Osler's Razor

I've been devoting Wednesdays to profiles of my classmates in the Yale Law class of 1990. I was hoping this would be a great lead-up to our reunion this fall, but (like so many other things) that has been cancelled. Nevertheless, it has been a fascinating endeavor!

Robert Schapiro seemed like a law professor when we were all law students. He was super-smart and able to engage in an intellectual badinage with the instructors that put to shame the mumbling and pointing that I did. He just seemed to get a concept and move immediately into critique, which is a remarkable ability.

He came to Yale Law from a Phi Beta Kappa academic career at Yale College and a Masters degree in history from Stanford. The history background, of course, gave him insights into much of what we were learning.

He was the editor-in-chief of the Law Journal, and then moved on to clerkships in the Southern District of New York and the Supreme Court, with Justice Stevens.

He did a year at a big firm and then became the professor he always had kind of been. He has been at Emory Law School since 1995, and served as Dean from 2012 to 2017.

His academic specialty is federalism, a topic that is always relevant as the American experience constantly shifts power between the states and the federal government.  He's written a book and a slew of articles on the subject, showing an admirable focus. (In contrast, when people ask what I write about, I sound like a complete dabbler: sentencing, death penalty, narcotics policy, clemency, theater, etc. etc. etc.).

Here is discussing his area of expertise: