Academic Faculty
Full Time Teaching Faculty
Adam A. Davidson
Assistant Professor of LawBiography
Adam Davidson is an Assistant Professor of Law at the University of Chicago Law School. He researches and teaches primarily in the areas of criminal law and procedure, constitutional law, and the intersection of race and law. His research broadly focuses on how tools within these and other areas of the law can further debates about reforming or abolishing police, prisons, and the prison industrial complex. His work has appeared or is forthcoming in the Columbia Law Review, the Michigan Law Review, the University of Chicago Law Review, the Washington University Law Review, and the North Carolina Law Review.
Adam holds a BA in theatre, summa cum laude, from the Ohio State University and a JD, with honors, from the University of Chicago. Before joining the faculty, Adam taught at the Law School as a Bigelow Fellow and Lecturer in Law, and served as a law clerk to Judge Guido Calabresi on the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, Judge Diane P. Wood on the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, and Judge James S. Gwin on the Northern District of Ohio.
Education
The University of Chicago Law School
JD, with Honors, June 2017
Activities:
- The University of Chicago Law Review, Articles Editor and Diversity Committee Chair
- Research Assistant – Professor Justin Driver
- Black Law Students Association (Academic Chair); The American Constitution Society (VP of External Affairs); Entertainment and Sports Law Society (Member); Law School Musical (Performer)
- David M. Rubenstein Scholarship (Full Tuition and Stipend), 2014–2017
- Ann Watson Barber Outstanding Service Award, for exceptional contribution to the life of the Law School
- Keystone Professionalism & Leadership Program
The Ohio State University
BA, Theatre, summa cum laude, June 2011
Minors in Business and African American Studies
Experience
The University of Chicago Law School
Assistant Professor, July 2022–Present
Harry A. Bigelow Teaching Fellow and Lecturer in Law, August 2020–June 2022
Clinical Student, Federal Criminal Justice Clinic, September 2016–June 2017
Practicum Student, Civil Rights Practicum, September 2016–June 2017
The Honorable Guido Calabresi
United States Court of Appeals for Second Circuit, New Haven, CT
Law Clerk, August 2019–August 2020
The Honorable Diane P. Wood
United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, Chicago, IL
Law Clerk, August 2018–August 2019
The Honorable James S. Gwin
United States District Court for the Northern District of Ohio, Cleveland, OH
Law Clerk, August 2017–August 2018
Williams & Connolly, LLP
Summer Associate, Summer 2016
United States Attorney’s Office – EDNY
Summer Intern, Summer 2015
Davis Polk & Wardwell
SEO Intern/Summer Corporate Legal Assistant, Summer 2014
Cincinnati Public Schools
Tutor/Substitute Teacher, March 2013–May 2014
Publications
Journal Articles
- "Criminal Procedure in a Time of Abolition," 72 UCLA Law Review Discourse 246 (2025). ssrn www
- "Administrative Enslavement," 124 Columbia Law Review 633 (2024). www
- "The Shadow of the Law of the Police," 122 Michigan Law Review 1035 (2024). www
- "Managing the Police Emergency," 100 North Carolina Law Review 1209 (2022). www
- "Procedural Losses and the Pyrrhic Victory of Abolishing Qualified Immunity," 99 Washington University Law Review 1459 (2022). ssrn
- "Guido Calabresi's "Other Justice Reasons"," 88 University of Chicago Law Review 1625 (2021). www
- "Learning from History in Changing Times: Taking Account of Evolving Marijuana Laws in Federal Sentencing," 83 University of Chicago Law Review 2105 (2016). cu
Presentations
- No Exceptions, CrimFest! (July 2024)
- “Two Complementary Views of Police Reform,” National Association of Appellate Court Attorneys Conference (July 2024)
- Commentator on Trevor Gardner, Police Diversity Theory, John Mercer Langston Conference, (June 2024)
- No Exceptions, Decarceration Workshop (June 2024)
- Highest Ideals Constitutionalism, CRT Workshop (June 2024)
- No Exceptions, The University of Chicago Law School Works-in-Progress (May 2024)
- Involuntary Baselines, Lutie-Langston Midwestern Workshop, (November 2023)
- “Affirmative Action, The SCOTUS Decision, and Implications for DEI Efforts,” UChicago Medicine Grand Rounds (September 2023)
- Panelist, “Incomplete Abolition: The Persistence of Slavery and Involuntary Servitude,” Legal Services for Prisoners with Children (August 2023)
- Commentator on Sean Hill, Defensive Force & The Right to Violence John Mercer Langston Conference (June 2023)
- Administrative Enslavement, Markelloquium!, New York University Law School (November 2022)
- Commentator on Jeremiah Chin, Antimatters: The Curious Case of Confederate Monuments, John Mercer Langston Conference (June 2022)
- Personalized Law, Political Power, and the Dangerous Few, The University of Chicago Law School, Symposium on Personalized Law: Different Rules for Different People (November 2021)
- “Bridge Across the Midway,” The University of Chicago Law School, Black Law Student’s Association and Admissions Office (May 2021)
- Managing the Police Emergency, University of Michigan Law School, Junior Scholars Conference (April 2021)
- “Abolition and the Families Harmed by Crime and Criminal Justice,” New York University Law School, American Constitution Society (March 2021)
- “Recent Criminal Justice Cases in the Supreme Court,” The University of Chicago Law School, Federal Criminal Justice Clinic Ten-Year Reunion (Spring 2018)
- “Succeeding as a Black Law Student,” The University of Chicago Law School, Black Law Student’s Association (Fall 2018)
Works in Progress
Involuntary Baselines
No Exceptions
Professional Membership & Affiliations
Admitted: New York State; United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit
Service
- Peer Reviewer: The University of Chicago Law Review; Columbia Law Review
- Co-Lead Organizer: Lutie-Langston Midwestern Workshop