Columbia Law School Professor Thomas W. Merrill Elected to the American Law Institute

New York, January 30, 2015—Columbia Law School Professor Thomas W. Merrill, a renowned scholar of property and administrative law, has been elected to the American Law Institute. He joins a distinguished array of judges, lawyers, and legal scholars to receive this prestigious honor.

Merrill, the Charles Evan Hughes Professor of Law, writes extensively on property and administrative law issues including eminent domain and environmental law. He is also a noted authority on the U.S. Supreme Court. The author of a leading casebook on property law, Merrill has taught courses in property, administrative law, environmental law, natural resources, legislation, and torts.

Merrill joined the Columbia Law School faculty in 2003, after previously teaching at the Northwestern University School of Law for many years and serving as deputy solicitor general in the U.S. Department of Justice from 1987 to 1990. He is a graduate of Grinnell College and Oxford University, where he was a Rhodes Scholar. Merrill attended the University of Chicago Law School and clerked for both Judge David L. Bazelon of the U.S. Court of Appeals and Judge Harry A. Blackmun of the U.S. Supreme Court.

Founded in Philadelphia in 1923, the American Law Institute produces scholarship devoted to clarifying, simplifying, and modernizing the law. Elected membership is limited to 3,000 globally and based upon professional achievement, strength of character, and demonstrated commitment to improving the law.