Levmore Named New Dean of University of Chicago’s Law School

Saul Levmore has been named Dean of the University of Chicago’s Law School by University of Chicago President Don Michael Randel, effective July 1. Levmore succeeds Richard Epstein, who has served as Interim Dean since February.

“The exceptional academic standards of the University of Chicago’s Law School demand a dean of great academic distinction, as well as one who can work effectively with the School’s many constituencies,” Randel said. “In Saul Levmore we are fortunate to have found just such a dean. I look forward to working with him to ensure that the School continues to define the highest standards in the study and teaching of the law.”

Levmore, who joined the University of Chicago faculty in 1998, is currently the William B. Graham Professor of Law at the Law School. He holds a B.A. from Columbia University and both a Ph.D. in Economics and a J.D. from Yale University. He has been a visiting professor at Yale, Harvard, Toronto, Michigan, and Northwestern Universities, and in 1993, the University of Chicago.

Cass Sunstein, the Karl N. Llewellyn Distinguished Service Professor of Law and head of the search committee for a new dean, said, “We’re completely thrilled by this appointment. Saul is an exceptionally distinguished scholar, a terrific colleague, and a fantastic teacher. He combines an understanding of the Law School’s best traditions with fresh ideas and charisma. He will be an excellent dean.”

Levmore said, “I am honored and excited to accept the Deanship of the University of Chicago Law School. I hope to build on the Law School’s tradition of intellectual intensity, excellence, and openness, while improving yet further the educational experiences that we offer, the diversity of viewpoints that is our real hallmark, and the opportunities for a real partnership between the Law School and its supporters. I have ambitious plans and very high expectations for the Law School, and I know that the university community, our past, present, and future students, and the new friends that we hope to make will join with us in bringing about a future even more remarkable than the Law School’s great past.”

Levmore was previously the Brokaw Professor and the Albert Clark Tate Jr. Research Professor at the University of Virginia. Levmore’s research and teaching are in the areas of torts, corporations, corporate law, comparative law, non-profit organizations, and public choice.

Levmore is the author of more than 50 scholarly articles in law reviews and other publications. In 2000, he was one of seven University of Chicago scholars elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. His other honors include an LL.D. (hon.) from the Chicago-Kent College of Law of the Illinois Institute of Technology, the Traynor Award from the University of Virginia for law faculty research, and the Alumni Association Teaching Award from the University of Virginia.

Levmore and his wife, Julie Roin, who is a Professor of Law at the Law School, reside in the Hyde Park neighborhood of Chicago near the University. They have two sons, Nathaniel and Eliot, both of whom attend the Laboratory Schools of the University of Chicago.

Founded in 1902, the Law School is among the nation’s most distinguished. Noted for excellence in teaching, the faculty also is consistently the most productive in scholarly writing and the most cited in the U.S. in court decisions and legal journals. The Law School has played a leading role in almost all of the innovations made in legal education during the last century: the development of the field of law and economics; 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 investigation of the legal system; and the broadening of the curriculum to include clinical as well as academic offerings.

A sampling of Levmore’s recent publications include Conjunction and Aggregation in the Michigan Law Review (2001); Voting with Intensity in the Stanford Law Review (2000); The Public Choice Threat in the University of Chicago Law Review (2000); Norms as Supplements in the Virginia Law Review (2000); Changes, Anticipations, and Reparations in the Columbia Law Review (1999); Voting Paradoxes and Interest Groups in the Journal of Legal Studies (1999); Licensing: Permission Slips in Corporate and Fourth Amendment Law in the Northwestern Law Review (1999); Taxes as Ballots in the University of Chicago Law Review (1998); and Unifying Remedies: Property Rules, Liability Rules, and Startling Rules in the Yale Law Journal (1997). Further biographical information on Levmore, a list of his published articles, descriptions of the courses he teaches at the Law School, and a photograph are found at the following Web address: http://www.law.uchicago.edu/faculty/levmore/.

Additional Contacts:

• Peter Schuler
  (773) 702-4195
  pm-schulerAuchicago.edu

Saul Levmore
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