Judge lectures on law and economics

Forget "standing room only" -- nearly 200 students and lawyers squeezed themselves onto window ledges to hear Judge Guido Calabresi lecture give an economic analysis of law at the Law School yesterday. Calabresi, the federal judge for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit, was the featured speaker at the ninth annual distinguished jurist lecture, entitled "What the Economics of Law Must Address Next: Some Thoughts on Theory." Calabresi, a former dean of the Yale Law School, started his talk -- sponsored by the Institute for Law and Economics -- with a brief history of the economic analysis of law. Beginning with a personal anecdote about his early days in the field -- when the economics of law was just emerging -- he mentioned a speech he gave in Italy in 1966. After Calabresi finished that speech -- which was on a similar topic -- a mentor said the talk was "interesting ? but the subject matter was not legal scholarship." After summarizing his early days in law, Calabresi explained that the economics of law, which involves scientific study of the effects of legal statutes on social institutions and trends, has become increasingly popular and important. "We put contracts, torts, property laws and so on into the 'wheel' of economics," Calabresi said. "Traditional economic analysis is aimed at maximizing the pie," he continued, using the example to illustrate how legal economic analysis focuses on making laws more "efficient." Calabresi added that the economics of law avoids the limiting factors of traditional economics -- such as "rigor, simplicity and ethical neutrality." Lawyers are more likely to ask more expansive questions that "traditional economists don't think to ask." Several people who attended Calabresi's lecture said they felt fortunate to have the opportunity to hear from someone at the forefront of the discipline. Describing Calabresi's work as "cutting edge," third-year Law student Matt Gordon said the material discussed in the lecture would alter his own studies. Jack Schmutz, a lawyer and former general counsel and senior vice president of the DuPont Corporation, said Calabresi's speech highlighted topics most legal scholars ignore. "I was astounded by the way he stood apart from the usual way of looking at things," said Schmutz, who added that he thought Calabresi's ideas are helping to create "a new way forward" for the discipline. And Law School Dean Colin Diver said the talk was "extremely inventive and provocative?words which might also characterize Calabresi in his career as a professor and a judge."