Leading legal scholar Richard Epstein to present Mar. 19 Pope Lecture

Will discuss 'The Magic of Simple Rules'

Leading legal scholar Richard A. Epstein will present the John W. Pope Lecture on March 19, at the North Carolina State University College of Management, located in Nelson Hall. This event begins at 7:00 p.m., and is open to the public at no charge.

Epstein’s public lecture will be based on his book, Simple Rules for a Complex World. The book is part of a trilogy which includes Skepticism and Freedom: A Modern Case for Classical Liberalism and Principles for a Free Society: Reconciling Individual Liberty with the Common Good.

During his visit to NC State, Epstein will also hold discussion sessions with undergraduate students, graduate students, and faculty.

Epstein is the James Parker Hall Distinguished Service Professor of Law at the University of Chicago and the Peter and Kirstin Bedford Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution. He also is director of the John M. Olin Program in Law and Economics at the University of Chicago.

The Olin Program is a multidisciplinary center that explores the relationship between economics and law. “In both the common law and in economics, stewardship over resources is an essential theme. The strong connection between the two disciplines is reflected in the growing influence of law and economics in many law schools," said Steve Margolis, professor of economics at NC State College of Management.

At NC State, a similar bridge between public policy and economics has been created with funding from the Pope Foundation. That funding supports education and research in economics and public policy in the College of Management’s Department of Economics and the College of Humanities and Social Science’s School of Public and International Affairs. The John W. Pope Lecture Series is part of that activity, along with support of the NC State student organization, the Society for Politics, Economics and Law (SPEL), and other activities.

More about the speaker

Richard A. Epstein is the James Parker Hall Distinguished Service Professor of Law at the University of Chicago, where he has taught since 1972. He has also been the Peter and Kirstin Bedford Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution since 2000.

He is among the most prolific and most frequently cited legal scholars. He has also written extensively for non-academic audiences and is a frequent contributor to the Wall Street Journal’s op-ed page. His most recent book is Overdose: How Excessive Government Regulation Stifles Pharmaceutical Innovation

Prior to joining the University of Chicago Law School faculty, Epstein taught law at the University of Southern California from 1968 to 1972, and served as interim dean from February to June 2001. He received an LL.D., h.c. from the University of Ghent, 2003.

Epstein has been a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences since 1985 and a Senior Fellow of the Center for Clinical Medical Ethics at the University of Chicago Medical School, also since 1983. He served as editor of the Journal of Legal Studies from 1981 to 1991, and of the Journal of Law and Economics from 1991-2001,

Epstein received his A.B. in 1964 from Columbia College; his B.A. in 1966 from Oxford University and his LL.B. in 1968 from Yale University.