Faculty and Curriculum: Excellence Overall, Interdisciplinarity, a Global Perspective, and Distinctive Area Strengths

It’s virtually axiomatic that the overall caliber of individual curricular areas and faculty at any highly selective law school is at least very good. That’s certainly true of Michigan Law. But beyond that shared standard are distinct differences. A notable example is the University of Michigan Law School’s status as the international center for interdisciplinary legal scholarship and teaching, a reputation which reflects our commitment to a faculty whose interests are broadly and deeply interdisciplinary. That breadth is reflected in an extraordinary range of subject expertise including classics, economics, feminist theory, history, life sciences, literature, natural resources, philosophy, political theory, psychology, public policy, and sociology. Depth is reflected in an equally distinctive fact: while many law schools have faculty members with interdisciplinary training and/or courtesy appointments, Michigan is unique in the number of law professors who are also voting faculty members of a world-class department in another discipline. Further, 27 professors (one-third of our tenure-track faculty) hold doctorates in fields other than law and 9 are Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

The interdisciplinary approach to legal study is grounded in the belief that the capacity to function in more than one intellectual field — as well as increasingly in more than one culture — and to connect the work of one field to another has both intrinsic academic merit and pragmatic value. Even our clinical programs benefit from an interdisciplinary emphasis. The Child Advocacy Law Clinic incorporates the work of psychologists and social workers; the Environmental Law Clinic coordinates its classes with the School of Natural Resources and Environment; business organizational theories enhance the work of the Urban Communities Clinic; and the Pediatric Advocacy Clinic is the first law school-connected clinic of its kind in the nation where clinical law students partner with local health care centers to assist low-income families through legal advocacy and reform.

While no law school has done more than Michigan to advance the interdisciplinary movement, our faculty members are also leaders in traditional areas of law. The nation’s preeminent treatises in evidence, commercial law, property, family law, and criminal procedure are the work of Michigan faculty. And the School’s faculty and curricular strength in areas such as business and corporate law, international law, intellectual property, constitutional law, and public interest are especially noteworthy. The benefits to students are substantive and multiple, foremost among which is the realization that law is more than simply a codified body of knowledge and professional skills, but a way of thinking that has resonance in virtually every discipline and impact in virtually every part of society.