Robert M. Lawless
Professor
Phone: 217-244-6714
Email: rlawless@illinois.edu
B.S. University of Illinois
J.D. University of IllinoisRobert Lawless (rlawless@illinois.edu), professor of law, specializes in bankruptcy, consumer credit, and business law. He is intensely interested in empirical legal studies and interdisciplinary work. His book, Empirical Methods in Law, written with University of Illinois law professors Jennifer K. Robbennolt and Thomas S. Ulen, was recently released by Aspen Publishing. In addition to a course in empirical methods, he teaches in the areas of bankruptcy and commercial law.
Professor Lawless is one of seven regular contributors to the blog Credit Slips, a discussion on credit and bankruptcy. He also is a member of the Consumer Bankruptcy Project, a long-term empirical project studying persons who file bankruptcy. The latest report from the Consumer Bankruptcy Project received the 2009 Editor’s Prize from the American Bankruptcy Law Journal. Professor Lawless has testified before Congress, and his work has been featured in media outlets such as CNN, CNBC, the New York Times, USA Today, the National Law Journal, the L.A. Times, the Financial Times, and Money magazine.
Prior to joining the faculty at the University of Illinois, Professor Lawless was the Gordon & Silver, Ltd. Professor of Law at the University of Nevada-Las Vegas William S. Boyd School of Law. From 1993 to 2002, he was on the faculty at the University of Missouri-Columbia School of Law, and he has been a visiting faculty member at the University of Illinois, Ohio State University, and Washington University in St. Louis. Professor Lawless began his career as a law clerk for the Honorable Harlington Wood, Jr., of the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit and then practiced law in Washington, D.C., with the firm of Zuckert, Scoutt & Rasenberger. He received both his B.S. (Accounting) with highest honors and J.D. summa cum laude from the University of Illinois, and served as editor-in-chief of the University of Illinois Law Review.
