Jennifer Nou
Ruth Wyatt Rosenson Professor of Law
Jennifer Nou is the Ruth Wyatt Rosenson Professor of Law at the University of Chicago Law School. She clerked for Justice Stephen Breyer on the U.S. Supreme Court and Judge Richard Posner on the Seventh Circuit. She studied at Oxford as a Marshall Scholar and is a senior fellow of the Administrative Conference of the United States. Before academia, she served as a senior advisor at the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA), giving her firsthand experience with the regulatory review process she studies.
Teaching Style
Professor Nou is a precise and methodical teacher who walks students through the architecture of the administrative state with exceptional clarity. She uses the Socratic method to probe students' understanding of how agencies actually operate, not just how doctrine describes them. She cold-calls regularly and expects students to engage with both the legal frameworks and the institutional realities of regulation. Her style is warm but intellectually demanding.
Cold Call Tips
- 1Master the key APA provisions and understand the difference between formal and informal rulemaking and adjudication
- 2Be prepared to discuss how presidential review through OIRA actually shapes regulatory outcomes in practice
- 3Read beyond the cases to understand the political dynamics of agency decision-making
- 4Think about institutional design — Nou cares about why agencies are structured the way they are, not just what they do
Areas of Expertise
Education
- J.D., Yale Law School
- M.Phil., University of Oxford (Marshall Scholar)
- B.A., Yale University
Notable Publications
- Agency Self-Insulation Under Presidential Review (Harvard Law Review)
- Subdelegation (Columbia Law Review)
Research Interests
More Professors at University of Chicago Law School
Constitutional Law, Federal Courts, Election Law, Conflict of Laws
Contract Law, International Law, Constitutional Law, Financial Regulation
Constitutional Law, Criminal Procedure, National Security Law
Contracts, Consumer Law, Insurance Law, Law and Economics
Antitrust Law, Intellectual Property, Network Industries, Bankruptcy
Property Law, Privacy Law, Intellectual Property, Law and Technology