Vanderbilt Law School

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

During the first-ever public conversation between former Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam and sex trafficking victim and convicted murderer Cyntoia Brown-Long, the two agreed that significant improvements are needed in the criminal justice system. On March 15, Brown-Long and Haslam came together for Vanderbilt’s first public lecture at Langford Auditorium since the COVID-19 pandemic halted similar events for nearly two years.  Read More

Kimberly Welch, associate professor of history and assistant professor of law at Vanderbilt University, has been awarded a 2022 Dan David Prize. The internationally renowned annual award, headquartered at Tel Aviv University, gives prizes of $300,000 each to nine early- to mid-career history scholars whose outstanding contributions expand knowledge of the past, enrich society in the present and promise to improve the future of the world.   Read More

Daniel J. Gervais, Milton R. Underwood Chair in Law, director of the Vanderbilt Intellectual Property Program and faculty co-director of the LL.M. Program, as well as professor of French, describes how his work in international law has shaped his view on collaboration and teaching. Read More

Research shows that carbon labels can be effective in changing corporate as well as consumer behavior, as corporations adjust their carbon footprint with the dual goals of increased efficiency and improved reputation. Read More

Darwin Baluran, a doctoral student in the Department of Sociology, sought to investigate the intermixture of ethnicities included under the “Asian” racial category—one of the nation’s fastest-growing groups—and the health of these groups in the United States. Read More

First-year Vanderbilt Law School student Andrew Hodlin has been awarded the John S. Beasley II Scholarship as part of Vanderbilt University’s Bass Military Scholars Program, which welcomed its third cohort of military veterans this fall. Read More

Alumnus and Vanderbilt University Board of Trust member Justin Ishbia, JD’04, has donated $10 million to Vanderbilt Law School to support key strategic priorities within the school and to strengthen its position as one of the nation’s premier institutions for legal scholarship. Read More

The School of Medicine Basic Sciences' monthly Lab-to-Table Conversation will discuss the science of marijuana and the current legal context for its use on Thursday, Sept. 23, beginning at noon CT. Read More

The humanitarian and military crisis in Afghanistan continues to erupt after the Taliban’s swift takeover of authority when the U.S. government began withdrawing troops earlier this month. In keeping with its mission to elevate facts and reasoned discourse, the Vanderbilt Project on Unity & American Democracy promptly brought together military and political experts, including Lt. Gen. Scott Howell, a former commander of the Joint Special Operations Command in Afghanistan, for a live virtual discussion. 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

Research from Vanderbilt Law School faculty Chris Slobogin suggests that using algorithms to determine criminal sentencing could make criminal justice decisions more transparent and mitigate excessively punitive bail and sentencing regulations. Read More

Jay Larry, BA’14, JD’17, recounts his Vanderbilt story and his involvement to create a more inclusive alumni community as president of LAVA, the LGBTQIA+ Association of Vanderbilt Alumni. Read More

Affirmative action admissions policies admit diverse students, who are then recruited to elite professions and C-suite leadership, according to new research by law and economics professor Joni Hersch. Read More

The ink may not yet be dry on Ramon Ryan’s law degree, but his legal research is already gaining national attention. Read More