US law schools with strong Antitrust Offerings

Students and colleagues asked me from time to time whether I could recommend one or several law schools which possess leading antitrust experts.

Here is a very basic ranking (based on my own experience and discussion with several US colleagues). When relevant, I also indicate the names of leading antitrust economists who are not necessarily part of the law school, but are around (and sometimes teach on an ad hoc basis in the law school).

1. Boalt Hall (UC Berkeley): Aaron Edlin, Dan Rubinfeld, Howard Shelanski, Tom Jorde: This is quite a team. [The economics department and the business school also include: Mike Katz, Joe Farrell, Rich Gilbert, David Teece, and Hal Varian]. If you are interested in antitrust and industrial organization, this is the place to go!

2. Harvard Law School: Einer Elhauge and Louis Kaplow. Both are leading experts. Harvard is also the leading law school in law & economics and corporate law, subjects also of interest to most antitrust lawyers. [For those interested in economics, MIT is not very far and they have a five star line up when it comes to antitrust economics: Jerry Hausmann, Dick Schmalensee, Paul Joskow, and Franklin Fisher].

3. Chicago Law School: Randy Picker, Andy Rosenfeld (as well as Richard Posner and William Landes, although they no longer so active in the antitrust field). [In the business school, the big attraction is Dennis Carlton]. Although the law school has been declining in recent years, this is still a good place to consider for antitrust.

4. Georgetown U. Law Centre: Two big names: Bob Pitosfky and Steven Salop. Greg Sidak will join the school in September. A big advantage of Georgetown is that it is in Washington, D.C., where action takes place in antitrust.

5. Yale Law School: Big names are George Priest, Alvin Klevorick, and Ian Ayres. [In school of management, a well-known figure is Barry Nalebuff.]

6. NYU Law School: Eleanor Fox and Harry First. Fox is well known for her work in the international antitrust area. [The economics department also includes Janusz Ordover and Bill Baumol).

7. U. of Virginia Law School: Virginia: Charlie Goetz and Glen Robinson are both well know for their work.

Additional comments:

1. To the best of my knowledge Stanford Law School no longer has an antitrust law professor (which is a shame), but Stanford's strength lies outside the law school: Roger Noll, Tim Bresnahan, Bruce Owen, Garth Saloner, Ken Arrow are all outstanding economists with experience in antitrust. Another top law school, which looks weak in antitrust, is Columbia.

2. By contrast, some not so well-known law schools have leading antitrust scholars. See, for instance, Iowa (Herbert Hovenkamp); Washington College of Law (Jonathan Baker), Northwestern (Fred McChesney), and George Mason (Tim Murris).

Damien

Comments

[john]

What about Markovits at the University of Texas?

[Russell Steinthal]

Regarding Columbia, it's worth noting that Prof. Harvey Goldschmid, from whom I had the privilege of learning antitrust just a few years ago, is currently on leave while serving on the Securities and Exchange Commission. Hopefully, when his term on the SEC expires, he'll return to teaching antitrust (among other things) at Columbia.

[Matt]

What about C.A. Jones and William Page at University of Florida Levin College of Law?

[Tim]

Thomas Kauper of U Mich???