To: University of Chicago Law School Community
From: Paul Alivisatos, President, and Katherine Baicker, Provost
Subject: Law School Leadership Transition
Date: July 8, 2024
We write to share that Thomas J. Miles, Dean of the Law School and Clifton R. Musser Professor of Law and Economics, has decided to return to the faculty when his term concludes in June 2025. We are grateful for his remarkable ten years of service as dean.
During Tom’s tenure, the Law School has advanced as one of the top law schools in the country, boasting a faculty of renowned scholarship and eminence. Through Tom’s leadership, the school welcomed and retained exceptional academic and clinical faculty, including a new category of professors from practice. Over the past decade, Tom has fostered the growth of several areas of scholarship, marked by the establishment of three new centers: the Center on Law and Finance, the Constitutional Law Institute, and the Malyi Center for the Study of Institutional and Legal Integrity.
Under Tom’s direction, the school has built on its history of training students to be leaders in the profession. The school launched new initiatives in freedom of expression and diversity and inclusion. Student outcomes have been exceptional, with the placement of graduates into clerkships having nearly doubled.
Tom has helped to secure generous philanthropic support for faculty, students, and initiatives, including six new named professorships, rising support for centers, and increased financial aid for students.
Tom joined the Law School as the Olin Fellow in Law and Economics in 2004 and became a faculty member in 2005. His pioneering scholarly work applies law and economics to explore unconventional legal questions such as judicial behavior and immigration enforcement. Tom’s teaching repertoire includes courses in securities regulation, torts, economic analysis of law, and criminal law. In 2009, he received the Graduating Students Award for Outstanding Teaching.
Please join us in expressing gratitude to Tom for his exceptional service and dedication to the Law School and to the University. Information about the search for a new dean will be forthcoming.