Lucerne Graduate Academy for Law and Economics
The Lucerne Graduate Academy for Law and Economics is a biannual intensive one-week programme designed to introduce legal scholars and economists to the principles and current trends in the field of law and economics. The Graduate Academy will be conducted in collaboration with the Notre Dame Law School Research Program on Law and Market Behavior (ND LAMB).
The Graduate Academy course consists of three different parts: two main courses, three special lectures and research colloquia. The main courses will provide in-depth knowledge on selected law and economics topics by renowned professors in the field. The special lectures will be divided into three windows: one theoretical window in economics and two practical applications in business law.
Participants will also have the chance to gain hands-on experience by presenting their research in one of the Graduate Academy’s colloquia. These research colloquia will offer the opportunity for participants to share their research with a wider community of global scholars, as well as to obtain feedback and support from the Graduate Academy’s directors and lecturers. Participants will apply to present their research, and while time constraints will likely restrict the number of presentation slots available, all participants will be expected to attend their peers’ colloquia presentations.
The key target audiences for the Graduate Academy are professors, lecturers, and high quality post-doc and doctoral candidates in the fields of law, economics, and related human sciences, as well as any advanced international scholars and practitioners from the private or public sector. The courses will be conducted in English. Participants will receive a certificate of attendance at the end of the course.
The 2nd Lucerne Graduate Academy for Law and Economics took place from 24–28 June 2024.
Avishalom Tor is Professor of Law and Director of the Notre Dame Research Program on Law and Market Behavior (ND LAMB) at one of the top law schools in the United States of America. He is also a Global Professor of Law, University of Haifa Faculty of Law. After receiving his doctorate from Harvard Law School, he was an adviser to the Federal Trade Commission on various matters of antitrust law. His particular fields of expertise are behavioural law and economics, antitrust law, and behavioural decision research.
Adi Leibovitch is a Senior Lecturer at the Faculty of Law and a member of the Federmann Center for the Study of Rationality. She served as a visiting professor at the University of Virginia School of Law, and as a visiting researcher at NYU School of Law, the University of Michigan Law School, and UCLA School of Law. Leibovitch's research focuses on the economic analysis of law, behavioral theory, and empirical methods, as applied to the study of the institutional design of courts, litigation, and legal decision-making, with a particular interest in the criminal justice system.
Giuseppe Dari-Mattiacci is professor of law and economics, a fellow of the Tinbergen Institute and a research member of the European Corporate Governance Institute. He works at the intersection of law, economics and history. His recent scholarship has focused on the evolution of legal institutions and business organizations, the interplay of contract and property institutions, and the enforcement of regulations. In 2018-2020 he served as the president of the European Association of Law & Economics.
Ann-Sophie Vandenberghe is Associate Professor of Law and Economics at the Erasmus University Rotterdam. She holds a law degree, an educational degree, a degree of European Master in Law and Economics and a PhD. In her research, she specializes in the field of comparative and behavioural law and economics of contracts, especially employment and consumer contracts. Since 2024, she is a member of the Erasmus Labour Council.
M. Todd Henderson is the Michael J. Marks Professor of Law at the University of Chicago Law School. His research interests include corporations, securities regulation, and law and economics. He has taught classes ranging from Banking Regulation to Torts to American Indian Law.
Deborah Tor is Associate Professor of Medieval Middle Eastern History at the University of Notre Dame. She received her doctorate from Harvard University and specializes in the political, social, religious, and military history of the medieval Middle East and Central Asia, from the rise of Islam until the 13th century. Tor teaches both undergraduate and graduate courses on the medieval Middle East and Central Asia.
Klaus Mathis is Director of the Lucerne Graduate Academy for Law and Economics. He studied Economics and Jurisprudence at the University of Zurich and wrote his doctoral dissertation on the subject of "Efficiency Instead of Justice? Searching for the Philosophical Foundations of the Economic Analysis of Law" (1st edn. 2004, 2nd edn. 2006, 3rd edn. 2009, 4th edn. 2019). Subsequently, he was employed as a Research Associate at the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) in Bern. In 2004, he first became Senior Lecturer in Public Law and then Assistant Professor in Public Law at the University of Lucerne. He wrote his habilitation on "Sustainable Development and Justice to Future Generations, an Interdiscplinary Study from a Legal, Economic, and Philosophical Perspective". He was appointed Full Professor for Public Law, Law of the Sustainable Economy, and Philosophy of Law on August 1, 2016. Klaus Mathis is the editor of the academic book series "Economic Analysis of Law in European Legal Scholarship". Furthermore, he is the co-founder and Director of the Center for Law and Sustainability (CLS), Director of the Institute for Interdisciplinary Legal Studies - lucernaiuris, and of the International Network for Law and Economics - lucernaforum.
Elias Aliverti is Associate Director of the Lucerne Graduate Academy for Law and Economics. He is an academic assistant to Prof. Dr. Klaus Mathis.
Alexander Gian-Carlo Baumann is Associate Director of the Lucerne Graduate Academy for Law and Economics. He is an academic assistant to Prof. Dr. Klaus Mathis.
Application requirements
The key target audiences of the Lucerne Graduate Academy for Law and Economics are professors, lecturers, and high quality post-doc and doctoral candidates in the fields of law, economics, and related human sciences, as well as any advanced international scholars and practitioners from the private or public sector.
The courses will be conducted in English.
Tuition Fees
The fee for the Lucerne Graduate Academy for Law and Economics includes:
- Tour of Lucerne Welcome Reception
- 2 Main Lectures
- 3 Special Lectures
- Research Colloquia
- 1 Dinner
- 4 Lunches
- 1 Lunch with Lake Cruise
- Coffee Breaks
- Barbecue farewell
Tuition fee: CHF 1500.-
Application form
Application for the 2nd Lucerne Graduate Academy for Law and Economics 2024 is closed.
2nd Lucerne Graduate Academy for Law and Economics 2024
Claudine Costa Smolenaars, PhD Candidate, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul
Lana Gotvan, PhD Candidate, University of Ljubljana
Igor Srbinoski, Professor of Practice, University American College Skopje
Lucerne Graduate Academy for Law and Economics 2022
João Paulo Braune Guerra, PhD Candidate, Universidade de São Paulo
Katarzyna Południak-Gierz, PhD Candidate, Jagiellonian University
Aad van Heusden, PhD Candidate, Erasmus University Rotterdam