Search People Result | Academic Influence

Find the most influential people in 24 academic disciplines and numerous subdisciplines

Find famous and important people related to your research. This is an excellent tool for research papers, topic papers, and building a bibliography. Using our influence-based algorithm, our rankings synthesize data from Wikipedia, Wikidata, Semantic Scholar, and CrossRef.

Students and researchers now have a fast and reliable way to find influential thinkers from 24 disciplines and 300 sub-disciplines (and growing). If you want to find history’s most influential philsosophers, or the world’s most influential mathematicians currently, now you can.

We also provide custom rankings of people by discipline as well as interviews with influential academics who are currently active.

To use this tool, select the discipline (and optional subdiscipline) relevant to your research, and specify influential academics by history, world, or US. Even results that are counterintuitive are often enlightening (our algorithm always picks up a signal).

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School

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Discipline

Subdiscipline

Ranking

List of the most influential people in Law,

#1251

Frank H. Wu

#24540

Overall Influence

1967 - Present (57 years)

Frank H. Wu is an American law professor and author currently serving as the president of Queens College, City University of New York. He served as the William L. Prosser Distinguished Professor at UC Hastings. Wu was also the first Asian American to serve in that position. In November 2015, he announced he would return to teaching.

#1252

Wolfgang Schäuble

#19738

Overall Influence

1942 - Present (82 years)

Wolfgang Schäuble is a German lawyer, politician and statesman whose political career has spanned for more than five decades. A member of the Christian Democratic Union , he is one of the longest-serving politicians in German history. Schäuble served as 13th president of the Bundestag from 2017 to 2021.

#1253

Phil Shiner

#23550

Overall Influence

1956 - Present (68 years)

Philip Joseph Shiner is a British former human rights solicitor. He was struck off the roll of solicitors in England and Wales in 2017 over misconduct relating to false abuse claims against British troops. He was Head of Strategic Litigation at Public Interest Lawyers from 2014 until the firm's closure on 31 August 2016. He had previously been Principal at Public Interest Lawyers Ltd from 1999 to 2014.

#1254

David G. Victor

#37247

Overall Influence

1965 - Present (59 years)

David G. Victor is a professor of innovation and public policy at the School of Global Policy and Strategy at UC San Diego, where he holds the Center for Global Transformation Endowed Chair in Innovation and Public Policy.

#1255

Mary Frances Berry

Mary Frances Berry

#16804

Overall Influence

1938 - Present (86 years)

Mary Frances Berry is an American historian, writer, lawyer, activist and professor who focuses on U.S. constitutional and legal, African-American history. Berry is the Geraldine R. Segal Professor of American Social Thought where she teaches American legal history at the Department of History, School of Arts & Sciences at the University of Pennsylvania. She is the former chairwoman of the United States Commission on Civil Rights. Previously, Berry was provost of the College of Behavioral and Social Science at University of Maryland, College Park, and was the first African American chancellor...

#1256

Edward J. Larson

Edward J. Larson

#22249

Overall Influence

1953 - Present (71 years)

Edward John Larson is an American historian and legal scholar. He is university professor of history and holds the Hugh & Hazel Darling Chair in Law at Pepperdine University. He was formerly Herman E. Talmadge Chair of Law and Richard B. Russell Professor of American History at the University of Georgia. He continues to serve as a senior fellow of the University of Georgia's Institute of Higher Education, and is currently a professor at Pepperdine School of Law, where he teaches several classes including Property for the 1Ls.

#1257

Wei Zheng

#80909

Overall Influence

#1258

Curtis R. Reitz

#51658

Overall Influence

1930 - Present (94 years)

Curtis Randall Reitz is the Algernon Sydney Biddle Professor of Law at the University of Pennsylvania Law School. Biography Reitz was born in Reading, Pennsylvania. His father was a jeweler, and his mother was a teacher. He attended Reading High School.

#1259

Mark P Jensen

#81102

Overall Influence

#1260

George Williams

George Williams

#40858

Overall Influence

1969 - Present (55 years)

George John Williams is an Australian academic specialising in Australian constitutional law and the Deputy Vice-Chancellor of Planning and Assurance at the University of New South Wales. He was formerly the Dean of the Law Faculty.

#1261

Yohji Yamamoto

#3484

Overall Influence

1943 - Present (81 years)

Yohji Yamamoto is a Japanese fashion designer based in Tokyo and Paris. Considered a master tailor alongside those such as Madeleine Vionnet, he is known for his avant-garde tailoring featuring Japanese design aesthetics.

#1262

Cai Dingjian

#63516

Overall Influence

1956 - 2010 (54 years)

Cai Dingjian was a Chinese constitutional law scholar. Biography Cai received his Bachelor of Laws degree from the China University of Political Science and Law in 1983, and Master of Laws degree and Doctor of Laws degree from Peking University in 1986 and 1998.

#1263

Wallace B. Jefferson

Wallace B. Jefferson

#31824

Overall Influence

1963 - Present (61 years)

Wallace Bernard Jefferson is a former chief justice of the Supreme Court of Texas, who served from 2004 until October 1, 2013. In October 2013, he joined the law firm Alexander Dubose & Jefferson LLP as a name partner and now practices appellate law.

#1264

Philippe Malaurie

#50643

Overall Influence

1925 - 2020 (95 years)

Philippe Malaurie was a French professor of private law. Life Philippe Malaurie was born on 7 March 1925 in Mainz, occupied by French forces. He became a Doctor of Law at the Paris Faculty of Law in 1951. His thesis was on L'order public et le contrat; étude de droit comparé. He passed his agrégation in Law in 1951. He taught at the Institut des hautes études in Tunis from 1951 to 1955, at the Faculty of Law in Poitiers from 1955 to 1966, and at the Faculty of Law of Paris from 1966 to 1970, then taught at the University of Paris II. He was dean of the Faculty of Law of Nanterre from 1968 to 1969.

#1265

Yusuke Nakamura

Yusuke Nakamura

#14111

Overall Influence

1952 - Present (72 years)

is a Japanese prominent geneticist and cancer researcher best known for developing Genome-Wide Association Study . He is one of the world's pioneers in applying genetic variations and whole genome sequencing, leading the research field of personalized medicine.

#1266

Sam Nunn

#15485

Overall Influence

1938 - Present (86 years)

Samuel Augustus Nunn Jr. is an American politician who served as a United States Senator from Georgia as a member of the Democratic Party. After leaving Congress, Nunn co-founded the Nuclear Threat Initiative , a charitable organization working to prevent catastrophic attacks with nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons, for which he is a co-chair. His political experience and credentials on national defense reportedly earned him consideration as a potential running mate for presidential candidates John Kerry and Barack Obama after they became their party's nominees.

#1267

Carl August Fleischer

#61069

Overall Influence

1936 - Present (88 years)

Carl August Fleischer is a Norwegian jurist, born in Oslo. He was professor of jurisprudence at the University of Oslo from 1970. He has been a long-term consultant for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and has also participated in a number of public committees.

#1268

Anita Ušacka

#60653

Overall Influence

1952 - Present (72 years)

Anita Ušacka is a Latvian and international judge and legal academic. She has been a judge of the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Latvia and of the Trial and Appeals Divisions of the International Criminal Court . She was President of the Appeals Division of the International Criminal Court in 2011/2012. She retired in 2015.

#1269

Thio Li-ann

#41602

Overall Influence

1968 - Present (56 years)

Thio Li-ann is a Singaporean law professor at the National University of Singapore. She was educated at the University of Oxford, Harvard Law School and the University of Cambridge. In January 2007, she was appointed a Nominated Member of Parliament in Singapore's 11th Parliament.

#1270

Thomas Reilly

#23413

Overall Influence

1942 - Present (82 years)

Thomas Francis Reilly is an American attorney and politician who served as the 45th Massachusetts Attorney General. He was born in Springfield, Massachusetts to Irish immigrant parents. He was one of three candidates who sought the Democratic nomination for governor of Massachusetts in the 2006 election. Former U.S. Assistant Attorney General Deval Patrick won the party's nomination and the general election, defeating Reilly and businessman Chris Gabrieli.

#1271

Don Andrew Dillman

#81457

Overall Influence

#1272

Steven Winter

#41417

Overall Influence

Steven Winter is a law professor. He is the Walter S. Gibbs Professor of Constitutional Law at Wayne State University Law School. In 2017 he was promoted to distinguished professor. Biography Winter attended Yeshiva University and Columbia Law School. From 1986 to 1997 he taught at the University of Miami School of Law, and from 1997 to 2002 he taught at Brooklyn Law School. He began teaching at Wayne State University Law School in 2002 as the Walter S. Gibbs Professor of Constitutional Law. In 2017 he was promoted to distinguished professor.

#1273

Henri Reznik

#42488

Overall Influence

1938 - Present (86 years)

Henri Markovich Reznik, also Genri Reznik is a prominent Russian lawyer, former criminal investigator and criminologist. He chaired the presidium of the Moscow City Bar Association. Reznik was teaching Kutafin Moscow State Law University since 2009. He left in 2017 after the University installed a plaque memorializing Stalin.

#1274

Taslim Olawale Elias

#33285

Overall Influence

1914 - 1991 (77 years)

Taslim Olawale Elias was a Nigerian jurist who served as minister of Justice and attorney-general of Nigeria from 1960 to 1966, Chief Justice of Nigeria from 1972 to 1975 and president of the International Court of Justice from 1982 to 1985. He was a scholar who modernised and extensively revised the laws of Nigeria.

#1275

Amnon Rubinstein

#32862

Overall Influence

1931 - Present (93 years)

Amnon Rubinstein is an Israeli legal scholar, politician, and columnist. A member of the Knesset between 1977 and 2002, he served in several ministerial positions. He is currently dean of the Interdisciplinary Center in Herzliya and a patron of Liberal International.

#1276

Julien Chaisse

#34163

Overall Influence

1976 - Present (48 years)

Julien Chaisse is a professor of law at the City University of Hong Kong, specializing in international law, with a particular focus on globalization, foreign investment and on digital asset. Education Chaisse received his LLB degree from the Faculty of Law and Political Science, Aix-Marseille University in 1998. He earned his master's degree from the University of Tübingen in 1999 and an LLM degree from the University of Rennes 1 in 2000. In 2004, Chaisse started his doctoral dissertation at the Institut d'etudes politiques d'Aix-en-Provence of Paul Cézanne University Aix-Marseille III, wher...

#1277

Dennis B. Funa

#38105

Overall Influence

2000 - Present (24 years)

Dennis B. Funa is a Filipino lawyer, businessman, public official, law book author, professor of law, constitutionalist, and the current Commissioner of the Philippines' Insurance Commission. As a Filipino lawyer, he is the managing partner of a Metro Manila based law firm. He has served the Philippine government from 1992 to 1998, and 2013 to the present in various capacities.

#1278

Don Keenan

#49737

Overall Influence

1953 - Present (71 years)

Don C. Keenan is an Atlanta, Georgia-based trial lawyer and author. He is the head partner in the Keenan Law Firm, which specializes in cases involving children, including injury, medical malpractice, and wrongful death.

#1279

Bob Graham

#19156

Overall Influence

1936 - Present (88 years)

Daniel Robert Graham is an American lawyer, author, and politician who served as the 38th governor of Florida from 1979 to 1987 and a United States senator from Florida from 1987 to 2005. He is a member of the Democratic Party.

#1280

Stewart Kwoh

#32125

Overall Influence

1948 - Present (76 years)

Stewart Kwoh is an American attorney, educator, and civil rights leader. Kwoh is the founding President and Executive Director of Asian Americans Advancing Justice - Los Angeles, formerly known as the Asian Pacific American Legal Center of Southern California .

#1281

Karen Vousden

#38469

Overall Influence

1957 - Present (67 years)

Karen Heather Vousden, CBE, FRS, FRSE, FMedSci is a British medical researcher. She is known for her work on the tumour suppressor protein, p53, and in particular her discovery of the important regulatory role of Mdm2, an attractive target for anti-cancer agents. From 2003 to 2016, she was the director of the Cancer Research UK Beatson Institute in Glasgow, UK, moving back to London in 2016 to take up the role of Chief Scientist at CRUK and Group Leader at the Francis Crick Institute.

#1282

Morgan Carpenter

#11986

Overall Influence

1966 - Present (58 years)

Morgan Carpenter is a bioethicist, intersex activist and researcher. In 2013, he created an intersex flag, and became president of Intersex Human Rights Australia . He is now a co-executive director. In 2015, he cofounded a project to mark Intersex Awareness Day.

#1283

Richard B. Bernstein

#45101

Overall Influence

1956 - 2023 (67 years)

Richard B. Bernstein was an American constitutional historian, a distinguished adjunct professor of law at New York Law School, and lecturer in law and political science at the City College of New York's Skadden, Arps Honors Program in Legal Studies in its Colin Powell School for Civic and Global Leadership.

#1284

Ernst Hirsch Ballin

#49049

Overall Influence

1950 - Present (74 years)

Ernst Maurits Henricus Hirsch Ballin is a retired Dutch politician of the Christian Democratic Appeal party and jurist. After the election of 1989 Hirsch Ballin was appointed as Minister of Justice in the Cabinet Lubbers III, taking office on 7 November 1989. Hirsch Ballin was also appointed as Minister for Netherlands Antilles and Aruba Affairs, taking office on 14 November 1989. Hirsch Ballin served as acting Minister of the Interior from 10 January 1994 until 18 January 1994 following the death of Ien Dales. Hirsch Ballin was elected as a Member of the House of Representatives after the election of 1994, taking office on 17 May 1994.

#1285

Héctor Fix-Zamudio

#47522

Overall Influence

1924 - 2021 (97 years)

Héctor Fix-Zamudio was a Mexican jurist. Education Born in the downtown quarter of Mexico City, Fix-Zamudio studied law at the National Autonomous University of Mexico , where he earned his bachelor's degree in 1956 and his doctorate in 1972. He also received honorary doctoral degrees from the University of Seville , the University of Colima , the Universidad Externado de Colombia, the Pontifical Catholic University of Peru, the University of Puebla , the Complutense University of Madrid , Los Andes Peruvian University , and the Centro de Investigación y Desarrollo del Estado de Michoacán .

#1286

Robert Bourassa

#12720

Overall Influence

1933 - 1996 (63 years)

Robert Bourassa was a Canadian lawyer and politician who served as the 22nd premier of Quebec from 1970 to 1976 and from 1985 to 1994. A member of the Liberal Party of Quebec, he served a total of just under 15 years as premier. Bourassa's tenure was marked by major events affecting Quebec, including the October Crisis and the Meech Lake and Charlottetown Accords.

#1287

Jan Smits

#36962

Overall Influence

1967 - Present (57 years)

Jan M. Smits is a Dutch law professor. He is the dean of the faculty of law at Maastricht University, where he is also professor of European private law and director of the Maastricht European Private Law Institute. Furthermore, he is a visiting professor of comparative legal studies in the University of Helsinki.

#1288

Stephen B. Burbank

#41307

Overall Influence

Stephen B. Burbank is the David Berger Professor for the Administration of Justice at the University of Pennsylvania Law School. Education In 1964, Burbank graduated cum laude from the Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts, where he graduated as valedictorian.

#1289

Johan D. van der Vyver

#46648

Overall Influence

1934 - Present (90 years)

Johan D. van der Vyver was the I.T. Cohen Professor of International Law and Human Rights at Emory University School of Law in Atlanta, Georgia. Van der Vyver attended Potchefstroom University for Christian Higher Education, where he was classmates with F.W. de Klerk. He received a Doctor Legum, from University of Pretoria in 1974 and a Diploma of the International and Comparative Law of Human Rights of the International Institute of Human Rights in Strasbourg, France in 1986. He also has two honorary Doctor Legum degrees from the University of Zululand and the Potchefstroom University.

#1290

Fernando Carrillo Flórez

#40226

Overall Influence

1962 - Present (62 years)

Fernando Carrillo Flórez is a Pontifical Xavierian University educated lawyer and economist, with postgraduate studies from Harvard University. He served as Colombia's 11th Minister of the Interior from 2012 to 2013, and 55th Minister of Justice from 1991 to 1992.

#1291

Patrick Connors

#51576

Overall Influence

Patrick M. Connors is an American law professor and legal commentator. Education & Early career A graduate of Chaminade High School, Professor Connors earned a B.A. from Georgetown University in 1985 and a Juris Doctor from St. John's University School of Law in 1988. While at St. John's, Connors was a member of the editorial board of the St. John's Law Review and a research assistant to David D. Siegel.

#1292

Janet Benshoof

#37373

Overall Influence

1947 - 2017 (70 years)

Janet Benshoof was an American human rights lawyer and President and Founder of the Global Justice Center. She founded the Center for Reproductive Rights, the world's first international human rights organization focused on reproductive choice and equality.

#1293

Norman Bay

#50117

Overall Influence

1960 - Present (64 years)

Norman C. Bay is an American attorney. He is the former United States Attorney for the District of New Mexico. Bay was the first Chinese-American United States Attorney. Bay is the former chairman of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. He is currently a partner at the law firm of Willkie Farr & Gallagher.

#1294

Gaylord Nelson

#21552

Overall Influence

1916 - 2005 (89 years)

Gaylord Anton Nelson was an American politician from Wisconsin who served as a United States senator and governor. He was a member of the Democratic Party and the founder of Earth Day, which launched a new wave of environmental activism.

#1295

John Bell

#51362

Overall Influence

John Bell is Emeritus Professor of Law at the University of Cambridge and a Fellow of Pembroke College, Cambridge. He served as General Editor of the Cambridge Law Journal from 2010 to 2019. Prior to appointment to the Cambridge Chair in 2001, he was professor of law at the University of Leeds and fellow and tutor in law at Wadham College, Oxford .

#1296

Joseph Dellapenna

#33973

Overall Influence

1942 - Present (82 years)

Joseph William Dellapenna was a Professor of Law at Villanova University School of Law. He was born in Detroit. Academic Background Professor Dellapenna holds a B.B.A. earned at the University of Michigan in 1965, a J.D. cum laude from the Detroit College of Law earned in 1968, an LL.M. in Public International & Comparative Law from George Washington University completed in 1969 and an LL.M. in environmental law from Columbia University completed in 1974. Dellapenna has been admitted to practice as an attorney in Michigan and also for cases before the United States Supreme Court.

#1297

Marçal Justen Filho

#52878

Overall Influence

1955 - Present (69 years)

Marçal Justen Filho is a Brazilian attorney and Law professor. He was tenured professor at Federal University of Paraná Law School from 1978 to 2006. Marçal Justen Filho obtained his law degree from Federal University of Paraná Law School , having graduated at the top of his class. He figures in the restricted list of notable alumni of the institution.

#1298

Bobby Chesney

#45502

Overall Influence

1971 - Present (53 years)

Robert M. "Bobby" Chesney is an American lawyer and the Dean of the University of Texas School of Law. He is the Charles I. Francis Professor in Law and was the associate dean for academic affairs before becoming the dean. Chesney teaches courses relating to U.S. national security and constitutional law. He is also the director of the Strauss Center for International Security and Law. Chesney addresses issues involving national security and law, including matters relating to military detention, the use of force, terrorism-related prosecutions, the role of the courts in national security affairs and the relationship between military and intelligence community activities.

#1299

Vern Countryman

#57089

Overall Influence

1917 - 1999 (82 years)

Vernon Countryman , was a professor at Harvard Law School and social critic who was an expert on bankruptcy and commercial law. Early years and education Vern Countryman was born in Roundup, Montana. His father, Alexander Countryman, was the under sheriff of Musselshell County and his mother, Carrie Harriman, a homemaker. The family moved to Longview, Washington, where Vern excelled at high school athletics and was class president both his junior and senior years.

#1300

Richard Bierschbach

#58380

Overall Influence

Richard A. Bierschbach is dean and professor of law at Wayne State University Law School. He became Wayne Law's 12th dean on August 17, 2017. He previously taught at Yeshiva University Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law in New York, where he also served as vice dean.

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