Emory Appoints Interim Law School Dean

Long-time Professor Robert A. Schapiro was named interim dean of the Emory School of Law on Monday.

Schapiro, a member of the Emory faculty since 1995, officially steps into his new role on Friday, July 1.

Emory officials have been working to appoint a new dean after Dean David Partlett, who acted as dean since 2006, last month.

Schapiro is an expert in constitutional law and teaches a variety of courses including constitutional law, federal courts, civil procedure, and legislation and regulation. He served as the associate dean of faculty at Emory Law from 2006 to 2008 and as associate faculty director for Emory’s Halle Institute for Global Learning from 2008 to 2010.

More about Schapiro, courtesy of Emory University.

An award-winning teacher, Schapiro received the Emory Williams Distinguished Teaching Award in 2009, the Ben F. Johnson Faculty Excellence Award in 2004, the Most Outstanding Professor Award (as voted on by Emory Law’s graduating class) for the 2000-2001 academic year, and the Professor of the Year Award from the Black Law Students Association in 2001.

His recent book, “Polyphonic Federalism: Toward the Protection of Fundamental Rights” (University of Chicago Press, 2009), argues that the dynamic interaction of states and the national government advances important values in our democracy.

Among his other publications are: “Interjurisdictional Enforcement of Rights in a Post-Erie World,” in “New Frontiers of State Constitutional Law: Dual Enforcement of Norms” (James A. Gardner & Jim Rossi eds., Oxford University Press, 2011); “Monophonic Preemption,” Northwestern Law Review (2008); “Federalism as Intersystemic Governance: Legitimacy in a Post-Westphalian World,” Emory Law Journal (2007); “Justice Stevens’ Theory of Interactive Federalism,” Fordham Law Review (2006); “Unidimensional Federalism: Power and Perspective in Commerce Clause Adjudication,” Cornell Law Review (2003, with William Buzbee); and “Legislative Record Review,” Stanford Law Review (2001, with William Buzbee).

Schapiro received a bachelor’s degree, summa cum laude, from Yale College in 1984 and a master’s degree in history from Stanford University in 1986. He earned his juris doctor in 1990 from Yale Law School, where he was editor in chief of the Yale Law Journal.

Following law school, Schapiro clerked for Judge Pierre N. Leval, then of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, and for Justice John Paul Stevens of the U.S. Supreme Court. Schapiro worked with the law firm of Sidley & Austin in Washington, D.C., where he practiced general and appellate litigation. He taught for two years at Duke University Law School before coming to Emory.