Brian Leiter's Law School Reports

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:

Continue reading

St. Thomas University (Miami) summarily fires tenured professor, with no notice or process

Unbelievable misconduct by the administration there.

12 lateral moves that made faculty "take notice" during 2023-24

Based on my in-box and conversations with others, these were 12 moves that transpired this past year that were thought to be the biggest hiring coups (I used to list only ten, but this was another big year for lateral moves):

 

*Robin Craig (environmental law, water law) from the University of Southern California to the University of Kansas.

 

*Katherine Mims Crocker (federal courts, constitutional law, state & local government law) from the College of William & Mary to Texas A&M University.

 

*Andrew Gold (corporate, torts, private law theory) from Brooklyn Law School to the University of California, Irvine.

 

*Joshua Kleinfeld (criminal law & procedure, legislation/statutory interpretation, jurisprudence) from Northwestern University to George Mason University.

 

*Gary Lawson (administrative law, constitutional law) from Boston University to the University of Florida, Gainesville.'

 

*Stefanie Lindquist (empirical legal studies, constitutional law) from Arizona State University to Washington University, St. Louis (to become Dean).

 

*Christopher Odinet (commercial law, consumer finance, real estate, propery law) from the University of Iowa to Texas A&M University.

 

*Laura Pedraza-Fariña (intellectual property, international organizations) from Northwestern University to the University of California, Los Angeles (effective January 2024).

 

*L. Song Richardson (criminal law & procedure; law & social science) from Colorado College (where she is President) back to the University of California, Irvine.

 

*Frances Shen (law & neuroscience) from Harvard University (Center for Bioethics, Medical School) back to the University of Minnesota.

 

*Eugene Volokh (constitutional law [esp. First Amendment]) from the University of California, Los Angeles (where he will become emeritus) to the Hoover Institution, Stanford University.

 

*Keith Whittington (constitutional law & history) from the Department of Politics, Princeton University to Yale University (law school).

Lateral hires with tenure or on tenure-track, 2023-24

These are non-clinical appointments that will take effect in summer or fall 2024 (except where noted); (recent additions will be in bold.)  Last year's list is here.

 

*Daniel Abebe (international law, foreign relations law) from the University of Chicago (where he is Vice-Provost) to Columbia University (to become Dean).

 

*Rabiat Akanda (law & religion, constitutional law, comparative law, international law, African law & society) from Osgoode Hall Law School/York University, Toronto to the University of Maryland (untenured lateral).

 

*Aviva Abramovsky (commercial law, insurance law) from the University at Buffalo, State University of New York to the University of Idaho (to become Dean).

 

*Samantha Barbas (legal history, media law) from the University at Buffalo, State University of New York to the University of Iowa.

 

*Stephanie Hall Barclay (First Amendment, constitutional law, law & religion) from the University of Notre Dame to Georgetown University.

 

*Kent Barnett (administrative law) from the University of Georgia to Ohio State University (to become Dean).

 

*Thomas Bennett (civil procedure, constitutional law, federal courts) from the University of Missouri, Columbia to Southern Methodist University.

 

*Jessica Berg (health law & policy, bioethics) from Case Western Reserve University (where she is Dean) to the University of California, Davis (to become Dean).

 

*Bethany Berger (property, American Indian law, conflicts of law) from the University of Connecticut to the University of Iowa.

 

*Jennifer Bird-Pollan (tax) from the University of Kentucky to Wayne State University.

 

*Valerie Blake (health law) from West Virginia University to the University of Tennessee, Knoxville.

 

*Christina Boyd (judicial behavior, empirical legal studies) from the University of Georgia (Political Science & Public Affairs) to Washington University, St. Louis (Law School & Political Science).

 

Alina Ng Boyte (property, land use) from Mississippi College to the University of Hawaii.

 

 *Kara Bruce (bankruptcy, commercial law) from the University of Oklahoma, Norman to the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill

 

*Ellen Bublick (torts) from the University of Arizona to Arizona State University.

 

*Vincent Buccola (bankruptcy, corporate) from the University of Pennsylvania (Wharton School) to the University of Chicago (Law School).

 

*Marcilynn Burke (environmental & natural resources law, land use) from the University of Oregon (where she is Dean) to Tulane University (to become Dean).

 

*Sarah Burstein (intellectual property, design law) from Suffolk University to Illinois Institute of Technology/Chicago-Kent College of Law.

 

*Kristina Campbell (immigration law, civil rights) from the University of the District of Columbia to Gonzaga University.

 

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

 

*Jenny Carroll (criminal law & procedure) from the University of Alabama to Texas A&M University.

 

*Felix Chang (antitrust, financial regulation, trusts & estates) from the University of Cincinnati to Ohio State University.

 

*Robert Chang (Critical Race Theory; race, ethnicity & law) from Seattle University to the University of California, Irvine.

 

*Wilfred Codrington III (constitutional law, election law, race & the law, civil rights) from Brooklyn Law School to Cardozo Law School/Yeshiva University.

 

*Harlan Cohen (international trade, international law) from the University of Georgia to Fordham University (effective January 2024).

 

*James Coleman (energy law) from Southern Methodist University to the University of Minnesota.

 

*Robin Craig (environmental law, water law) from the University of Southern California to the University of Kansas.

 

*Katherine Mims Crocker (federal courts, constitutional law, state & local government law) from the College of William & Mary to Texas A&M University.

 

*Keith Cunningham-Parmeter (labor & employment law, contracts) from Willamette University to Lewis & Clark (effective January 2024).

 

*Lincoln Davies (energy law) from Ohio State University (where he is currently Dean) back to the University of Utah.

 

*Marc DeGirolami (law & religion, constitutional law) from St. John's University to Catholic University (effective January 2024).

 

*William Dodge (international business transactions, international litigation & arbitration, contracts) from the University of California, Davis to George Washington University.

 

*Taleed El-Sabawi (health law) from Florida International University to Wayne State University (untenured lateral).

 

*Andrew Elmore (labor & employment law) from the University of Miami to Boston University.

 

*Jelani Jefferson Exum (criminal law & procedure) from the University of Detroit Mercy (where she is Dean) to St. John's University (to become Dean).

 

*Dave Fagundes (copyright, property, real estate) from the University of Houston to Emory University.

 

*Roger A. Fairfax, Jr. (criminal law & procedure, criminal justice administration) from American University (where he is Dean) to Howard University (to become Dean).

 

*Pamela Foohey (bankruptcy, commercial law, consumer law) from Cardozo Law School/Yeshiva University to the University of Georgia.

 

*Janet Freilich (intellectual property) from Fordham University to Boston University.

 

*Brian Gallini (criminal law) from Willamette University (where he is Dean) to Quinnipiac University (to become Dean).

 

*David Gamage (tax) from Indiana University, Bloomington to the University of Missouri, Columbia (effective January 2024).

 

*Erika George (international human rights, public international law) from the University of Utah to Boston University.

 

*Sara Gerke (health law, law & technology, privacy, comparative law) from Pennsylvania State University, Dickinson School of Law to the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign (untenured lateral).

 

*Pedro Gerson  (immigration law, criminal law) from the Pozen Center for Human Rights, University of Chicago to Chicago-Kent College of Law/Illinois Institute of Technology (untenured lateral).

 

*Tianna Gibbs (civil procedure, dispute resolution, family law) from the University of the District of Columbia to American University.

 

*Andrew Gold (corporate, torts, private law theory) from Brooklyn Law School to the University of California, Irvine.

 

*Erica Goldberg (First Amendment, torts) from the University of Dayton to Gonzaga University.

 

*Caleb Griffin (corporate, contracts) from the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville to the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.

 

*Julie Andersen Hill (commercial law, banking law) from the University of Alabama to the University of Wyoming (to become Dean).

 

*George Horvath (health law, torts) from the University of Akron to the University of California, San Francisco (untenured lateral).

 

*Erik Hovenkamp (antitrust, law & technology, intellectual property, law & economics) from the University of Southern California to Cornell University.

 

*Charles Jalloh (international law) from Florida International University to the University of Miami.

 

*Twinette Johnson (education law, legal education, commecial law) from the University of District of Columbia (where she is Dean) to Saint Louis University (to become Dean).

 

*Andrew Jurs (evidence, empirical legal studies) from Drake University to University of the Pacific/McGeorge School of Law.

 

*Johanna Kalb (international human rights) from the University of Idaho (where she is Dean) to the University of San Francisco (to become Dean).

 

*Tal Kastner (contracts, property, law & literature) from Touro Law Center to Rutgers University (untenured lateral).

 

*Daniel Kelly (law & economics, property, trusts & estates, remedies) from the University of Notre Dame to the University of St. Thomas (Minneapolis) (to become Dean).

 

*J.D. King (criminal procedure, professional responsibility) from Washington & Lee University to Rutgers University (effective January 2024).

 

*Joshua Kleinfeld (criminal law & procedure, legislation/statutory interpretation, jurisprudence) from Northwestern University to George Mason University.

 

*Gary Lawson (administrative law, constitutional law) from Boston University to the University of Florida, Gainesville.'

 

*Desiree LeClercq (international law, labor law) from Cornell University (School of Industrial & Labor Relations) to the University of Georgia (law school) (untenured lateral)

 

*Edward Lee (intellectual property, law & technology) from Chicago-Kent College of Law to Santa Clara University.

 

*Jill Lens (torts, health law, remedies) from the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville to the University of Iowa.

 

*Stefanie Lindquist (empirical legal studies, constitutional law) from Arizona State University to Washington University, St. Louis (to become Dean).

 

*Jacqueline Lipton (intellectual property, law & technology, privacy, commercial law) from the University of Pittsburgh to Duquesne University.

 

*Rachel Lopez (criminal law, public international law, international human rights) from Drexel University to Temple University.

 

*Sarah Lorr (disability law, family law) from Brooklyn Law School to the University of Maryland (untenured lateral).

Continue reading

Seven law professors elected to the American Academy of Arts & Sciences

They are:  Anne Alstott (Yale), Ann Carlson (UCLA), G. Mitu Gulati (Virginia), Daniel Ho (Stanford), Pauline Kim (Wash U/St. Louis), Eric Talley (Columbia), and (in the Religious Studies category) John Witte, Jr. (Emory).

Letter from many Columbia Law faculty to the University President about the handling of protests on campus

Here.  Signatories include Vince Blasi, Kimberle Crenshaw, Jane Ginsburg, Michael Graetz, Ronald Mann, David Pozen, Carol Sanger, Robert and Elizabeth Scott, and others.

Law faculty contributions to political candidates

Notre Dame lawprof Derek Muller compiled data for the period 2017 to early 2023 (so during the Trump era), and I was surprised by how many contributed to Republicans, given the condition of that party, although this fits with the general perception of the American legal academy as conservative by global standards.  Most Republican supporters in the academy I know are motivated by the hope that something of the libertarian policy agenda still survives, but perhaps that's only true of faculty at the law schools I know best.  I note that according to additional data from Professor Muller, the highest percentage of Republican donors are at religious law schools--and even there, there are relatively few donors overall.   Of course, it bears remembering that donating to Mitch Romney is not like donating to Ted Cruz, and donating to Sherrod Brown is not like donating to Joe Manchin, so just looking at "Democratic" and "Republican" donations is not really that informative.

 

 

Congratulations to the Chicago alumni and Fellows on the law teaching market...

...who accepted tenure-track jobs.  They are:

 

Charles F. Capps ’20, who will join the faculty at Arizona State University.  He graduated with Honors from the Law School, where he was Articles Editor of the Law Review.  He also earned a Ph.D. in philosophy from the University of Chicago.    He clerked in his native Saint Louis for Judge Gruender on the 8^th Circuit from 2020-22, and served as Deputy Solicitor General of the State of Missouri.  His primary areas of teaching and research interest include criminal law, criminal procedure, jurisprudence, torts, and evidence.

 

Jonathan Green, who will join the faculty at Arizona State University.  He is currently a Bigelow Fellow at the Law School.  He earned his J.D. from Yale in 2020, where he was an editor of the Yale Law Journal, and a Ph.D. in History from Cambridge University in 2018.  He was an associate at DLA Piper in Philadelphia in 2021, until taking up a clerkship with Judge Neomi Rao on the D.C. Circuit.  His primary areas of teaching and research interest include legislation/statutory interpretation, civil procedure, federal courts, legal history, and administrative law. 

 

Filippo Lancieri JSD ‘21, who will join the faculty at Georgetown University.  He is currently a post-doctoral fellow at the ETH Zurich Center for Law & Economics.   He received his JSD at Chicago with a thesis on “Essays in the Regulation of Digital Markets”; he received his LL.M. from Chicago in 2016.  He also holds an MA in economics and an undergraduate law degree, both from São Paulo.  He practiced antitrust and corporate law in his native Brazil for four years, and has also practiced antitrust as an International Lawyer with Latham &Watkins in Brussels.   His primary areas of teaching and research interest are antitrust, privacy, law and technology, contracts, and copyright.

 

Tyler B. Lindley '21, who will join the faculty at Brigham Young University.  He graduated with Highest Honors and  Order of the Coif from the Law School, where he was Business & Communication Editor of the Law Review.   He clerked for Chief Judge Pryor on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit, and for Judge Katsas on the D.C. Circuit, and served as Of Counsel at Lee Nielsen.  His primary areas of teaching and research interest are constitutional law, civil procedure, federal courts, and legislation and regulation.

 

Meighan C. Parker, who will join the faculty at the University of Georgia.  She is currently a Bigelow Fellow at the Law School.  She received her J.D. cum laude from the University of Alabama in 2018, where she also received the John England Award for the Black law student with the highest academic standing; she also holds an M.T.S. from Harvard Divinity School awarded in 2015.   She spent two-and-a-half years as an associate in the Life Sciences & Regulatory Compliance Group at Ropes & Gray in Washington D.C., before joining Sidley Austin in Washington, D.C. as a Managing Associate in their Food, Drug, and Medical Device Compliance and Enforcement Group.  Her primary areas of teaching and research interest are health law, food & drug law, torts, business organizations, and law & technology. 

 

Mark Pickering '05 who will join the faculty at the University of St. Thomas (Miami).  He earned a Ph.D. in philosophy from Boston University in 2013, and taught philosophy at various schools, most recently at the University of Alabama.  His primary areas of teaching and research interest are criminal law & procedure, torts, and jurisprudence.

 

Eve Rips '12 who will join the faculty at the University of Illinois, Chicago John Marshall Law School.  She worked as an attorney at the Chicago Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights and for Young Invincibles in Washington, D.C., where she was Acting National Deputy Director.  She has taught at Loyola University, Chicago, the University of Maryland (Baltimore), and Chicago-Kent College of Law, where she is presently a VAP.   Her primary areas of teaching and research interest are education law, criminal law, family law, and legal research and writing.

 

Zalman Rothschild, who will join the faculty at Cardozo Law School/Yeshiva University.  He is presently a Bigelow Fellow at the Law School.  He is a magna cum laude graduate of Harvard Law School in 2018, and also received a Ph.D. in Religion & Jewish Studies from New York University in 2016.   He was a litigation associate at Paul, Weiss in New York City for three years, and also clerked for Judge Jane Roth on the Third Circuit.  His primary areas of teaching and research interest are constitutional law (especially the First Amendment, both the religion and speech clauses), civil procedure, family law, employment discrimination, and professional responsibility. 

 

Bill Watson ’14, who will join the faculty at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.  He is currently a Climenko Fellow at Harvard Law School.  He graduated with High Honors and Order of the Coif from the Law School, where he was a Kirkland & Ellis Scholar and the Book Review & Essays Editor of the Law Review.  He clerked for Judge Jay Bybee on the 9^th Circuit, and was a litigation associate at Kirkland & Ellis in Chicago for three years before starting the graduate program in philosophy at Cornell University, where he received the Ph.D. in 2023.  His primary areas of teaching and research interest include legislation/statutory interpretation, jurisprudence, administrative law, civil procedure, evidence, and constitutional law.

You can see a complete list of Chicago law alumni in teaching here.

Not an April Fool's joke: Yale Law School hires an experienced and talented lawyer to the regular faculty

After being demoted to the 6th best law school in the country last year by USNEWS.COM, things seem to be changing!  Jokes aside, Mr. West is very talented, but what's remarkable is that YLS hired him:  a smart, articulate lawyer who knows a ton of law, and (I am told) is "conservative" (whatever that means).  Historically, YLS rookie hires of their own have not always worked out that well (Akhil Amar is one famous exception), but I imagine this will be another exception.  What explains it?  Dean Heather Gerken wants to be President of Yale?   Or leave behind some of the embarrassments of recent years?  In any case congratulations to Mr. West and to Yale!

Lawsky's entry-level hiring report for 2024

If you've recently accepted a tenure-track job in law teaching, submit your information to Professor Lawsky here.