Notre Dame Law Professor Avishalom Tor awarded Honorary Doctorate by University of Lucerne for pioneering behavioral-legal research
Notre Dame Law School Professor Avishalom Tor has been awarded a Doctor of Law honoris causa (LL.D. (h.c.)) by the Faculty of Law at the University of Lucerne in recognition of his exceptional contributions to the field of behavioral-legal research.
The conferral took place on November 7 during the University of Lucerne's Dies Academicus and was preceded by a public lecture by Professor Tor on November 6, titled “Disciplining the Behavioral Regulatory State.” This Honorary Doctorate award stated that: “As a legal scholar, Avishalom Tor has made great contributions to the fields of competition law and market regulation. His research is based on theoretical and empirical methods and lies at the intersection of behavioral economics and law.” The award also honors the longstanding collaboration between the University of Lucerne and Notre Dame Law School that Professor Tor helped establish and develop for over a decade.
"Professor Avishalom Tor’s innovative research at the intersection of law, economics, and behavioral science has profoundly advanced our understanding of how psychological insights can shape legal frameworks. This Honorary Doctorate from the University of Lucerne is a well-deserved recognition of his exceptional contributions to the field. We are proud to have him on our Notre Dame Law School faculty, where his work continues to make a significant impact,” said G. Marcus Cole, the Joseph A. Matson Dean and Professor of Law.
Professor Tor’s behavioral-legal research combines theoretical, empirical, and experimental methods to explore key issues in the areas of competition and cooperation, behavioral policy-making and regulation, and the methodology of behavioral law and economics. He is the director of Notre Dame Law School's Program on Law and Economics as well as the research program on Law and Market Behavior (ND LAMB) and teaches a variety of courses in the areas of antitrust, corporate law, law and economics, and behavioral law and economics.
Professor Tor received his first law degree and a degree in psychology from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem (LL.B. & B.A. 1996), and a masters degree and a doctorate from Harvard Law School (LL.M. 1998, S.J.D. 2003). He has published over thirty articles in top journals across the disciplines of law, psychology, decision-making, and public policy, such as Michigan Law Review, Duke Law Journal, Texas Law Review, Antitrust Law Journal, Journal of Empirical Legal Studies, Review of Law and Economics, Psychological Science, Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Cognitive, Affective, and Behavioral Neuroscience, and Behavioral Public Policy, among others. Professor Tor has also published a dozen academic book chapters and edited or co-edited ten academic volumes, including most recently Law and Economics of Justice: Efficiency, Reciprocity, Meritocracy (Springer Nature, 2024) and Oxford Handbook on the Psychology of Competition (2024, Oxford University Press).
He has been a frequent Visiting Professor in Europe (including University of Bonn, Bucerius Law School, St. Gallen Law School, University of Lucerne, and University of Louvain) and Israel (Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Tel Aviv University, and University of Haifa). He advised the U.S. Federal Trade Commissioner Pamela Jones Harbour on antitrust law and economics (FTC, 2003-2005), was Secretary and Management Board member of the European Association of Law and Economics (EALE, 2008-14), and is a founding Board Member of the International Behavioural Public Policy Association (IBPPA, 2022-), as well as a board member at a number of other institutes and research centers in the U.S. and Europe.
Professor Tor’s research has won a number of domestic and international grants, prizes, and awards, prior to receiving his LL.D. (h.c.). Most recently, he was the first legal scholar selected as a Distinguished Fellow at the Notre Dame Institute for Advanced Study (2019) and won a highly competitive fellowship at the Israel Institute of Advanced Studies (2021-22). His work has been widely covered by major international media outlets, including The Economist, The Wall Street Journal, The Boston Globe, and U.S. News & World Report.