News

Rosenthal Lecture Series to Bring Two Property Scholars to Campus

March 02, 2015

Property law scholars Henry E. Smith and Thomas W. Merrill will be the featured speakers for Northwestern Law’s 2015 Rosenthal Foundation Lecture Series on March 16-18. The lecture series, titled “Property and Information,” will take place in Rubloff 150 and is open to students, faculty, and staff.

Lecture 1: What’s So Special About Property? (video)
Monday, March 16                                            
4:00 – 5:00 p.m.
Rubloff 150 –  1 CLE credit will be offered
Reception will follow in Lowden Hall
 
Lecture 2: The Audiences of Property (video)
Tuesday, March 17                                           
Noon – 1:00 p.m.
Rubloff 150 –  1 CLE credit will be offered

Lecture 3: The Property Spectrum (video)
Wednesday, March 18                                      
Noon – 1:00 p.m.
Rubloff 150 –  1 CLE credit will be offered


Merrill is the Charles Evans Hughes Professor of Law at Columbia Law School where he is a leading scholar in property, natural resources, administrative law, and constitutional law. From 1987 to 1990, he served as deputy solicitor general in the U.S. Department of Justice, where he represented the United States before the U.S. Supreme Court. Merrill is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the American Law Institute.

Smith is the Fessenden Professor of Law at Harvard Law School where he directs the Project on the Foundations of Private Law. His expertise includes the economics of property and intellectual property. Smith is a reporter for the America Law Institute’s project for a Fourth Restatement of Property.

Merrill and Smith have coauthored a number of publications together, including two books, The Oxford Introductions to U.S. Law: Property (2010) and Property: Principles and Policies (2d ed, 2012).

Both professors previously held faculty positions at Northwestern Law. Merrill taught at Northwestern Law from 1981 to 2003. He was awarded the inaugural John Paul Stevens Professorship of Law in 1992. Smith began his teaching career at Northwestern Law in 1997 and was a member of the faculty until 2002.

The Julius Rosenthal Foundation was established in 1919 in memory of Julius Rosenthal (1827-1905), an eminent and beloved member of the Chicago Bar. One of the principal programs supported by the foundation is the Rosenthal Lecture Series, which has assumed a preeminent position among distinguished lecture programs in the legal world. Publication of the lectures has made a notable contribution to legal literature and scholarship for more than 70 years.