Message from the Dean, Record, Spring 2025
Dear Friends,
At a moment of much change in our world, this issue of The Record reflects how our Law School embraces change while remaining constant to our key values of excellence in ideas, learning, and dialogue.
Just a year ago, the Supreme Court overturned the Chevron doctrine, a substantial change in administrative law. Yet, there is constancy in that our faculty supply the most discerning and rigorous analyses of this relatively new legal development. As always, our faculty members have different perspectives on it, and in their points of disagreement, there is tremendous value and insight. Similarly, bankruptcy law has seen major changes with the Purdue-Pharma settlement, and our Law School has the top thinkers in this field. Professor Anthony Casey, who leads our Center on Law and Finance, shares his analysis of it, which in turn influenced the settlement. In addition to applying their expertise to new developments in the law, an enduring practice of our faculty is the thorough, even authoritative, investigations of the law and its meaning. Professor Curtis Bradley’s outstanding new book on historical gloss in foreign relations law exemplifies this steadfast commitment to agenda-setting scholarship.
Another constant at the Law School is our unwavering dedication to superb teaching. Professor William Landes recently completed an inspiring five decades of teaching. (When I was a graduate student in economics at the University, I crossed the Midway to enroll in his Economic Analysis of Law course, and I can personally attest to Bill’s outstanding teaching!)
An enduring feature of the Law School is that our talented alumni use their legal educations to fulfill important responsibilities. The ways in which they do this are varied and often changing. Three alumni are currently serving as attorneys general of three different states, an impressive feat for any law school and a sign of our dedication to public service.
Dedicated alumni also make possible the success of the Law School. The tenth cohort of students in the David M. Rubenstein Scholars Program graduated this past year. This Program, which David M. Rubenstein, ’73, has generously supported through four visionary expendable gifts, has transformed the Law School. With its Scholars now blazing remarkable careers, they—and we—appreciate its impact in new ways.
Throughout this issue, I hope you will sense what I have long admired about the Law School: a commitment to serious ideas, a culture of free expression and inquiry, and a community of accomplished and dedicated alumni. As I prepare to return to full-time teaching and scholarship at the end of the academic year, I do so with profound gratitude for the opportunity to have served as dean and with excitement for what lies ahead for this extraordinary institution.
Warmly,
Thomas J. Miles
Dean and Clifton R. Musser Professor of Law and Economics
