|
Tel: 215.898.7061
Fax: 215.573.2025
Email: deanfitts@law.upenn.edu
Expertise
- Administrative Law
- Election Law
- Legislative Process
- Separation of Powers
Bio
Michael Fitts’ support for interdisciplinary research and teaching is shaping the future of legal education.
[More]
Michael Fitts’ support for interdisciplinary research and teaching is shaping the future of legal education. Under his leadership, Penn Law has become the strongest cross-disciplinary law school in America, with 30 degree and certificate programs offered in partnership with Wharton, the Medical School, Annenberg and other schools on Penn’s campus. During his tenure as Dean, Fitts has expanded the size of the standing faculty, bringing more than 25 renowned scholars and promising young intellectuals to Penn Law. These additions contribute to a faculty that represents broad intellectual perspectives; 70 percent of the standing faculty has advanced degrees in fields other than law, including nearly 50 percent with a Ph.D.
Fitts began his career in the Justice Department office that serves as outside counsel to the White House. He has written extensively on questions of administrative law, presidential power and separation of powers, and he has argued for improving the structure of political parties and executive branch decision-making. Fitts is a member of the Law and Political Process Study Group of American Political Science Association, the World Affairs Council, and The Executive Committee of the American Law Deans Association, where he serves as Vice President.
[Hide]
Representative Professional Positions
Penn Law - Dean and Bernard G. Segal Professor of Law (2000- ); Robert G. Fuller, Jr.
Professor of Law (1996-2000); Associate Dean for Academic Affairs (1996-98); Professor (1992-96); Associate Professor (1990-92); Assistant Professor (1985-90)
Law Clerk to the Hon. A. Leon Higginbotham, Jr., U.S. Circuit Judge, U.S. Court Of Appeals, Third Circuit (1979-81)
Office of Legal Counsel, Department of Justice, Washington, D.C. - Attorney Advisor (1981-85) The Office of Legal Counsel serves as outside counsel to the President, White House, and Cabinet
Visiting Professor - Swarthmore College (Political Science)
Representative Publications
The Explosion in International Law, U. PA. J. INT. L. (forthcoming 2009) (Symposium on International Law).
The Challenges of Leadership, 40 TOL. L. REV. (forthcoming, 2009) (Symposium on Deaning).
Targeted Transparency, 7 ELECTION L.J. 137 (2008).
Back to the Future: The Supreme Courts Response to the Changing Goals and Functions of Modern Political Parties, in THE SUPREME COURT AND THE ELECTORAL PROCESS (David Hope ed., 2002).
The Complicated Ingredients of Wisdom and Leadership, 16 HARV. BLACKLETTER L.J. 17 (2000).
The Hazards of Legal Fine Tuning: Confronting the Free Will Problem in Election Law Scholarship, 32 LOY. L. REV. 1121 (1999).
The Legalization of the Modern Presidency: Twenty-Five Years After Watergate, 43 ST. LOUIS U. L.J. 725 (1999).
The Triumph of Timing: 'Raines v. Byrd' and the Modern Supreme Court's Attempts to Control Constitutional Confrontations, 86 GEO. L.J. 351 (1998) (with Devins).
The Paradox of Power in the Modern State: Why a Unitary Centralized Presidency May Not Exhibit Effective or Legitimate Leadership, 144 U. PA. L. REV. 827 (1996).
Book Review, 13 J. POL. ANAL. & MGMT. 811 (1994) (reviewing G. COX & M. MCCUBBINS, LEGISLATIVE LEVIATHAN (1994)).
Ways of Thinking about the Unitary Executive, 15 CARDOZO L. REV. 323 (1993).
Book Review, 12 J. POL. ANAL. & MGMT. 223 (1993) (reviewing B. ACKERMAN, WE THE PEOPLE (1993)).
Book Review, 10 CONST. COM. 194 (1992) (reviewing J. FISHKIN, DEMOCRACY AND DELIBERATION (1993)).
Book Review, 11 J. POL. ANAL. & MGMT. 332 (1992) (reviewing C. SUNSTEIN, AFTER THE RIGHTS REVOLUTION - RECONCEIVING THE REGULATORY STATE (1993)).
Controlling Congress: Presidential Influence in Domestic Fiscal Policy, 80 GEO. L.J. 1737 (1992) (with Inman).
For additional publications, please consult
Current & Recent Research
Current Working Papers
Rethinking Separation of Powers from the Ground Up: The Political Dynamic of Separated Powers (U. Pa. Institute for Law and Economics) (Portions Presented at the Convention of the American Political Science Association) (148 pages).
The Budgetary Effects of the Voting Rights Act: Did VRA Make a Difference? (with Inman) (U. Pa. Institute for Law and Economics) (Portions Presented at the Convention of the American Political Science Association) (42 pages).
|
