Research Centers

Cutting-edge legal research has long been a hallmark of the Law School. Our faculty have created or participate in numerous research centers and projects housed both in the Law School and throughout the University.

The goal of the Coase-Sandor Institute for Law and Economics is to promote the understanding and dissemination of the economic approach to law. It supports research and learning by students, faculty and fellow, and organizes events and activities in Chicago and beyond.

The Law School enjoys an affiliation with The Center for Comparative Constitutionalism, coordinated by Professor Martha C. Nussbaum. Established in 2002, this Center's work focuses on the relationship between constitutional law and the concerns of marginalized or subordinated people and groups.

The Center for Law, Philosophy, and Human Values sponsors speakers and conferences to support and encourage the reflective, critical and philosophical study of human values, with a particular emphasis on the conceptual, historical, and empirical foundations of the normative systems—moral, political, and legal—in which human being live.

The Becker Friedman Institute for Research in Economics supports research on important policy-related questions through the application of economic analysis. This mission builds on Chicago’s tradition of rigorous intellectual inquiry motivated and backed by empirical evidence. Over the last century, contributions by University of Chicago faculty in the Department of Economics, the Chicago Booth School of Business, the Law School, and other departments and schools have helped to shape the study of economics in profound ways. The Becker Friedman Institute for Research in Economics continues this tradition. It supports the broad exchange of ideas among University of Chicago faculty and visiting scholars across the most exciting areas of economic research.

The Center on Law and Finance has two primary objectives. The first is to advance the research and understanding of how law interacts with—and shapes—financial systems. It does by supporting conferences, speakers, academic programming, and research on law and finance. The second objective is to connect our research concretely to the real world. Continuing the Law School’s commitment to the practical application of legal theory, the Center holds events that foster a meaningful dialogue between academics and practitioners.

Created in 2020, the Constitutional Law Institute will support research and scholarship on longstanding constitutional issues as an integral part of the Law School’s scholarly and research mission. The Institute also shares the Law School’s commitment to free speech and intellectual inquiry that is independent of partisan fashions. The Institute will promote rigorous analysis of constitutional issues and then share those ideas more broadly with the general public. The Institute will host events, activities, and visitors throughout the coming years.