Ph.D. Program in Law & Economics: History

Ph.D. Program in Law & Economics: History

Learn More

Launching the program

In 2006, with the support of Chancellor Nick Zeppos (then Provost), Joni Hersch and W. Kip Viscusi moved from Harvard Law School to Vanderbilt to launch a new Ph.D. program that would focus on integrating the study of economics with the study of law. The Ph.D. Program in Law and Economics at Vanderbilt was the first Ph.D. program to be administratively based in a law school. Designed by Professors Hersch and Viscusi, together with economics professor Kathryn H. Anderson, the program offers 11 new and innovative courses specifically developed for this Ph.D. program. The program's field design requires students to fully integrate law and economics in specialized areas of interest.

Growth and graduates

Professor Paige Marta Skiba joined the law and economics faculty in fall 2007. Sharon A. Shewmake joined the program as Postdoctoral Research Scholar in fall 2010 and stayed at Vanderbilt for three years. The program's first graduate, Jennifer Bennett Shinall, was a Postdoctoral Research Scholar in Law and Economics in 2013-2014 and joined the law and economics faculty in fall 2014. The program's third graduate, Caroline Cecot, was a Postdoctoral Research Scholar in Law and Economics in 2014-2015. Graduate Jacob Byl was a Postdoctoral Research Scholar in Law and Economics in 2017-2018.

The first cohort of students entered in fall 2007, and the program has graduated 20 dual-degree students: Jennifer Bennett Shinall (2012), Jinghui Lim (2013), Caroline Cecot (2014), Blair Druhan Bullock (2015), Jacob P. Byl (2015), Benjamin J. McMichael (2015), Samuel M. Miller (2015), Elissa Philip Gentry (2016), Henri Rautonen (2016), Jean Y. Xiao (2017), Scott DeAngelis (2018), Danielle Drago Drory (2018), Hannah J. Frank (2019), Clayton J. Masterman (2019), Nicholas Marquiss (2021), Erin E. Meyers (2021), Rachel Dalafave (2022), Caroline Malone (2022), Scott Jeffrey (2023), and Zachary Sturman (2023).

We currently have 12 students in residence in the dual-degree program, ranging from year one to year six.

Highlights of student achievement (2007-2022)

  • 46

    Vanderbilt Scholastic Excellence Awards for outstanding performance in a single J.D. course
  • 24

    editorial positions on the Vanderbilt Law Review
  • 13

    Judicial clerkships secured in the U.S. Court of Appeals
  • 7 senior editorial positions on the Vanderbilt Law Review
  • 6 editorial positions on the Journal of Entertainment & Technology Law
  • 3 editorial positions on the Journal of Transnational Law
  • 8 editorial positions on the Environmental Law Policy Annual Review
  • 1 judicial clerkship secured in a U.S. District Court
  • 7 postdoctoral research fellowships secured
  • 1 legal fellow position secured
  • 3 Myron Penn Laughlin Awards for excellence in a published Note in the Vanderbilt Law Review
  • 4 Archie B. Martin Memorial Prize awards for the highest GPA in the first year of J.D. study
  • 2 Robert F. Jackson Memorial Prize for the highest GPA in the first two years of J.D. study
  • 1 Burton Award for Distinguished Writing by The Burton Foundation
  • 1 Morgan Prize for most outstanding piece of student writing published in the Vanderbilt Law Review
  • 1 winner of the American Bar Association's Section of Environment, Energy, and Resources Endangered Species Writing Competition
  • 2 American Bar Association Janet D. Steiger Fellowship recipients
  • 1 Associate Professor of Law positions secured
  • 6 Assistant Professor of Law positions secured
  • 1 Visiting Assistant Professor of Law position secured
  • 1 Assistant Professor of Economics position secured
  • 1 American Antitrust Institute's Best Antitrust and Buyer Power Article Award
  • 1 Graduate Student Award for the Lindau Meeting of Nobel Laureates in Lindau, Germany
  • 1 Society for Benefit-Cost Analysis Outstanding Dissertation Award
  • 5 Southern Economic Association Graduate Student Awards
  • 1 Second Place Prize in the Louis Jackson Memorial National Student Writing Competition