Brooklyn Law Shines in Top 100 Legal Scholars Ranking

A unique new study that looks at the scholarly impact of recently published work has named two Brooklyn Law School professors as among the Top 100 Legal Scholars of 2024: Les Fagen Professor of Law Alice Ristroph and Professor of Law and Associate Dean for Research and Scholarship Jocelyn Simonson.

The study, designed by two researchers from the Antonin Scalia Law School at George Mason University, stands out for putting the focus on the scholarly impact of recently published work. By focusing on the citation of only scholarship that was published from 2018 through 2020, rather than on a scholars’ entire body of work, the study authors Rob Willey and Melanie Knapp endeavored “to better identify who is currently writing the most impactful articles, rather than who has had the longest career,” with the specific goal of “identifying today’s top scholars.”

Under this methodology, Simonson is ranked #63 and Ristroph is ranked #84 among all legal scholars nationwide.

In addition, the study included for the first time a new ranking of law schools based on the number of faculty appearing on the Top 100 list. Brooklyn Law School, with two scholars on the list, was tied for 6th place in the nation.

“Following on our continuing rise in the Sisk scholarly impact ranking to #29 in the country, this is yet more evidence of the extraordinary strength of our faculty,” said President and Joseph Crea Dean David D. Meyer. “Hearty congratulations to Jocelyn and Alice—and to Brooklyn Law School for our good fortune in having them on our faculty.”

The Sisk study, which examines which legal scholars have had their work cited the most by their peers in law review articles, also named both Simonson and Ristroph among the school’s top 10 most-cited professors.

Ristroph, who joined the Law School’s faculty in 2017, is a leading theorist of criminal justice and constitutional law who has published more than three dozen articles, essays, and book chapters in many of the country’s leading venues, including the California Law Review, Columbia Law Review, Northwestern University Law Review, UCLA Law Review, and Yale Law Journal. She is the author of a free, open-access textbook, Criminal Law: An Integrated Approach. Last fall, Ristroph became the inaugural Les Fagen Professor of Law at Brooklyn Law School at an investiture ceremony.

“This recognition only reinforces my sense of good fortune to have joined this particular scholarly community,” Ristroph said. “This study is focused specifically on the impact of articles published in 2018, 2019, and 2020. Those were my first three full years on the BLS faculty, and I felt the energy right away!”

Simonson, who joined the Law School’s faculty in 2015, is the author of Radical Acts of Justice: How Ordinary People are Dismantling Incarceration, published with the New Press in August 2023. Her scholarship explores ways in which the public participates in the criminal justice process and in the institutions of local governance that control policing and punishment. Her most recent law review articles have appeared in the Stanford Law Review, Harvard Law Review, Yale Law Journal, Columbia Law Review, California Law Review, and Michigan Law Review.

Simonson concentrates on innovations inside of the classroom too, including through the Rethinking Justice program, which is led by the Center for Criminal Justice, where she is one of the co-directors.

“I’m grateful for this recognition, and especially happy to be listed alongside the brilliant Alice Ristroph,” said Simonson.