Erwin Chemerinsky

Erwin Chemerinsky (born May 14, 1953) is an American lawyer and law professor. He is a prominent scholar in United States constitutional law and federal civil procedure. He is the current and founding dean of the University of California, Irvine School of Law, which began classes in the fall semester of 2009.

A study of legal publications between 2009 and 2013 found Chemerinsky to be the 2nd-most frequently cited American legal scholar, behind Cass Sunstein and ahead of Richard A. Epstein.

Early life and education

Raised in a working-class Jewish family on Chicago's South Side, Chemerinsky attended the University of Chicago Laboratory Schools for high school. He then earned a bachelor's degree in communication from Northwestern University in 1975 where he competed as a debater and then attended Harvard Law School, where he was a member of the Harvard Legal Aid Bureau, graduating cum laude in 1978.

Professional career

Chemerinsky taught for over twenty years at the University of Southern California Law School and at DePaul University College of Law before moving to Duke University on July 1, 2004, and then UC Irvine in July 2008.