Career Details

                                                                                       [Download PDF version here]

Jeffrey Sean Lehman


Employment:


2012-present:  New York University.  Shanghai, China, and New York, N.Y.

      Inaugural Vice Chancellor of NYU Shanghai and Professor of Law.  


2006-present:  Peking University.  Beijing and Shenzhen, China.

   2007-present

      Chancellor of the School of Transnational Law.

   2007-2012

      Founding Dean of the School of Transnational Law.

   2006-present

      President of the Joint Center for China-U.S. Law & Policy Studies.


2005-06:  Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars.  Washington, D.C.

     Senior Scholar in Residence. (nonresident Senior Scholar, 2006-2010).


2003-2012:  Cornell University.  Ithaca, New York.

   2003-05

      President of the University.

   2003-12

      Professor of Law.

 

1987-2003:  The University of Michigan.  Ann Arbor, Michigan.

The Law School and the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy. 

   1994-2003

       Dean of the Law School.

   1993-2003

      Professor of Law and Public Policy.

   1992-93

      Professor of Law.

   1987-92

      Assistant Professor of Law.

  

1994:  L’Université de Paris II (Panthéon-Assas).  Paris, France.

Faculté de Droit, Économie, et Sciences Sociales;
DEA de Droit Public Interne.

   Professeur Invité.

 

1993:  The Yale Law School.  New Haven, Connecticut.

   Visiting Professor of Law.

 

1983-87:  Caplin & Drysdale, Chartered.  Washington, D.C.

   Associate. 

  

1982-83:  The Supreme Court of the United States.  Washington, D.C.

   Law Clerk to Associate Justice John Paul Stevens.

  

1981-82:  The United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit.  Portland, Maine.

   Law Clerk to Chief Judge Frank M. Coffin.

 


Education:


Legal:  The University of Michigan Law School.

   J.D. in May 1981, magna cum laude

   Editor-in-Chief of the Michigan Law Review. 

   Henry M. Bates Memorial Scholarship; Order of the Coif.

  

Graduate:  The University of Michigan Institute of Public Policy Studies.

   M.P.P. in May 1981.

  

Undergraduate:  Cornell University, College of Arts and Sciences.

   A.B. in May 1977, with distinction in all subjects.  Mathematics major.

   (Sweet Briar College Junior Year in France)



Board Memberships, Other:


  Infosys, Ltd., Bangalore, India (NASDAQ:INFY).  Independent Director, 2006-present.  Committees chaired:  Nominations and Governance; Management Development and Compensation; Investor Grievance.  Other committees served on:  Audit; Risk Management.

 

  Infosys Public Services, Inc. (wholly owned U.S. subsidiary of Infosys, Ltd.).  Chairman of the Board, 2009-present.


  University Corporation for Advanced Internet Development (“Internet2”)Chairman of the Board, 2007-2011; Trustee, 2004-2012.


  American Law Deans AssociationPresident, 2001-2003. Vice President, 1999-2001. Director, 1997-2003.


  Asian University for Women Support Foundation.  Trustee, 2006-2008; Member, International Council of Advisors, 2008-2011.


  Leadership Enterprise for a Diverse America.  Trustee, 2004-2007.


  Consortium on Financing Higher Education.  Director, 2004-2005.


  The Skadden Fellowship Foundation.  Trustee, 1995-2004.


 

International, National and State Service; University Advising


  Peking University, Member of the International Advisory Committee, 2014-present.


  Jindal School of Liberal Arts & Humanities, Member of the International Board of Advisors, 2013-present.


  Foreign Experts Advisory Committee of the People’s Republic of China, Member, 2013-present.


  Shenzhen International Low Carbon City, Special Consultant to the Vice Mayor, 2012-present.


  Nazareth Academic InstituteMember of the International Board of Trustees (Advisory), 2012-present.


  China-U.S. Legal Experts Dialogue.  Member of the U.S. Delegation, 2011 and 2012.


  American Council on Education Blue Ribbon Task Force on Global Engagement
Member, 2010-2011.


 Joint Task Force on Enhancing Cooperation in India-U.S. Relations in the Global Innovation Economy, co-sponsored by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry and the Pacific Council on International Policy.  Member, 2007-2009.


 Planning Committee for President Clinton’s July 20, 1999, “Call to Action”; Steering Committee of “Lawyers for One America.”  Member, 1999-2001.


  Beijing Forum.  Member of the International Advisory Board, 2006-present.


  American Bar Association Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the BarCommittee Member – Standards Review Committee, 1996-1999; Law School Development Committee, 2001-2003.


  Association of American Law Schools.  Committee Member – Nominating Committee, 1997-1998; Committee on Academic Freedom and Tenure, 1998-2000.


  Various UniversitiesAdvisor and/or executive coach to senior academic administrators and/or university governing boards at Carnegie Mellon University (2011), Georgetown University (2005, 2007), Michigan State University (2000), New York University (2010-2012), Ohio State University (1998, 2000), Southern Methodist University (1997), University of Rochester (2006, 2011-present), University of Southern California (2000), the University of Toronto (2000, 2006), University of Utah (1998), and Wayne State University (2005).



Most Significant Honors:


  People’s Republic of China.  

       Friendship Award (China's highest award for “foreign experts who have made outstanding contributions to the country's economic and social progress”).  September 29, 2011.

       Medal of Merit for Education (awarded to ten foreign experts “for distinguished service and contribution to education in China” during the period from 1954 to 2014).  April 27, 2014.


  Six Nations of the Haudenosaunee [Iroquois] Confederacy.  Honorary Membership, with the name Wambli Ska (White Eagle).  September 3, 2004.

 

  NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc.  National Equal Justice Award, 2003.


  City of Shanghai.  Magnolia Award.  September 17, 2013.


  City of ShenzhenLevel A Peacock Plan.  December 20, 2011 (first winner).


  Xiamen University.  Honorary Professorship.  April 6, 2006.


  Peking University.  Honorary Doctorate.  November 7, 2005.


  China Agricultural University.  Honorary Professorship.  June 30, 2003.


  American Law InstituteMember, 1995-present.


  National Law Journal.  Named one of 40 “Rising Stars in the Law,” November 20, 1995.



Most Significant Invited Public Lectures:


  Suenobu Foundation Distinguished Lecture on the Occasion of the 50th Anniversary of the Japanese American Society for Legal StudiesTokyo, Japan.  March 16, 2014.


  20th Annual Frank M. Coffin Lecture on Law and Public ServiceUniversity of Maine.  November 15, 2012.


  University of California Education Abroad Program 50th Anniversary LectureUniversity of California Berkeley.  October 19, 2012.


  2012 Sir George Turner Public Lecture.  University of Melbourne.  March 5, 2012.


  2007 Global Vision Lectures.   Tsinghua UniversityOctober 29 - November 8, 2007.


  2002 Commencement AddressUniversity of Pittsburgh Law School.  May 25, 2002.



Publications:


  An Optimistic Heart:  What Great Universities Can Give Their Students … and the World.  Ithaca:  Cornell University (2008) (Kindle edition 2011; Chinese bilingual edition 2013).


  Corporate Income Taxation (coauthored with Douglas A. Kahn, Jeffrey H. Kahn, and Terrence Perris).  Minneapolis: West Publishing Co. (6th ed. 2009; 5th ed. 2001 and 4th ed. 1994 coauthored with Douglas A. Kahn alone).


  Defending Diversity:  Affirmative Action at the University of Michigan (co-edited with Patricia Gurin and Earl Lewis).  Ann Arbor:  University of Michigan Press (2004).


-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


  “Foreword,” 1 Transnational Law Review 1 (2013).


  “Wordly Public Service,” 65 Maine L. Rev. 237 (2012-13).


  “From Diverse Campuses to Integrated Campuses:  How Can We Tell If We Are ‘Walking the Walk’?”  Chapter 2 of The Future of Diversity (Daniel Little and Satya Mohanty, eds.).  New York:  Palgrave-McMillan (2010).

  

  “Making Sense of Stock and Security Exchanges,” (coauthored with Douglas A. Kahn), 104 Tax Notes 1417 (September 20, 2004).


  “Turning our Backs on the New Deal:  The End of Welfare in 1996,” (coauthored with Sheldon Danziger).  Chapter 21 of Race, Poverty, and Domestic Policy (C. Michael Henry, ed.).  New Haven:  Yale University Press (2004).


  “The Evolving Language of Diversity and Integration in Discussions of Affirmative Action from Bakke to Grutter,” Chapter 2 of Defending Diversity.  Ann Arbor:  University of Michigan Press (2004).


  “Welfare” (coauthored with Sheldon Danziger), in The Oxford Companion to American Law (Joel Grossman, ed.).  Oxford:  Oxford University Press  (2002).


  “Desperately Seeking a Voice,” 33 University of Toledo Law Review 103 (2001).


  “Saying No to Stakeholding,” (coauthored with Deborah Malamud), 98 Michigan Law Review 1482 (2000) [takes a few seconds to download]..


  “Foreword,” 11 European Journal of International Law 1 (2000).


  “Benefits, Opportunities Decline for Current Welfare Recipients,”(coauthored with Sheldon Danziger), Forum for Applied Research and Public Policy 6 (Winter 1997).


  “Neighborhood Effects and Federal Policy” (coauthored with Timothy Smeeding).  Chapter 11 of Neighborhood Poverty:  Context and Consequences for Children, Volume 1, (J. Brooks-Gunn, G.J. Duncan, J.L. Aber, eds.).  New York:  Russell Sage Foundation Press (1997).


  “How Will Welfare Recipients Fare in the Labor Market?” (coauthored with Sheldon Danziger), Challenge (March-April 1996).


  “Ending Welfare as We Know It:  Values, Economics, and Politics” (coauthored with Sheldon Danziger), published online, (Cambridge, Mass: The Electronic Policy Network, 1995 [http://epn.org/library/danz01.html, link no longer active]), excerpted in “Recalibrating the Balance:  Reflections on Welfare Reform,” 37 Law Quadrangle Notes (No. 4, 1994).


  “Updating Urban Policy.”  Chapter 9 of Confronting Poverty: Prescriptions for Reform (Sheldon Danziger, Gary Sandefur, & Daniel Weinberg, eds.) Cambridge: Harvard U. Press (1994).


  “The Many Contexts of Welfare Reform.”  26 University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform No. 4 (Summer 1993).


  “The Distribution of Benefits from Prepaid Tuition Programs: New Empirical Evidence About the Effects of Program Design on Participant Demographics.”  Chapter 3 of Prepaid College Tuition Plans in the United States: Promise and Problems (Michael Olivas, ed.).  New York: College Board (1993).


  “The Laws of Work-Related Social Benefit Systems in the United States.”  Chapter 11 of Proceedings of the First Annual United States - Mexico International Labor Law Conference.  Washington: U.S. Dept. of Labor (1993).


  Book Review reviewing Rethinking Social Policy, by Christopher Jencks, 98 American Journal of Sociology 778 (Nov. 1993).


  “Law School Support for Community-Based Economic Development in Low-Income Urban Neighborhoods,” (coauthored with Rochelle E. Lento), 42 Journal of Urban and Contemporary Law 65 (May 1992).


  “Tax Expenditure Budgets: A Critical View,” (coauthored with Douglas A. Kahn), 54 Tax Notes 1661 (March 30, 1992); reprinted in The International Library of Essays in Law and Legal Theory, Tax Law, Vol. II  (White, P. ed., 1995); excerpted in Fred Peel & Philip Oliver, Readings and Materials on Tax Policy (Foundation Press 1996) and in Paul Caron, Karen Burke, and Grayson McCouch, Federal Income Tax Anthology 1997 (Anderson Publishing 1997).


  “To Conceptualize, To Criticize, To Describe, To Improve: Understanding America’s Welfare State,” 101 Yale Law Journal 685 (December 1991) [takes a few seconds to download].


  “Social Irresponsibility, Actuarial Assumptions, and Wealth Redistribution: Lessons About Public Policy from a Prepaid Tuition Program,” 88 Michigan Law Review 1035 (April 1990) [takes quite a few seconds to download]..


  “Is There Life for Erie After the Death of Diversity?” (coauthored with Peter Westen), 78 Michigan Law Review 311 (January 1980) [takes quite a few seconds to download]..

Book Notice commenting on Lying, by Sissela Bok, 77 Michigan Law Review 539 (March 1979).


  “To Extract a Connected Object of Arbitrary Shape from Its Background by a Decision Tree Method,” (coauthored with S.C. Wu and J.M.S. Prewitt) Proceedings of the 1978 IEEE Conference on Pattern Recognition and Image Processing 352 (78 CH1318-5C May-June 1978) [takes quite a few seconds to download]..



Popular Press, etc.:


  "Universities in a Complex World," The Chronicle Review (December 9, 2011).


  “The Ways of an Ideal Judge,” Maine Law Magazine (Summer 2011).


  “Law Clerk as Quasi-Child:  The Unique Experience of Clerking for Justice Stevens,” Supreme Court of the United States Blog, http://www.scotusblog.com/2010/05/law-clerk-as-quasi-child/ (May 17, 2010).


  “Leadership in Difficult Times Is Different,” Mint (January 14, 2009).


  “At UC, Race Must Matter” (op-ed article), Los Angeles Times (August 26, 2006).


  “Student Health and Health Insurance,” essay included in Leading Change in the Health Care System (Aetna Foundation 2005).


  “‘Integration,’ not ‘Diversity,’” (op-ed book excerpt under Ex Libris), The Chronicle of Higher Education, (April 23, 2004).


  “Learning from Diversity,” (op-ed article), New York Times (May 16, 2002).


  “Choosing Integration in Higher Education,” (op-ed article), Matrix (July 2001).


  “The Fifty-Year Quest for Diversity in Legal Education,” (op-ed article), Michigan Daily (January 15, 2001).


  “Presidential Search Process Precluded Candid Exchange” (op-ed article), Ann Arbor News (November 24, 1996), reprinted in Law Quadrangle Notes (Spring 1997, p. 30), expanded and reprinted in Trusteeship (Association of Governing Boards of Universities and Colleges, July/August 1997, pp. 18-22).


  “MET Needs a Different Kind of Bailout” (op-ed article), Detroit News (August 18, 1991).


  “Tuition Plan: Is It Just Pie in the Sky?” (op-ed article coauthored with Kent Syverud), Detroit Free Press (June 8, 1988).


  1000 Ways To Win Monopoly Games (coauthored with Jay Walker), New York:  Dell Paperbacks (1975).