Photo of Eduardo Peñalver

Eduardo M. Peñalver

University President and Professor of Law

 Administration Building 109

 206-296-1891

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Curriculum Vitae

AREAS OF EXPERTISE

  • Property
  • Land use
  • Law and religion

EDUCATION

  • JD, Yale Law School, 1999
  • MA, Philosophy and Theology, University of Oxford, Oriel College, 1996, with first-class honors
  • BA, Cornell University, magna cum laude with distinction in all subjects

Biography

Eduardo M. Peñalver became the President of Seattle University on July 1, 2021. From 2014 until 2021, he served as the Dean of Cornell Law School.

Professor Peñalver’s legal scholarship focuses on property and land use, as well as law and religion. His work explores the way in which the law mediates the interests of individuals and communities. His writing on property has appeared in numerous leading law journals. His book, Property Outlaws (co-authored with Sonia Katyal), published by Yale University Press in February 2010, explores the vital role of disobedience within the evolution of property law. His most recent book, An Introduction to Property Theory (co-authored with Gregory Alexander), was published by Cambridge University Press in 2011.

Professor Peñalver received his B.A. from Cornell University and his J.D. from Yale Law School. Between college and law school, he studied philosophy and theology as a Rhodes Scholar at Oriel College, Oxford. Upon completing law school, he clerked for Judge Guido Calabresi of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, and at the Supreme Court for Justice John Paul Stevens.

Professor Peñalver previously served as the John P. Wilson Professor of Law at the University of Chicago Law School (2012-2014) and taught at Cornell Law School (2006-2012) and at Fordham Law School (2003-2006). He has also been a visiting professor at Harvard Law School and Yale Law School.

Publications

Selected Publications

  • PROPERTY LAW: RULES, POLICIES, AND PRACTICES (8th ed., Wolters Kluwer 2021) (with Joseph William Singer, Bethany Berger, & Nestor Davidson).
  • Exactions Creep, 2013 S. CT. REV. 287 (2014).
  • The Right Not to Use in Patent and Property Law, 98 CORNELL L. REV. 1437 (2013) (with Oskar Liivak).
  • An Introduction to Property Theory, in CAMBRIDGE INTRODUCTIONS TO PHILOSOPHY AND LAW, (Cambridge Univ. Press, 2012) (with Gregory S. Alexander).
  • PROPERTY OUTLAWS: HOW SQUATTERS, PIRATES, AND PROTESTERS IMPROVE THE LAW OF OWNERSHIP (Yale Univ. Press, 2010) (with Sonia K. Katyal).
  • The Illusory Right to Abandon, 109 MICH. L. REV. 191 (2010).