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Joanna M. Shepherd is the Thomas Simmons Professor of Law at Emory University School of Law. She currently serves as Vice Dean, a position she held from 2020-2023 and resumed in summer 2024. In addition to her law school appointment, she serves as an adjunct professor in the Emory Department of Economics. Her academic career includes prior positions as an assistant professor of Economics at Clemson University and work at the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta.
Professor Shepherd is a nationally-recognized expert in several key areas:
- Law and Economics
- Judicial Behavior
- Tort Reform
- Judicial Elections
- Empirical Legal Studies
- Health Policy
Her research spans judicial elections, pharmaceutical pricing, and tort law, combining rigorous economic analysis with legal scholarship. She has published extensively in top journals including Stanford Law Review, Michigan Law Review, and The Journal of Legal Studies. Her co-authored book "Free to Judge: The Power of Campaign Money in Judicial Elections" (2023) has become influential in understanding judicial election dynamics.
Professor Shepherd's empirical approach has generated significant real-world impact. Her work has been cited by the U.S. Supreme Court in Glossip v. Gross (2015) and Williams-Yulee v. Florida Bar (2015), and she has testified before multiple congressional committees on pharmaceutical pricing and tort law. Her research on federal judicial appointments analyzing professional backgrounds has contributed to current debates about judicial diversity.
Her scholarship has received widespread media attention in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, and appearances on NPR, CNN, BBC, and Last Week Tonight with John Oliver. She frequently teaches economics courses to law professors and judges, bridging the gap between economic theory and legal practice.
