If you've studied philosophy at the undergraduate or graduate level, and are thinking about law school, I would like to urge you to consider the University of Chicago Law School. The Law School trails only Yale in per capita placement in law teaching, and graduates are also hugely successful in the private firm market, and in clerkships. Although we have a relatively small faculty (not quite 40 full-time academic faculty), we have two philosophers full-time in the Law School (myself and Martha Nussbaum), and a large number of colleagues with philosophical interests. This year, like most years, we have several philosophical visitors in the Law School, including Derrick Darby from the University of Michigan; Robin Kar from the University of Illinois; and John Tasioulas from King's College, London. In addition, every year we have a Law & Philosophy Fellow: this year's Fellow is Alexander Prescott-Couch, a recent PhD from Harvard. In addition, this year, one of our Bigelow Fellows (Bigelow Fellows teach legal research and writing while preparing for academic careers in law) is also a lawyer/philosopher, Ryan Doerfler.
There is an annual Law & Philosophy Workshop that meets throughout the year, and which students may take for credit: recent topics have included "Free Speech and Its Critics," "Life and Death," and "Freedom and Responsibility." Speakers in the last few years at the Workshop have included Jeff McMahan, Dan Brock, Joshua Cohen, Seana Shiffrin, Mary Kate McGowan, Derk Pereboom, Gary Watson, Frederick Schauer, Hanna Pickard, Stephen Morse, T.M. Scanlon, and Pamela Hieryonimi, among many others. The annual Dewey Lecture in Law & Philosophy has recently brought Axel Honneth, Barbara Herman, Philip Pettit and Elizabeth Anderson to the Law School. In addition, there are usually one or more conferences each year in the Law School related to philosophical topics.
There is now a large and lively group of philosophically-minded students here. More than 10% of the first-year class this year came to us with a philosophy major or advanced degree! This is the highest percentage since I came here in 2008, and probably one of the highest percentage of philosophy students at any law school in the U.S. There are currently two JD/PhD in philosophy students, as well as one JD student working on a PhD elsewhere. Of all the law schools in the U.S., the Chicago experience is also probably most like that of a graduate program in a PhD field, in terms of the intellectual engagement of both faculty and students.
Chicago currently has substantial merit aid to offer to very strong students (the best-known are the Rubenstein Scholarships, but there are other sources of aid, including for students interested in a JD/PhD). Philosophy students, both those with undergraduate majors and those with advanced degrees, have been very successful in getting this aid, and have performed very well at the Law School; as a result philosophy students receive favorable consideration here. Excellent numerical credentials are very important, of course, but even within that pool, applicants with philosophy backgrounds stand out. Students with philosophy backgrounds have recently turned down Yale, Harvard, and other peer law schools to come to Chicago. If you have questions about law study at Chicago, feel free to e-mail me at bleiter-at-uchicago-dot-edu.
Recent Comments