Top Ten Law Faculty (by area) in Scholarly Impact, 2009-2013

June 11, 2014

The last scholarly impact study, from 2012, conducted by Prof. Greg Sisk and colleagues at St. Thomas, using the methodology I have used previously, did not include a breakdown of highly cited faculty in various areas of specialization (as we had done in earlier years). Prof. Sisk and colleagues plan to do a new, comprehensive scholarly impact study in 2015. In the interim, we have prepared a study of the ten most highly cited faculty for the period 2009 through 2013 in 11 major areas of legal scholarship: Commercial Law/Contracts/Bankruptcy; Corporate Law/Securities Regulation; Criminal Law & Procedure; Intellectual Property/Cyberlaw; International Law; Law & Economics; Law & Philosophy; Law & Social Science (excl. economics); Legal History; Public Law; and Tax. There is also an overall list of the ten most cited faculy regardless of area. In each specialty, we list the ten most-cited faculty in that specialty. We also list up to five faculty whose work is partly in that specialty, as long as their citation total was as high or higher than the 10^th-most cited faculty member in the specialty. (Faculty had to have roughly 75% of their citations for work in the specialty to count for it; where this was an issue, we determined this by surveying the first 10 or 20 citations.) The general methodology for the searches is described in the earlier studies, linked above, as well as the limitations of such metrics; for purposes of this study we searched within the Westlaw journals database as follows:

Cass /2 Sunstein and date(aft2008) and date(bef 2014).

The searches were conducted in late May 2014. The database for 2009-2013 appears to have increased very slightly since then, but since we round to the nearest ten, this is unlikely to have made much difference.

Ten Most Cited Faculty Overall

Rank	Name	Institution	Total Citations	Age in 2013
1	Cass Sunstein	Harvard University	5540	59
2	Erwin Chemerinsky	University of California, Irvine	3010	60
3	Richard Epstein	New York University, University of Chicago	2700	70
4	Eric Posner	University of Chicago	2450	48
5	Mark Lemley	Stanford University	2360	47
6	William Eskridge, Jr.	Yale University	2070	62
7	Mark Tushnet	Harvard University	1910	68
8	Akhil Amar	Yale University	1790	55
9	Lawrence Lessig	Harvard University	1750	52
10	Daniel Farber	University of California, Berkeley	1740	63
	Laurence Tribe	Harvard University	1740	72

 

COMMERCIAL LAW/CONTRACTS/BANKRUPTCY

Rank	Name	Institution	Total Citations	Age in 2013
1	Robert E. Scott	Columbia University	1200	69
2	Douglas Baird	University of Chicago	670	60
3	Steven Schwarcz	Duke University	650	64
4	Alan Schwartz	Yale University	640	73
5	Oren Bar-Gill	Harvard University	510	38
6	Adam Levitin	Georgetown University	450	37
7	Lynn LoPucki	University of California, Los Angeles	420	69
	Ronald Mann	Columbia University	420	52
9	Jay L. Westbrook	University of Texas, Austin	410	70
10	Omri Ben-Shahar	University of Chicago	400	51
	Highly cited scholars who work partly in commercial law etc.
	Eric Posner	University of Chicago	2450	48
	Geoffrey Miller	New York University	1120	63
	David Skeel	University of Pennsylvania	740	52
	Melvin Eisenberg	University of California, Berkeley	660	79
	Todd Zywicki	George Mason University	500	47

 

CORPORATE LAW/SECURITIES REGLUATION

Rank	Name	Institution	Total Citations	Age in 2013
1	John Coffee, Jr.	Columbia University	1490	69
2	Lucian Bebchuk	Harvard University	1120	58
3	Stephen Bainbridge	University of California, Los Angeles	1010	55
4	Reinier Kraakman	Harvard University	790	64
	Donald Langevoort	Georgetown University	790	62
6	Stephen Choi	New York University	780	47
	Ronald Gilson	Columbia University, Stanford University	780	67
8	Roberta Romano	Yale University	740	61
	Lynn Stout	Cornell University	740	56
10	Henry Hansmann	Yale University	710	68
	Highly cited scholars who work partly in corporate
	Jonathan Macey	Yale University	1220	58
	David Skeel	University of Pennsylvania	740	52

 

CRIMINAL LAW & PROCEDURE

Rank	Name	Institution	Total Citations	Age in 2013
1	Orin Kerr	George Washington University	1090	42
2	Paul Robinson	University of Pennsylvania	830	65
3	Christopher Slobogin	Vanderbilt University	760	62
4	Rachel Barkow	New York University	720	42
5	Stephanos Bibas	University of Pennsylvania	660	44
6	Joshua Dressler	Ohio State University	620	66
7	George Fletcher	Columbia University	580	74
	Michael Tonry	University of Minnesota	580	68
9	Carol Steiker	Harvard University	550	55
10	Stephen Schulhofer	New York University	540	71
	Highly cited scholars who work partly in criminal law & procedure
	Dan Kahan	Yale University	1080	50
	Larry Alexander	University of San Diego	800	70
	Kent Greenawalt	Columbia University	700	77
	Gabriel (Jack) Chin	University of California, Davis	590	49

 

INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY & CYBERLAW

Rank	Name	Institution	Total Citations	Age in 2013
1	Mark Lemley	Stanford University	2360	47
2	Robert Merges	University of California, Berkeley	1050	54
3	Dan Burk	University of California, Irvine	760	51
4	Pamela Samuelson	University of California, Berkeley	750	65
5	Rochelle Dreyfuss	New York University	720	66
6	John Duffy	University of Virginia	710	50
7	Yochai Benkler	Harvard University	640	49
	Julie Cohen	Georgetown University	640	49
9	Jane Ginsburg	Columbia University	630	58
	Timothy Wu	Columbia University	630	41
	Highly cited scholars who work partly in IP/cyberlaw
	Lawrence Lessig	Harvard University	1750	52
	Jack Balkin	Yale University	1620	56
	Daniel Solove	George Washington University	900	41
	Margaret Jane Radin	University of Michigan	720	72
	Gideon Parchomovsky	University of Pennsylvania (part-time)	660	45

 

INTERNATIONAL LAW

Rank	Name	Institution	Total Citations	Age in 2013
1	Jack Goldsmith	Harvard University	1680	51
2	Harold Koh	Yale University	1370	59
3	Curtis Bradley	Duke University	960	49
4	Philip Alston	New York University	730	63
5	Andrew Guzman	University of California, Berkeley	670	46
6	W. Michael Reisman	Yale University	650	74
7	Jose Alvarez	New York University	580	58
8	Kal Raustiala	University of California, Los Angeles	560	47
9	Oona Hathaway	Yale University	520	41
10	Laurence Helfer	Duke University	460	48
	Highly cited scholars who work partly in international law
	Eric Posner	University of Chicago	2450	48
	John Yoo	University of California, Berkeley	1380	46

 

LAW & ECONOMICS

Rank	Name	Institution	Total Citations	Age in 2013
1	Eric Posner	University of Chicago	2450	48
2	Steven Shavell	Harvard University	1360	67
3	Ian Ayres	Yale University	1290	54
4	Louis Kaplow	Harvard University	1100	57
5	Robert Cooter	University of California, Berkeley	990	68
6	Christine Jolls	Yale University	700	46
7	Einer Elhauge	Harvard University	660	52
8	George Priest	Yale University	550	66
9	Saul Levmore	University of Chicago	540	60
10	A. Mitchell Polinsky	Stanford University	530	65
	Highly cited scholars who work partly in law & economics
	Cass Sunstein	Harvard University	5540	59
	Richard Epstein	New York University, University of Chicago	2700	70
	Mark Lemley	Stanford University	2360	47
	Robert E. Scott	Columbia University	1200	69
	Lucian Bebchuk	Harvard University	1120	58

 

LAW & PHILOSOPHY

Rank	Name	Institution	Citations	Age in 2013
1	Jeremy Waldron	New York University	1310	60
2	Martha Nussbaum	University of Chicago	1140	66
3	Joseph Raz	Columbia University (part-time)	840	74
4	Brian Leiter	University of Chicago	420[1]	50
5	John Finnis	University of Notre Dame (part-time)	410	73
6	Michael S. Moore	University of Illinois	360	70
7	Joshua Cohen	Stanford University (part-time)	320	62
	R.A. Duff	University of Minnesota (part-time)	320	68 (est.)
9	Seana Shiffrin	University of California, Los Angeles	310	44
10	Scott Shapiro	Yale University	300	47
	Highly cited scholars who work partly in law & philosophy
	Frederick Schauer	University of Virginia	1580	67
	David Luban	Georgetown University	990	64
	Lawrence Solum	Georgetown University	900	59
	Larry Alexander	University of San Diego	800	70
	Kent Greenawalt	Columbia University	700	77

 

LAW & SOCIAL SCIENCE (excluding economics)

Rank	Name	Institution	Total citations	Age in 2013
1	Tom Tyler	Yale University	890	63
2	Lee Epstein	Washington University, St. Louis	850	55
3	Frank Cross	University of Texas, Austin	820	58
4	Jeffrey Rachlinski	Cornell University	760	47
5	Chris Guthrie	Vanderbilt University	550	46
6	Linda Hamilton Krieger	University of Hawaii	500	59
7	Charles Sabel	Columbia University	490	66
8	David Hoffman	Temple University	470	37
9	Herbert Kritzer	University of Minnesota	460	66
10	Malcolm Feeley	University of California, Berkeley	430	71
	Michael Heise	Cornell University	430	53
	Highly cited scholars who work partly in law & social science
	Robert Ellickson	Yale University	820	72
	Russell Korobkin	University of California, Los Angeles	760	45
	Bernard Black	Northwestern University	670	60
	Carrie Menkel-Meadow	University of California, Irvine	620	64
	Bryant Garth	University of California, Irvine	510	64

 

LEGAL HISTORY

Rank	Name	Institution	Citations	Age in 2013
1	Lawrence Friedman	Stanford University	1310	83
2	John Langbein	Yale University	850	72
3	Michael Klarman	Harvard University	750	54
4	G. Edward White	University of Virginia	550	72
5	Paul Finkelman	Albany Law School	500	64
6	James Whitman	Yale University	490	56
7	Stuart Banner	University of California, Los Angeles	390	50
	Phillip Hamburger	Columbia University	390	56
9	William Nelson	New York University	320	73
10	Christopher Tomlins	University of California, Irvine	290	60
	John Witt	Yale University	290	41
	Highly cited scholars who work partly in legal history
	Reva Siegel	Yale University	1290	58
	Herbert Hovenkamp	University of Iowa	1060	65
	Larry Kramer	Stanford University (on leave)	970	55
	David Bernstein	George Mason University	480	46
	Robert W. Gordon	Stanford University	430	72

 

PUBLIC LAW AREAS (incl. constitutional law and legislation)

Rank	Name	Institution	Total Citations	Age in 2013
1	Cass Sunstein	Harvard University	5540	59
2	Erwin Chemerinsky	University of California, Irvine	3010	60
3	William Eskridge, Jr.	Yale University	2070	62
4	Mark Tushnet	Harvard University	1910	68
5	Akhil Amar	Yale University	1790	55
6	Daniel Farber	University of California, Berkeley	1740	63
	Laurence Tribe	Harvard University	1740	72
8	Bruce Ackerman	Yale University	1680	70
9	Jack Balkin	Yale University	1620	56
10	Richard Fallon	Harvard University	1520	61
	Highly cited scholars who work partly in public law
	Richard Epstein	New York University, University of Chicago	2700	70
	Lawrence Lessig	Harvard University	1750	52
	Frederick Schauer	University of Virginia	1580	67
	Thomas Merrill	Columbia University	1550	64

 

TAX

Rank	Name	Institution	Citations	Age in 2013
1	Michael Graetz	Columbia University	400	69
	David Weisbach	University of Chicago	400	50
3	Reuven Avi-Yonah	University of Michigan	350	56
4	Daniel Shaviro	New York University	340	56
5	Leandra Lederman	Indiana University, Bloomington	290	47
	Lawrence Zelenak	Duke University	290	58
7	Victor Fleischer	University of San Diego	280	42
8	Edward Zelinsky	Cardozo Law School/Yeshiva University	270	63
9	Joseph Bankman	Stanford University	250	58
	Edward McCaffery	University of Southern California	250	55
	Highly cited scholars who work partly in tax
	Louis Kaplow	Harvard University	1100	57
	Brian Galle	Boston College	310	41
	Kristin Hickman	University of Minnesota	310	43
	Mark Gergen	University of California, Berkeley	270	57

 

Schools based on the percentage of tenured faculty represented in the above specialty area rankings are as follows (number of faculty above divided by the approximate number of tenured faculty, rounded to the nearest 5):

Rank	School	% of Tenured Faculty Ranked in Top 10	Total # of faculty ranked in top 10
1	Yale University	44%	22
2	University of Chicago	27%	8
3	Columbia University	20%	13
	Stanford University	20%	8
5	Harvard University	18%	15
6	University of California, Irvine	17%	5
7	University of California, Berkeley	16%	9
8	New York University	12%	11
	University of California, Los Angeles	12%	6
10	Duke University	9%	4
	University of Minnesota, Twin Cities	9%	4
	University of Pennsylvania	9%	4
	Runner-up for the top ten
	Cornell University	8%	3

Other schools by total number of faculty: Georgetown University (5); University of Virginia (3); 2 each for University of Michigan, University of Texas at Austin, George Mason University, George Washington University, Vanderbilt University, and University of San Diego; 1 each for Boston College, Cardozo Law School, Northwestern University, University of Illinois, University of Notre Dame, Ohio State University, University of California at Davis, University of Iowa, Washington University in St. Louis, Albany Law School, University of Southern California, Indiana University at Bloomington, Temple University and University of Hawaii.