Vanderbilt Law School

A new paper by Farhang Heydari chronicles what started as an attempt to promote traffic safety that evolved quickly into a tactic to ferret out drug traffickers, criminals, and even terrorists, straying far from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's mission to “save lives, prevent injuries and reduce economic costs due to road traffic crashes.” Read More

Led by inaugural director of undergraduate studies and Centennial Professor of Law Sean B. Seymore, the Undergraduate Minor in Legal Studies is designed to help students make an informed judgment about whether to pursue law school and/or a legal career, provide substantive legal knowledge and critical thinking skills, and allow them to become better-informed citizens. Read More

The Invention Myth, by Sean B. Seymore, Centennial Professor of Law and Professor of Chemistry at Vanderbilt University, offers a new approach to inventorship, one that more accurately reflects the way many significant things are created. Read More

Working across multiple disciplines, Vanderbilt researchers found that a relatively small proportion of funds from two recent significant pieces of environmental law – the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) of 2021 and Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) of 2022 – could lead to an outsized reduction in emissions. Read More

Chris Guthrie has been reappointed dean of the Vanderbilt Law School by Provost C. Cybele Raver. The reappointment is for a five-year term starting July 1, at which point Guthrie will have completed 15 years in the role.   Read More

WATCH: Learn about the mentor who most inspired Trey Ferguson to use his J.D./MBA degrees to help future graduate students. Read More

A new program launching at the Alyne Queener Massey Law Library in January will enable Vanderbilt Law School students to borrow essential textbooks for the full length of a semester and help alleviate some of the costs associated with attending law school. The initiative, which uses donated textbooks, is a collaboration between the law library and the Vanderbilt Bar Association, the official student government organization of the Law School. Read More

Housed within the Law School’s Program on Law and Innovation, the AI Legal Lab’s mission is to harness AI to expand access to legal services and knowledge and to improve their delivery. Read More

Although applications for the program are reviewed on a rolling basis; applicants are encouraged to submit their application as soon as possible. Read More

Although applications for the program are reviewed on a rolling basis, those who submit their application by the priority deadline will receive an admissions decision sooner and have adequate time to complete the FAFSA. Read More

Vanderbilt Law School Board of Advisors member W. Weldon Wilson, JD’86, and his wife, Elaine, have documented a $17.5 million bequest to support their existing Weldon Wilson Scholarship at Vanderbilt Law School. The scholarship was established in 2011 in honor of Weldon’s 25th reunion. Read More

At Vanderbilt, a mindset of collaboration is infused in every aspect of university life. Meet members of the Class of 2022 whose collaborations within the VU and Nashville communities have led to profound outcomes. Read More

They say motherhood is the toughest job you’ll ever love. That’s true for this group of Vanderbilt researchers, who’ve built successful careers around researching various aspects of parenthood while raising their own children.   Read More

Gilbert Stroud Merritt Jr., of Nashville, died Jan. 17. He was 86. A Nashville native, he was a major figure in the legal community in Nashville and the state of Tennessee, and he served as a federal judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit for 44 years.  Read More

Vanderbilt University legal scholar Michael P. Vandenbergh has been named a 2022 Andrew Carnegie Fellow and has been awarded $200,000 to support his research into overcoming political polarization to address the causes of climate change and the issues it is creating. Read More

Robert Barsky will be recognized at a reception honoring the 2022 Guggenheim Fellows on June 7 in New York.   Read More

Class of 2022: Whether giving legal support to survivors of sexual assault, immigrants or inmates on Tennessee’s death row, Emily Burgess is on a mission to be an advocate for those in need. Read More

In 1970, soon after moving to Nashville to join Vanderbilt’s faculty, New York native Jim Blumstein filed suit against the State of Tennessee after he was prevented from registering to vote. Here he reflects on the landmark voting rights case that went all the way to the Supreme Court. Read More

Warren Haviland, JD’69, and Karen Heffron funded a charitable remainder unitrust that will eventually establish the Warren E. Haviland and Karen M. Heffron Summer Stipend. The stipend will provide financial support to students at Vanderbilt Law School who are pursuing public interest careers. Read More