Law School Welcomes Visiting Faculty for 2009-2010

The University of Chicago Law School introduces its visiting faculty members for the 2009-2010 academic year.

“We are looking forward to an outstanding set of visiting faculty at the Law School,” said Dean Saul Levmore. “We have found that visitors add new ideas to our mix, and that our workshops and roundtable discussions are even better when these fresh ideas are in play.”

Joining the Law School in the fall are Donald Braman, Ruoying Chen, Youngjae Lee, Ariel Porat, Christopher Serkin and Julie Suk. Faculty arriving in the winter are Christopher Fennell and Wataru Tanaka, while James Spindler will arrive in the spring. The Law School also welcomes two new Kauffman Fellows—Matthew Tokson and Daniel Chen—and Law and Philosophy Fellow Adam Hosein.

“Some visitors become serious candidates for permanent appointment, some return home as good ambassadors for the things we value and the ideas we generate,” said Levmore. “In my experience, every visitor is impressed with our students, and we work hard to bring in visitors with whom our students will also be impressed. New students and new faculty, whether permanent or visiting, help ensure that a school is never content.”

Visitors 2009-2010


Visiting from George Washington University Law School is Associate Professor Donald Braman. His areas of expertise include criminal law, criminal procedure, evidence and public perceptions of gun control, abortion, global warming, gay marriage, nuclear power, terrorism and the HPV vaccine. Braman received his Ph.D. and J.D. from Yale Law School.

Ruoying Chen focuses her research on the philosophical foundations of property rights. She is a graduate of Peking University Law School in Beijing, China, and holds an MJur from Oxford University and an LLM from the University of Chicago Law School.

Associate Professor of Law Youngjae Lee works at Fordham University School of Law, where he focuses on the criminal law, particularly the Eighth Amendment and excessive punishment issues. Lee earned his J.D. from Harvard Law School.

Ariel Porat’s expertise includes tort liability and contract law. He is the Alain Poher Professor of Law and the former Dean of Tel Aviv University Faculty of Law and received his law degree from Tel Aviv University.

Christopher Serkin’s research focuses on property, land use and local government. He is Assistant Professor of Law at Brooklyn Law School. Serkin earned his J.D. from the University of Michigan Law School.

With research focusing on comparative law and public policy, Julie Chi-hye Suk is Associate Professor at Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law at Yeshia University. She holds a J.D. from Yale University and a M.Sc. and D.Phil from Oxford University.

An Assistant Professor of Anthropology and Law at the University of Illinois, Christopher Fennell specializes in historical anthropology. He earned a J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center and Ph.D. from University of Virginia.

Wataru Tanaka is visiting from Japan, where he is Associate Professor at the Institute of Social Science at Tokyo University. He specializes in corporate law, securities regulations, bankruptcy, commercial transactions, and law and economics. Tanaka is a graduate of the Faculty of Law at Tokyo University.

James Spindler focuses his scholarship on securities markets regulating and corporate governance. He is Assistant Professor of Law and Business at the University of Southern California Law School. Spindler has a C.Phil. from UCLA, where he is a Ph.D. candidate (expected 2010).

Two Kauffman Fellows have been named to the Law School for the 2009-2010 academic year: Daniel Chen and Matthew Tokson. Chen’s research includes the economics of fundamentalism and hermemetrics and the economics of interpretation. He holds a Ph.D. from MIT and a J.D. from Harvard Law School. A graduate of the University of Chicago Law School, Tokson’s research and teaching interests include privacy law, tort law, intellectual property, law and technology, law and behavioral economics, federal jurisdiction and legal theory.

Adam Hosein joined the Law School as its Law and Philosophy Fellow. His research focuses on the morality of cooperation and political philosophy, including its implications for issues of global justice. He holds a Ph.D. from Massachusetts Institute of Technology.