Lee Epstein is the Provost Professor of Law and Political Science and the Rader Family Trustee Chair in Law at the University of Southern California.  Before moving to USC, she held the Henry Wade Rogers Professorship, a University-wide chair, at Northwestern University and was the Edward Mallinckrodt Distinguished University Professor of Political Science and Professor of Law at Washington University in St. Louis. In 2004, she was designated a Thorsten Sellin Fellow of the American Academy of Political and Social Science; and in 2006 she was named a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Professor Epstein's interests center on the U.S. Supreme Court, constitutional courts abroad, judicial behavior, and constitutional law. Her latest book, The Behavior of Federal Judges, with William M. Landes and Richard A. Posner, was published by Harvard University Press in January 2013. Other recent projects, undertaken with colleagues throughout the United States, include Why (and When) Judges Dissent (Journal of Legal Studies); Was There Ever Such a Thing as Judicial Self-Restraint?(California Law Review), which examines whether the Supreme Court grew more activist (that is, more willing to strike laws) over the period between 1937 and 2009 and whether the ideological leanings of the justices, and not judicial self-restraint, better explain how they voted in cases challenging the constitutionality of federal laws; and Untangling the Causal Effects of Sex on Judging (American Journal of Political Science), which explores whether male and female judges decide cases distinctly and whether the presence of a female judge on a panel causes her male colleagues to behave differently. 

She is now working on several books, including one that makes use of Justice Blackmun's papers to study agenda setting on the Supreme Court (with Segal and Harold J. Spaeth) and another, with Thomas Brennan and Nancy Staudt, that examines how national and local economic trends affect judicial decisions.

A recipient of twelve grants from the National Science Foundation for her work on law and legal institutions, Epstein has authored or co-authored over 100 articles and essays, as well as 15 books, including the Constitutional Law for a Changing America series (in its 7th edition; winner of the Teaching and Mentoring Award from the Law and Courts Section of the American Political Science Association) and The Supreme Court Compendium (in its 4th edition; winner of a Special Recognition Honor from the Law and Courts Section of the American Political Science Association and an Outstanding Academic Book Award from Choice). Another book, The Choices Justices Make (co-authored with Jack Knight), won the Pritchett Award for the Best Book on Law and Courts and the 2010 Lasting Contribution Award "for a book or journal article, 10 years or older, that has made a lasting impression on the field of law and courts." Other recent honors include A Best Free Reference Website Award for the U.S. Supreme Court Database, (from Emerging Technologies, Association of the American Library Association), “Exemplary Legal Writing” Honor for On the Perils of Drawing Inferences about Supreme Court Justices from their First Few Years of Service (from Green Bag), and the Pi Sigma Alpha Award for the best paper delivered at the annual of the Midwest Political Science Association for Untangling the Causal Effect of Sex on Judging (from the Midwest Political Science Association).

Professor Epstein is a Co-Editor of the Journal of Law, Economics & Organization; President of the International Society for New Institutional Economics; a member of the Board of Directors of the American Academy of Political and Social Science; chair of the Law School Admission Council’s Grants Subcommittee; and Principal Investigator of the National Science Foundation funded project on the U.S. Supreme Court Database. She is a former chair of the Law and Courts Section of the American Political Science Association and a past President of the Midwest Political Science Association. She serves (or has served) on the Editorial Boards or Advisory Panels of the American Journal of Political Science, the American Political Science Review, American Politics Research, Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, I•CON: The International Journal of Constitutional Law, Law & Policy, Law and Social Inquiry, Law & Society Review, Political Research Quarterly, and Social Science Quarterly.

Epstein regularly directs honors theses and dissertations, and teaches courses on Constitutional Courts, Constitutional Law, Defendants' Rights, Law and Social Change, Research Design and Methods, and the U.S. Supreme Court. In 2011, she received Northwestern University School of Law's Outstanding First-Year Course Professor Award. At Washington University she was named Professor of the Year by the Undergraduate Political Science Association and received  a Faculty of the Year Award from the Student Union. Other university awards include the Alumni Board of Governors Distinguished Faculty Award and the Arthur Holly Compton Faculty Achievement Award.

keywords: Lee Epstein, Lee Spole, judicial behavior, judging, law and courts, constitutional law, Supreme Court, constitutional courts, USC, University of Southern California, Washington University, Emory University, Syosset