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    The McMaster Department of Philosophy has now put together the following notice commemorating Barry: Barry Allen: A Philosophical Life Barry…

Law Professor Families?

Brian Leiter

The distinguished legal historian Laura Kalman is seeking information on families of law professors; she is interested in “a list of families since 1870 in which parent and child/child’s partner; grandparent, parent, and child/child’s partner; parent’s sibling) and child/child’s partner; or just plain-old siblings are all law professors.”

An example would be Richard Posner, longtime Chicago professor and now judge, and his son, Eric Posner, now a Chicago professor. Another example: Frederic Kirgis at Washington & Lee, and Paul Kirgis at St. John’s.

I’ve opened comments for others to post examples. Professor Kalman will check the comments periodically to see what folks come up with.

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50 responses to “Law Professor Families?”

  1. Stephen Kong

    In these examples, I'm not sure the elder professor is still teaching but I'll submit them anyway:

    1) Marc Miller at Emory; Prof. Miller's father I believe was a long time law professor at USC

    2) Ruth Ginsburg (used to be a law professor I think) and her daughter Jane Ginsburg at Columbia

    3) Robert Mnookin at Harvard and Jennifer Mnookin at UVA

    Reply
  2. Stephen Kong

    Also, Jane Ginsburg's father is Martin Ginsburg, a tax professor at Georgetown.

    Reply
  3. Darryl Brown

    Richard Bilder teaches as U. Wisconsin law school; his daughter Mary Bilder teaches at Boston College law school. I think that Norman Poser of Brooklyn law school and Sarah Poser of Nebraska law school are father and daughter. And I think Rebecca Tushnet of NYU & Georgetown law schools is the daughter of Mark Tushnet of Georgetown law.

    Reply
  4. Mark Evans

    Jerome Hellerstein was a law professor at NYU, where he taught primarily state and local taxation. His son, Walter Hellerstein, is a professor of law at the University of Georgia. He too teaches state and local taxation and is widely recognized as the nation's leading expert in the field.

    Reply
  5. Rick Garnett

    Nicole Stelle Garnett and I both teach at Notre Dame Law School. A.J. Bellia and Patricia Bellia also both teach at Notre Dame.

    Rick Garnett

    Reply
  6. Rafael Pardo

    Myers S. McDougal at Yale was the uncle of Luther L. McDougal, III at Tulane.

    Lewis Kornhauser at NYU is the brother of Marjorie Kornhauser at Tulane.

    Reply
  7. Ryan Danks

    Two of Michigan's more famous families must be the Coopers (Ed & Bill, sons of Frank) and the Kaupers (Tom, son of Paul). I seem to recall there were other father/son combinations, but can't think of them right offhand.

    I assume Professor Kalman is less interested in marital connections, of which there seem to be many.

    Reply
  8. reader

    Deborah Jones Merrit at Ohio State is the daughter of a law prof. Don't forget the Shifrins…

    Reply
  9. blogeer

    Jessica Litman's (Wayne State) mother was a law prof at Pitt. Frank Tuerkheimer of Wisconsin and daughter Deborah Tuerkheimer of Maine. Interested in spousal realtions? Temple has three married couples…

    Reply
  10. Ben Glassman

    I think that the Professor Brudney at Ohio State is a close family relation (son?) of the Professor Brudney at Harvard.

    Reply
  11. albert j

    Frank Turkheimer (wisconsin) and daughter Deborah (Maine)

    Reply
  12. albert j

    sorry, missed the above post

    Reply
  13. M Stein

    Alexandra Lahav, who just started at U.Conn, is the daughter of Pnina Lahav (BU).

    Reply
  14. Tim Zinnecker

    Father Charles Kelso at McGeorge, son Clark Kelso at McGeorge, son Randy Kelso at South Texas College of Law

    Reply
  15. Tim Zinnecker

    Father Rex Lee at BYU, son Tom Lee at BYU.

    Reply
  16. calvin massey

    Bob Fletcher (UWash) is the father of Willie Fletcher (9th Cir., formerly Boalt) and Susan French (UCLA).

    Reply
  17. lk

    thanks so much for these names!!
    laura

    Reply
  18. btr

    Two Barretts at Notre Dame related by matrimony too. Some Iowa profs who might be if the law allowed! But best not to bring that up at Notre Dame? Anyways, Steve and Seana Shiffrin. Neal Katyal (Georgetown) and Sonya Katyal (Fordham). Every faculty member at this law school with a spouse with a JD seems to have his or her spouse working here in some capacity (adjunct, administrator, fellow faculty member etc.)

    Reply
  19. anonymous

    Robert Gordon at Yale is the stepfather of Laura Dickinson at Univ. of Connecticut; her husband Paul Berman also teaches at Connecticut

    Reply
  20. Jennifer Mnookin

    As the daughter of a law prof, I've run into a few more of these that occur to me offhand that I don't think have yet been mentioned:

    David Barron (Harvard) & Jerome Barron (GW)
    Hannah Buxbaum (Indiana) & Richard Buxbaum (Boalt)
    Claire Priest (Northwestern) & George Priest (Yale)
    Jeff Liebman and Lance Liebman (both at Columbia)

    Reply
  21. anonymous

    Bernard Meltzer at the University of Chicago is the father of Dan Meltzer at Harvard.

    Reply
  22. Michael Bressman

    W. Page Keeton, the former dean of the UT Law School, and Judge Robert Keeton, the former Harvard Law professor, were brothers. Jerome Barron, former dean of George Washington Law School, is the father of David Barron of Harvard Law School.

    Reply
  23. mstein

    Carol (HLS) and Jordan (UT) Steiker are another sibling pair.

    Reply
  24. Patrick

    Vikram Amar (Hastings) and Akhil Amar (Yale).

    Reply
  25. ladyprof

    A mentor once explained to me that when she started teaching in the early 1970s she felt like one of very few women in legal education who was not married to, related to, or at least sleeping with a male law prof who helped her get onto a law faculty. She did not mean this in a judgmental way – in fact, quite the contrary, she said that at some law schools it was *only* through blood or sexual relationships that women *ever* got themselves hired and tenured, no matter how brilliant and accomplished they were.

    Reply
  26. Maybe

    Newt Minow, former FCC chairman, was on the faculty at the annenberg school while his daughter, Martha, is one of the leading professors at Harvard.

    Reply
  27. Tim Zinnecker

    I believe that Jean Braucher (Arizona) is the daughter of Robert Braucher (Harvard).

    Reply
  28. Anon

    Elias Clark at Yale is the son of former Yale Dean Charles Clark.

    Reply
  29. Ravi

    A Canadian example would be former Dean of the Faculty of Law at the University of Toronto, Frank Iacobucci (later a Justice of the Supreme Court of Canada and very recently, upon retiring from the SCC, appointed interim President of the University of Toronto) and his son, Ed Iacobucci, also at the Faculty of Law, University of Toronto.

    Reply
  30. Avery Katz

    Re Jennifer Mnookin's earlier post on the Liebman family: it's Ben Liebman, not Jeff, who teaches here at Columbia along with dad Lance and mom Carol. Ben specializes in Chinese law; his brother Jeff is an economist who teaches at Harvard's Kennedy School. Our fourth Prof Liebman — Jim — is no relation, however.

    Also, David Currie of Chicago is the son of the great conflicts scholar Brainerd Currie.

    Reply
  31. Bill Bratton

    Gregory Maggs of Gw is the son of Peter Maggs of Illinois. Peter Maggs' father was a member of the Duke faculty.

    Reply
  32. Bill Edmundson

    Charity Scott at Georgia State is a second- and possibly a third-generation law professor.

    Reply
  33. Jon M

    dan markovits (yale), son of richard markovits (ut-austin) and inga markovits (ut-austin)

    Reply
  34. Jon M

    dan markovits (yale), son of richard markovits (ut-austin) and inga markovits (ut-austin)

    Reply
  35. Jon M

    dan markovits (yale), son of richard markovits (ut-austin) and inga markovits (ut-austin)

    Reply
  36. Orde Kittrie

    Orde Kittrie, who just started as an associate professor of law at Arizona State University, is the son of Nicholas Kittrie, who is a professor of law at American University.

    Reply
  37. Suzanna Sherry

    Allison Dunham (Chicago, long since emeritus) is the father of Steve Dunham (Minnesota in the early 1980s then moved to UCLA, I think). And Mark Tushnet is not only Rebecca Tushnet's father — he's also an uncle of Sam Bagenstos (was at Harvard, just moved to Wash U).

    Reply
  38. arkie

    Robert B Leflar (Arkansas) is the son of late Robert A leflar (NYU/Ark)

    Reply
  39. Jason Kilborn

    One more Michigan father/son combo: Doug Kahn (Michigan) and his son Jeff (I believe currently at Santa Clara, graduated with me from Michigan), both teach tax.

    Reply
  40. Schwanensee

    Schwanensee http://tickets.gelago.de/cat65/Sonstige/Tanz-Artistik/Schwanensee/

    Reply
  41. Susan Poser

    Richard Moberly started teaching at U of Nebraska College of Law this year. His father is Robert Moberly of Arkansas Law School. My father is Norman Poser of Brooklyn Law School and I teach at Nebraska. Darryl Brown put me down as Sarah Poser, but it's Susan.

    Reply
  42. Laura Kieselstein

    What about Steven Calabresi (Northwestern) and Guido Calabresi (Yale)?
    Martha Minow (Harvard) is married to Joe Singer (Harvard).

    Reply
  43. Larry Cunningham

    Bill Painter (GW, now emeritus) is Richard Painter's (Illinois) Dad.

    Reply
  44. Pete Alces

    Rick Kirgis (W & L) is the father of Paul Kirgis (St. John's).

    Charles Tabb (Illinois) is the brother of Murray Tabb (Oklahoma).

    Reply
  45. Ingrid

    I think Henry Manne (former Dean at George Mason) has a son, Geoffrey Manne, who teaches at Lewis & Clark.

    Reply
  46. Rebecca Tushnet

    Neal and Sonia Katyal, mentioned above, are brother and sister, not a married pair as the original comment implied.

    Reply
  47. Alex Stein

    James B. Thayer of Harvard Law School, the father of the modern American evidence law, was also the father of Ezra R. Thayer, also of Harvard Law School.

    Reply
  48. David Warrington

    There were three generations of Thayers at Harvard Law School: James Bradley Thayer, professor 1873-1902; his son Ezra Ripley Thayer, professor and dean, 1910-1915; and his son, James Bradley Thayer, professor 1935-1945.

    Reply
  49. Fred Kameny

    Isn't Jeff Sovern of St. John's the son of Michael Sovern, former prof and dean at Columbia?

    Reply
  50. Richard Wright

    Stephen Sowle, IIT Chicago-Kent, son of Claude Sowle (dean Cincinatti, professor Ohio State, dean Miami) and Kathryn Sowle (professor Miami).

    Reply

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