Until SSRN discontinued institutional research paper series as a product offering in June 2026, the The University of Michigan Law School, Public Law & Legal Theory Research Paper Series journal contained abstracts and papers focused on the Public Law & Legal Theory area of study. Michigan Law faculty papers were sent in eDistributions to subscribers.
This series preserves the metadata for papers which were included in the series from 2003-2026, with links out to the SSRN paper landing pages. Papers remain available through individual author pages for current and former faculty.
Submissions from 2015
Taking Public Access to the Law Seriously: The Problem of Private Control Over the Availability of Federal Standards, Nina A. Mendelson
The Uncertain Effects of Senate Confirmation Delays in the Agencies, Nina A. Mendelson
Using Data Analytics Tools to Supplement Traditional Research and Analysis in Forecasting Case Outcomes, Mark K. Osbeck
Beyond Carve-Outs and Toward Reliance: A Normative Framework for Cross-Border Insolvency Choice of Law, John A. E. Pottow
Two Cheers for Universalism: Nortel's Nifty Novelty, John A. E. Pottow
Sovereign Defaults Before International Criminal Courts and Tribunals, John A. E. Pottow and Emily Iverson
Of Visible Race-Consciousness and Institutional Role: Equal Protection and Disparate Impact after Ricci and Inclusive Communities, Richard Primus
After Atrocity: Optimizing UN Action Toward Accountability for Human Rights Abuses, Steven R. Ratner
Complicity and Compromise in the Law of Nations, Steven R. Ratner
Against Solitary Confinement: Jonah's Redemption and Our Need for Mercy, Margo Schlanger
The Just-Barely-Sustainable California Prisoners’ Rights Ecosystem, Margo Schlanger
Reflections on Comity in the Law of American Federalism, Gil Seinfeld
With Marriage on the Decline and Cohabitation on the Rise, What About Marital Rights for Unmarried Partners?, Lawrence W. Waggoner
Lex Mitior: Converse of Ex Post Facto and Window into Criminal Desert, Peter K. Westen
Retributive Desert as Fair Play, Peter K. Westen
Submissions from 2014
Response Essay: Hollowed-Out Democracy, Kate Andrias
A Perspective on Supra-Nationality in Tax Law, Reuven S. Avi-Yonah
A World Turned Upside Down: Reflections on the 'New Wave' Inversions and Notice 2014-52, Reuven S. Avi-Yonah
Is it Time to Coordinate Corporate Tax Rates? A Note on Horst, Reuven S. Avi-Yonah
Just Say No: Corporate Taxation and Corporate Social Responsibility, Reuven S. Avi-Yonah
No Country is an Island: Is a Radical Rethinking of International Taxation Needed?, Reuven S. Avi-Yonah
Reinventing the Wheel: What We Can Learn from the Tax Reform Act of 1986, Reuven S. Avi-Yonah
The Devil in the Details: Reflections on the Tax Reform Act of 2014, Reuven S. Avi-Yonah
The Parallel March of the Ginis: How Does Taxation Relate to Inequality and What Can Be Done About it?, Reuven S. Avi-Yonah
The Rise and Fall of the Consumption Tax: A Historical Perspective, Reuven S. Avi-Yonah
Why AMT and No AMxT? A Comment on Hines and Logue, Reuven S. Avi-Yonah
Why Not Tax the Rich? Review of Kleinbard’s 'We are Better Than This', Reuven S. Avi-Yonah
A Model Treaty for the Age of BEPS, Reuven S. Avi-Yonah and Oz Halabi
IGAs vs. MAATM: Has Tax Bilateralism Outlived Its Usefulness?, Reuven S. Avi-Yonah and Gil Savir
The One Percent Solution: Corporate Tax Returns Should Be Public (And How to Get There), Reuven S. Avi-Yonah and Ariel Siman
On Class-Not-Race, Samuel R. Bagenstos
The Unrelenting Libertarian Challenge to Public Accommodations Law, Samuel R. Bagenstos
Medicine as a Public Calling, Nicholas Bagley
The Futility of Cost Benefit Analysis in Financial Disclosure Regulation, Omri Ben-Shahar and Carl E. Schneider
The Future of Confession Law: Toward Rules for the Voluntariness Test, Eve Brensike Primus
Frost for Lawyers: 'The Best Thing that We're Put Here For's To See', Sherman J. Clark
Revising Civil Rule 56: Judge Mark R. Kravitz and the Rules Enabling Act, Edward H. Cooper
Tesla and the Car Dealers’ Lobby, Daniel A. Crane
Rate of False Conviction of Criminal Defendants Who Are Sentenced to Death, Samuel R. Gross, Barbara O'Brien, Chen Hu, and Edward Kennedy
Internal Legitimacy and Europe's Piecemeal Constitution: Reflections on Van Gend at 50, Daniel Halberstam
Joseph Weiler, Eric Stein, and the Transformation of Constitutional Law, Daniel Halberstam
Prosecuting a Refugee for 'Smuggling' Himself, James C. Hathaway
Delegating Tax, James R. Hines Jr. and Kyle D. Logue
Protecting the State from Itself? Regulatory Interventions in Corporate Governance and the Financing of China's 'State Capitalism', Nicholas Calcina Howson
Election Law's Lochnerian Turn, Ellen D. Katz
Hobby Lobby and the Pathology of Citizens United, Ellen D. Katz
Justice Ginsburg's Umbrella, Ellen D. Katz
The Mismatch Myth in American Higher Education: A Synthesis of Empirical Evidence at the Law School and Undergraduate Levels, William Kidder and Richard Lempert
Judicial Takings: Musings on Stop the Beach, James E. Krier
Affirmative Action in the United States: A Brief Summary of the Law and Social Science, Richard Lempert
Failing Law Schools, by Brian Z. Tamanaha: A Review, Richard Lempert
Fetishizing Copies, Jessica Litman
Silent Similarity, Jessica Litman
Faith-Based Non-Governmental Organizations in the Public Square, Christopher McCrudden
Human Rights, Southern Voices, and ‘Traditional Values’ at the United Nations, Christopher McCrudden
State Architecture: Subsidiarity, Devolution, Federalism and Independence, Christopher McCrudden
Responding to Agency Avoidance of OIRA, Nina A. Mendelson and Jonathan B. Wiener
Want of Care: An Essay on Wayward Action, Gabriel Mendlow
What Temptation Could Not Be, Gabriel Mendlow
A Theory of Republican Prerogative, Julian Davis Mortenson
Law Matters, Even to the Executive, Julian Davis Mortenson
The Limits of Enumeration, Richard Primus
Why Enumeration Matters, Richard Primus
Of Priors and of Disconnects: How 'Chicago' Premises Risk Distortion, Margaret Jane Radin
Response: Boilerplate in Theory and Practice, Margaret Jane Radin
What Boilerplate Said: A Response to Omri Ben-Shahar (and a Diagnosis), Margaret Jane Radin
How Prisoners’ Rights Lawyers are Preserving the Role of the Courts, Margo Schlanger
Intelligence Legalism and the National Security Agency's Civil Liberties Gap, Margo Schlanger
Trends in Prisoner Litigation, as the PLRA Enters Adulthood, Margo Schlanger
The Jurisprudence of Union, Gil Seinfeld
The Possession Heuristic, Christopher Serkin and James E. Krier
Labor Unions and Title VII: A Bit-Player at the Creation Looks Back, Theodore J. St. Antoine
Environmental Law, Public Health, and the Values Conundrum, David M. Uhlmann
Submissions from 2013
The President's Enforcement Power, Kate Andrias
Back from the Dead: How to Revive Transfer Pricing Enforcement, Reuven S. Avi-Yonah
Corporate and International Tax Reform: Proposals for the Second Obama Administration (and Beyond), Reuven S. Avi-Yonah
FIRPTA, Branch Profit Tax and Earning Stripping: Reflections on Non-Discrimination, Reuven S. Avi-Yonah
Hanging Together: A Multilateral Approach to Taxing Multinationals, Reuven S. Avi-Yonah
Should the US Dictate World Tax Policy? Reflections on PPL Corporation v. Commissioner, Reuven S. Avi-Yonah
Splitting the Unsplittable: Toward a Formulary Approach to Allocating Residuals Under Profit Split, Reuven S. Avi-Yonah
Territoriality: For and Against, Reuven S. Avi-Yonah
Virtual PE: International Taxation and the Fairness Act, Reuven S. Avi-Yonah
What Goes Around Comes Around: Why the US is Responsible for Capital Flight (and What it Can Do about It), Reuven S. Avi-Yonah
Who Invented the Single Tax Principle? An Essay on the History of US Treaty Policy, Reuven S. Avi-Yonah
Why Y? Reflections on the Baucus Proposal, Reuven S. Avi-Yonah
Unitary Taxation and International Tax Rules, Reuven S. Avi-Yonah and Zach Pouga
Employment Law and Social Equality, Samuel R. Bagenstos
Formalism and Employer Liability under Title VII, Samuel R. Bagenstos
Universalism and Civil Rights (With Notes on Voting Rights after Shelby), Samuel R. Bagenstos
Bedside Bureaucrats: Why Medicare Reform Hasn't Worked, Nicholas Bagley
The Puzzling Presumption of Reviewability, Nicholas Bagley
Essential Health Benefits and the Affordable Care Act: Law and Process, Nicholas Bagley and Helen Levy
Mandatory Rules and Default Rules in Insurance Contracts, Tom Baker and Kyle D. Logue
Sudan's Killing Fields: Political Violence and Fragmentation -- Introduction, Laura Nyantung Beny and Sondra Hale
Analysis of the Republic of South Sudan's Accession to the East African Community: Benefits, Detriments and Recommendations, Laura Nyantung Beny and Matthew Snyder
Effective Trial Counsel after Martinez v. Ryan: Focusing on the Adequacy of State Procedures, Eve Brensike Primus
Satisfaction in the Practice of Law: Findings from a Long-Term Study of Attorneys' Careers, David L. Chambers
Law School as Liberal Education, Sherman J. Clark
The Juror, The Citizen, and The Human Being: The Presumptions of Innocence and the Burden of Judgment, Sherman J. Clark