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Home Faculty»Michael A. Fitts
Michael Fitts

Michael A. Fitts

Law professor, Emeritus; Dean Emeritus

Michael Fitts’ vision for and support of interdisciplinary research and teaching is shaping the future of legal education. Under his leadership, Penn Carey Law has become a national leader in cross-disciplinary legal education, with 30 degree and certificate programs offered in partnership with Wharton, the Medical School, and other schools on Penn’s campus. He has expanded the size and academic breadth of the standing faculty, recruiting more than 25 renowned scholars and promising young intellectuals. In addition, Penn Carey Law has expanded its global connections and impacts through a range of international partnerships and programs. 

 

Fitts served as a clerk to Third Circuit Judge Leon Higginbotham and as an attorney in the Office of Legal Counsel. He has written on questions of administrative law, presidential power and separation of powers, and 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 the American Political Science Association. His 14-year tenure as Dean of Penn Carey Law ended in June, when he stepped down to become President of Tulane University in New Orleans.

Education

  • JDYale1979
  • ABHarvard1975

Courses Taught

  • Administrative Law| Election Law| Legislative Process| Regulated Industries

Featured Research

More Publications

In Memoriam: Bernard Wolfman, 125 HARV. L. REV. 1893 (2012) (Part of Memoriam to Bernard Wolfman).

What Will Our Future Look Like and How Will We Respond?, 96 IOWA L. REV. 1539 (2011).

A Time-Honored Model for the Profession and the Academy, 158 U. PA. L. REV. 1289 (2010) (Part of Symposium on Work of Geoffrey C. Hazard, Jr.).

The Non-Management Side of Academic Administration, 41 U. TOL. L. REV. 283 (2010).

Foreword: The Evolution of International Law, 30 U. PA. J. INT. L. at i-vi (2009) (Foreword to 30th Anniversary Issue Contributions).

Working Papers

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).

working papers

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).