU), Lawrence Zelenak (Duke).

New (16):  Michael Doyle (Princeton), Elizabeth Emens, Zohar Goshen (half-time, from Hebrew U), Philip Hamburger (Chicago), C. Scott Hemphill, Olatunde Johnson, Clarisa Long (Virginia), Petros Mavroides (half-time, from Neuchatel), Thomas W. Merrill (Northwestern), Edward R. Morrison, Alex Raskolnikov, Elizabeth Scott (Virginia), Robert Scott (Virginia), Catherine Sharkey, William H. Simon (emeritus, Stanford), Timothy Wu (Virginia).

5.  NEW YORK UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF LAW (70-79)

Gone (7):  Yochai Benkler (Yale), Robert M. Daines (Stanford), Larry Kramer (Stanford, to become Dean), Daryl Levinson (Harvard), Stephen R. Perry (Penn), Michael H. Schill (UCLA, to become Dean), Rebecca L. Tushnet.

New (13):  Oren Bar-Gill, Lily Batchelder, Stephen Choi (Berkeley), Kevn Davis (Toronto), Cynthia Estlund (Columbia), Roderick M. Hills, Jr. (Michigan), Daniel Hulsebosch (St. Louis), Samuel Issacharoff (Columbia), Deborah C. Malamud (Michigan), Florencia Marotta-Wurgler, Cristina Rodriguez, Robert Sitkoff (Northwestern), Jeremy Waldron (Columbia).

7.  UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, BERKELEY BOALT HALL SCHOOL OF LAW (40-49)

Gone (5):  Stephen Choi (NYU), Mark A. Lemley (Stanford), Robert C. Post (Yale), Norman Spaulding (Stanford), Oliver Williamson (retired).

New (15):  Catherine Albiston, Kenneth Bamberger, Eric Biber, Christopher F. Edley, Jr. (as Dean, from Harvard), Anne Joseph, Gillian Lester (UCLA), Goodwin Liu, Erin Murphy, Melissa Murray, Paul Schwartz (Brooklyn), Jonathan Simon (Miami), David A. Sklansky (UCLA), Eric Talley (USC), Molly S. Van Houweling, Letti Volpp (American).

8.  UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN LAW SCHOOL (50-59)

Gone (4):  Roderick M. Hills, Jr. (NYU), Yale Kamisar (retired, moved to San Diego), Deborah C. Malamud (NYU), Molly S. Van Houweling.

New (16):  Eve Brensike, Alicia Davis Evans, Scott Hershovitz, Jill Horwitz, James Hynes, Jr. (Michigan Business), Vik S. Khanna (BU), Douglas Laycock (emeritus, Texas), Jessica Litman (Wayne State), Edward A. Parson, John A.E. Pottow, J.J. Prescott, Margaret Jane Radin (emerita, Stanford), Steven R. Ratner (Texas), Rebecca J. Scott (Michigan History), Gil Seinfeld, Scott J. Shapiro (Cardozo).

8.  UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS SCHOOL OF LAW (60-69)

Gone (9):  Hans W. Baade (retired), Stuart Benjamin (Duke), Robert Dawson, Lee Anne Fennell, Robert W. Hamilton (retired), Douglas Laycock (retired, moved to Michigan), Neil Netanel (UCLA), Steven R. Ratner (Michigan), Russell J. Weintraub (retired).

New (10):  Bernard S. Black (Stanford), Oren Bracha, Jens Dammann, A. Mechelle Dickerson (William & Mary), John Golden, Derek Jinks, Emily Kadens, Katherine Litvak, Daniel B. Rodriguez (San Diego), William M. Sage (Columbia).

10.  UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA LAW SCHOOL (50-59)

Gone (11):  Curtis A. Bradley (Duke), Rosa Brooks (Georgetown), Charles E. Goetz (retired), Clarisa Long (Columbia), Anup Malani (Chicago), Jennifer Mnookin (UCLA), Chris W. Sanchirico (Penn), Elizabeth S. Scott (Columbia), Robert E. Scott (Columbia), George Triantis (Harvard), Timothy Wu (Columbia).

New (14):  Kerry Abrams, Margo Bagley (Emory), Michal Barzuza, Tomiko Brown-Nagin (Wash U/St. Louis), Albert Choi, Michael Collins (Tulane), Michael Doran, Brandon L. Garrett, Rachel Harmon, Toby Heytens, Mitchell Kane, Gregory Mitchell (Florida State), Dotan Oliar, Christopher Sprigman.

11.  UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA LAW SCHOOL (40-49)

Gone (6):  Geoffrey C. Hazard, Jr. (phased retirement, moved to Hastings), Peter H. Huang, Bruce H. Mann (Harvard), Arti Rai, Edward L. Rubin (Vanderbilt, to become Dean), Kim Lane Scheppele (Princeton).

New (9):  Aditi Bagchi, Stephanos Bibas (Iowa), William Burke-White, Cary Coglianese (Harvard Kennedy School), Ronald Daniels (Toronto, as Provost of University), Serena Mayeri, Stephen R. Perry (NYU), Theodore Ruger, Chris W. Sanchirico (Virginia).

12.  GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY LAW CENTER (70-79)

Gone (5):  Samuel Dash, G. Mitu Gulati (Duke), Clarissa C. Potter, Warren F. Schwartz (retired), Mark Tushnet (Harvard).

New (11):  Randy Barnett (BU), William Wilson Bratton III (George Washington), Rosa Brooks (Virginia), James Forman, Jr., Gregory Klass, John Mikhail, Nicholas Quinn Rosenkranz, Rebecca L. Tushnet, David C. Vladeck, Ethan Yale, Kathryn Zeiler.

12.  UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA LAW SCHOOL (40-49)

Gone (3):  Erwin Chemerinsky (Duke), W. David Slawson (retired), Eric Talley (Berkeley).

New (5):  Jonathan Barnett, Kareem Crayton, Schuel Leshem, Daria Roithmayr (Illinois), James Spindler.

14.  CORNELL LAW SCHOOL (30-39)

Gone (4):  Martha L.A. Fineman (Emory), Jonathan R. Macey (Yale), Gary J. Simson (Case Western, to become Dean), Katherine van Wezel Stone (retired, moved to UCLA).

New (7):  John Blume, Valerie Hans (Delaware), Michael Heise (Case Western), Robert Hockett, Mitchell Lasser (Utah), Bernadette Meyler, Trevor Morrison, W. Bradley Wendel.

14.  NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF LAW (40-49)

Gone (8):  Kenneth W. Abbott (retired, moved to Arizona State), Richard Brooks, Tracey E. George (Vanderbilt), Lawrence Marshall (Stanford), Thomas W. Merrill (Columbia), Robert Sitkoff (NYU), Richard E. Speidel (retired), Gordon Wood (Brown).

New (10):  Albert Alschuler (emeritus, Chicago), Olufunmilayo Arewa, Ronen Avraham, Lee Epstein (Wash U/St. Louis), Tonja Jacobi, Jide Nzelibe, Max Schnazenbach, Nancy Staudt (Wash U/St. Louis), Emerson Tiller (Texas Business School), Abraham Wickelgren.

14.  UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, LOS ANGELES SCHOOL OF LAW (40-49)

Gone (9):  Norman Abrams (retired), Paul B. Bergman (retired), Jody Freeman (Harvard), Laura Gomez (New Mexico), Kenneth W. Graham, Jr. (retired), Gillian Lester (Berkeley), Arthur Rosett (retired), David Sklansky (Berkeley), Susan Westerberg Prager (Occidental College, to become President)

New (12):  Steven Bank (Florida State), Mark Grady (George Mason), Mark Greenberg, Maximo Langer, Gia Lee, Jennifer Mnookin (Virginia), Neil W. Netanel (Texas), Russell Robinson, Michael H. Schill (as Dean, from NYU), Katherine van Wezel Stone (emerita, Cornell), Samuel C. Thompson, Jr. (Miami), Noah Zatz.

17.  DUKE UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF LAW (40-49)

Gone (3):  Michael Byers (British Columbia), Jerome M. Culp, William W. van Alstyne (retired, moved to William & Mary).

New (11):  Stuart Benjamin (Texas), Curtis A. Bradley (Virginia), Erwin Chemerinsky (USC), Catherine Fisk (USC), G. Mitu Gulati (Georgetown), Jedediah Purdy, Arti Rai, Barak Richman, James Salzman (American), Neil Siegel, Lawrence Zelenak (Columbia).

18.  VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF LAW (40-49)

Gone (3):  Jonathan I. Charney, Harold G. Maier (retired), Kent Syverud (Wash U/St. Louis, to become Dean).

New (10):  Margaret M. Blair, Christopher Brummer, Nita Farahany, Tracey George (Northwestern), Laurence Helfer (Loyola-LA), Joni Hersch (Adjunct, Harvard), Owen Jones (Arizona State), Terry Maroney, Edward L. Rubin (as Dean, from Penn), W. Kip Viscusi (Harvard).

Outside the top 18, the school with the most dramatic changes since 2003 must surely be Illinois, which ranked 22nd in the 2003 survey, but would almost certainly rank higher now.

UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS COLLEGE OF LAW (30-39)

Gone (9):  Carlos A. Ball (Penn State), Linda M. Beale, Rene Bowser, Ellen E. Deason (Ohio State), Kit Kinports (Penn State), Richard W. Painter (Minnesota), Daria Roithmayr (USC), Stephen F. Ross (Penn State), Elaine W. Shoben (Nevada).

New (13):  Amitai Aviram, Ralph Brubaker (Emory), Lee Anne Fennell, Christine Hurt, David Hyman (Maryland), Patrick Keenan, Robert Lawless (Nevada), Andrew Morriss (Case Western), Jennifer Robbenolt (Missouri), Jacqueline Ross, Richard Ross (Wisconsin), Lawrence Solum (San Diego), Ekow N. Yankah.

I think it's fair to say that most schools have not changed much since the 2003 surveys in terms of overall faculty quality.  Schools that have probably gained some ground (not just in total numbers, but in quality) since 2003 are Yale, Michigan, Duke, Vanderbilt, Illinois and, maybe also, Harvard, NYU, Berkeley, Texas, and UCLA.  The two big stories here, I'd say, are Michigan and Duke.  Michigan, which saw its mid-level tenured ranks decimated during the 1990s to the point where its "top ten" status might have been in question, has now rebounded with an increase in faculty size, and many high quality hires.  Duke, which was probably the consensus choice among elite legal academics for the most overrated law school in America over the last decade (when U.S. News always put it in the top 15--sometimes, remarkably, even in the top 10), has made a strong series of lateral hires that now earn it a place, quite justifiably, in the top fifteen.   (Outside the top 18, I'd say that Emory, Ohio State, Arizona State, and Arizona have all gained some ground since 2003 as well.)

Schools that have probably lost some ground since 2003 would include Chicago, Virginia, USC, Cornell, and, maybe, Northwestern.

The effects of these moves will be more substantial on the rankings in the specialty areas of course.  For example, in the Business Law areas, the top five will remain the same, except Yale is likely to be up there now with Stanford and Chicago; Cornell and USC will be out of the top ten; and Texas will be squarely in the top ten.  In Constitutional Law, Yale and Harvard will still dominate everyone else, and Chicago, Texas, and NYU will still fill out the top five, while Michigan is likely to break the top ten.  In Law and Economics, Chicago, Harvard, and Yale will still dominate everyone else, Virginia may slip out of the top ten, and USC almost certainly will.  In Law and Philosophy, NYU will still clearly be #1, but now with a big gap between them and the next "top 5ish" cluster--Columbia, Texas, Yale, Penn, but also now Michigan (while Cardozo will drop out of the top ten).  I would also expect UCLA to be more squarely top ten (competitive with, e.g., Illinois and Berkeley), rather than borderline, as it was in 2003.  In Law and the Social Sciences, Northwestern should certainly join the "top five," but otherwise there probably won't be much change.

Next Spring, we'll find out whether these assessments are correct or not.  I invite non-anonymous comments from others, including corrections or additions to the information above.  Thanks.

UPDATE:  A reader suggests, probably correctly, that Minnesota should also be noted as a school outside the top 18 that has had a net gain in faculty quality since 2003.  Although the school suffered some significant losses (e.g., Donald Dripps and David McGowan, who moved to San Diego), the school also had a net gain of about ten faculty, and made some strong lateral hires as well, including Fionnuala Ni Aolain from Ulster, Richard Painter from Illinois, and Francesco Parisi from George Mason, among others.

AND ANOTHER:  Another reader mentions George Washington, which also had a net gain of faculty, with several notable laterals, including Michael Abramowicz from George Mason and John Duffy from William & Mary, among others.  I invite faculty to post similar rosters of gains and losses for other faculties in the comments; you must do so non-anonymously.