Leo Katz
Frank Carano Professor of Law

Leo Katz’s work focuses on criminal law and legal theory more generally. By connecting criminal law, moral philosophy, and the theory of social choice, he tries to shed light on some of the most basic building block notions of the law — coercion, deception, consent, and the use and abuse of legal stratagems, among others.
Expertise
- Criminal Law
- Corporations
- Jurisprudence
Books
WHY THE LAW IS SO PERVERSE (Univ. of Chicago Press, 2011).
[Available Here]
FOUNDATIONS OF THE CRIMINAL LAW, ed. with Stephen Morse and Michael Moore (New York: Oxford University Press 1999).
[Available Here]
ILL-GOTTEN GAINS: EVASION, BLACKMAIL, FRAUD AND KINDRED PUZZLES OF THE LAW (Chicago: University of Chicago Press 1996).
[Available Here]
BAD ACTS AND GUILTY MINDS: CONUNDRUMS OF THE CRIMINAL LAW (Chicago: University of Chicago Press 1987).
[Available Here]
Articles and Book Chapters
Do We Need a Doctrine of Complicity?, in LEGAL, MORAL, AND METAPHYSICAL TRUTHS: THE PHILOSOPHY OF MICHAEL S. MOORE (Kimberly Kessler Ferzan & Stephen J. Morse eds., Oxford 2016).
The Problem with Consenting to Insider Trading, 69 U. MIAMI L. REV. 827 (2015).
A Theory of Loopholes, 39 J. LEGAL STUD. 1 (2010).
Some Memories and Some Ideas, YEARBOOK OF THE WISSENSCHAFTSKOLLEG OF BERLIN (forthcoming, 2009).
Complicity and the Murderous Judge, in CRIMINAL LAW STORIES (R. Weissberg ed., 2008).
In Defense of Tax Shelters, 26 VA. TAX REV. 799 (2007).
Choice, Consent and Cycling:The Hidden Limitations of Consent, 104 MICH. L. REV. 627 (2006).
The Prerequisites of Responsibility: Comments on Antony Duff, 2 OHIO ST. J. CRIM. L. 463 (2005).
Before and After: Temporal Anomalies in Legal Doctrine, 151 U. PA. L. REV. 863 (2003).
Justification and Harm in Negligence, 4 THEORETICAL INQUIRY L. 397 (2003).
Villainy and Felony: A Problem Concerning Criminalization, 6 BUFF. CRIM. L. REV. 451 (2003).
Duress, in ENCYCLOPEDIA OF CRIME AND CRIMINAL JUSTICE (MacMillan Press 2002).
Comments on Scott Shapiro, in 1 LEGAL AND POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY 217 (Enrique Villanueva ed., 2002).
Why the Successful Assassin is More Wicked than the Unsuccessful One, 88 CAL. L. REV. 791 (2000).
Proximate Cause in Michael Moore's Act and Crime, 142 U. PA. L. REV. 1513 (1994).
Blackmail and Other Forms of Arm-Twisting, 141 U. PA. L. REV. 1567 (1993).
More publications can be found here.
Research Areas
- Criminal Law
- Corporate Law
- Law and Moral Theory
Positions
Penn Law - Frank Carano Professor of Law (2005- ); Professor of Law (1991-2005)
University of Michigan Law School - Assistant Professor (1987-91)
Fellow, Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin (2007-08)
Mayer, Brown and Platt - Associate (1984-87)
Visiting - Australian National University, RSSS; Berkeley (Guggenheim fellowship for work in criminal law theory); Goethe Universitat, Frankfurt
Law Clerk to the Hon. Anthony M. Kennedy, Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals
Courses
- Criminal Law
- Contracts
- Corporations
- Law and Morality