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Charles R. Epp

Charles R. Epp

Associate Professor
Department of Public Administration
1541 Lilac Lane
318 Blake Hall
University of Kansas
Lawrence, KS 66045


(785) 832-9860 (home)
Fax: (785) 864-5208
chuckepp@ku.edu

EDUCATION:

  • Ph.D., Political Science, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1995
  • M.A., Political Science, University of Kansas, 1989
  • B.A., Philosophy, Bethel College, N. Newton, KS, 1984
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ACADEMIC APPOINTMENTS

  • 2000-April to date. Associate Professor, Department of Public Administration, University of Kansas
  • 1996-August to April 2000. Assistant Professor, Department of Public Administration, University of Kansas
  • 1994-August to July 1996. Assistant Professor, Department of Political Science, Indiana University
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PUBLICATIONS

Books:

  • Making Rights Real: Activists, Bureaucrats, and the Creation of the Legalistic State (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, forthcoming fall 2009).
  • The Rights Revolution: Lawyers, Activists and Supreme Courts in Comparative Perspective (Chicago: University of Chicago Press) (1998).
    • Review essays on book in: Law & Society Review, Law & Social Inquiry (twice)
      Reviewed in: American Political Science Review, Journal of Politics, American Journal of Sociology, Journal of American History, Canadian Journal of Political Science, Law & Politics Book Review, Social and Legal Studies, South African Journal of Human Rights, Perspectives on Political Science, Indian Economic and Social History Review, Chicago Bar Association Record, International Criminal Justice Review

Current projects:

  • Pulled Over: How Race Matters in Traffic Law Enforcement (draft book manuscript under development with co-authors Steven Maynard-Moody and Don Haider-Markel).

Articles:

  • "The Role of Tort Lawsuits in Reconstructing the Issue of Police Abuse in the United Kingdom," in Michael McCann and David M. Engel, eds., The Cultural Foundations of Tort Law. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2009.
  • "Implementing the Rights Revolution: Repeat Players and the Interpretation of Diffuse Legal Messages," Law & Contemporary Problems, 71(2):41-52 (2008).
  • "Law as an Instrument of Social Reform," in Keith Whittington, Gregory Caldeira, and Daniel Keleman, eds., Oxford Handbook of Law and Politics.  New York: Oxford University Press, 2008.
  • "Courts and the Rights Revolution," in Kermit Hall and Kevin McGuire, eds., Institutions of American Democracy: The Judicial Branch. Oxford University Press (2005).
  • "The Judge Over Your Shoulder: The Complex Evidence of European-American Convergence," Law & Social Inquiry 28:743-70 (2003) (Review essay on Robert Kagan, Adversarial Legalism: The American Way of Law, Harvard University Press).
  • "Supreme Courts," in International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences, Neil J. Smelser and Paul B. Baltes, eds., (Oxford, U.K.: Elsevier) (forthcoming).
  • "The Kansas Legal System," in Legal Systems of the World (Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO) (2002).
  • "Agenda Formation on a Policy Active Supreme Court," in Constitutional Courts in Comparison: The U.S. Supreme Court and the German Federal Constitutional Court, eds. Ralf Rogowski and Thomas Gawron. Oxford: Berghan Books (with Joel B. Grossman) (2001).
  • "Exploring the Costs of Administrative Legalization: City Expenditures on Legal Services, 1960-1995," Law & Society Review 34:407 (2000).
  • "The Two Motifs in Galanter’s ‘Why the Haves Come Out Ahead’," Law & Society Review 33:1089 (1999).
  • "External Pressure and the Supreme Court’s Agenda," in Institutional Approaches to Supreme Court Decision-Making, ed. Cornell Clayton and Howard Gillman (Chicago: University of Chicago Press) (1999).
  • "Do Bills of Rights Matter? The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms," American Political Science Review 90:765-779 (1996).
    • ("Do Bills of Rights Matter? The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms," excerpted in Law, Politics and the Judicial Process in Canada, 3rd ed. F.L. Morton, Ed., Calgary, Alberta: University of Calgary Press, 2002.)
  • "Law Student Idealism and Job Choice," Law & Society Review 30: 851-864 (1996), (with Howard S. Erlanger, Mia Cahill, and Kathleen M. Beisel).
  • "Judicial Systems" in Seymour Martin Lipset, ed., Encyclopedia of Democracy. Washington, DC: CQ Press, 1995 (with Joel B. Grossman).
  • "Do Lawyers Impair Economic Growth?" Law & Social Inquiry 17:585-623 (1992)
  • "Toward New Research on Lawyers and the Economy" Law & Social Inquiry 17:692-711 (1992).
  • "Connecting Litigation Levels and Legal Mobilization: Explaining Interstate Variation in Employment Civil Rights Litigation," Law & Society Review 24:145-163, 1990.

Public Service Publications:

  • "A Beginner's Guide to the Litigation Maze," Business Economics 27(4):33-38 (October, 1992) (with Marc Galanter).
  • "Let's Not Kill All the Lawyers," Counterpoint column, Wall Street Journal, July 9, 1992 (with Marc Galanter).
  • "The Reality of Rights in an 'Atolerant' Society," This Constitution 19:20-28, 1991 (with Joel B. Grossman).

Book reviews:

  • Unequal Under Law: Race in the War on Drugs. By Doris Marie Provine.  Chicago: University of Chicago Press.  In Law & Politics Book Review, Vol. 19 No. 2 (February, 2009) pp.151-154.
  • Beyond the First Amendment: The Politics of Free Speech and Pluralism. By Samuel P. Nelson. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press. Perspectives on Politics 4(4): 761-62, December 2006.
  • Success Without Victory: Lost Legal Battles and the Long Road to Justice in America, by Jules Lobel. New York: New York University Press, 2003. In Law & Politics Book Review Vol. 14, No. 10 (October, 2004), pp. 816-818.
  • Adversarial Legalism: The American Way of Law, by Robert Kagan. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2001. In Law & Politics Book Review Vol. 12 No. 1 (January 2002) pp. 42-45.
  • Judging Jehovah’s Witnesses: Religious Persecution and the Dawn of the Rights Revolution, by Shawn Francis Peters. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas. Journal of American History 88:702 (2001).
  • The Common Place of Law: Stories From Everyday Life by Patricia Ewick and Susan S. Silbey, Chicago: University of Chicago Press, in Law & Politics Book Review, Vol. 10 No. 1 (January 2000) pp. 24-26.
  • The Rights Revolution: Rights and Community in Modern America by Samuel Walker, New York: Oxford University Press, in Law & Politics Book Review, Vol. 9 No. 2 (February 1999) pp. 85-87.
  • Housing Homeless Persons: Administrative Law and Process by Ian Loveland (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1995), in Law and Politics Book Review, Vol. 8 No. 3 (March 1998) pp. 117-119.
  • Federalism and the Environment: Environmental Policymaking in Australia, Canada, and the United States, ed. by Kenneth M. Holland, F.L. Morton, and Brian Galligan, Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1996, in Politics and the Life Sciences, March 1998, 85-87.
  • The United Kingdom Confronts the European Convention on Human Rights by Donald W. Jackson (Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 1997), in Law & Politics Book Review, Vol. 7 No. 6 (June 1997) pp. 266-268.
  • The Meaning of Democracy and the Vulnerability of Democracies: A Response to Tocqueville’s Challenge by Vincent Ostrom (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1997), in Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory 7:333-36 (1997).
  • Reclaiming the Federal Courts by Larry W. Yackle (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1994) in American Political Science Review 89: 504 (1995).
  • Courts, Politics and the Judicial Process by Christopher E. Smith (Chicago: Nelson-Hall, 1993), in The Law & Politics Book Review, Vol. 5, No. 3 (March 1995).
  • Rights at Work: Pay Equity Reform and the Politics of Legal Mobilization by Michael W. McCann (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1994), in The Law & Politics Book Review, Vol. 4, No. 9 (Sept. 1994).
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HONORS

  • Kemper Teaching Award, University of Kansas, 2007.
  • Excellence in Teaching Award, K.U. Center for Teaching Excellence (selected by Public Administration graduate students, spring 2001.
  • C. Herman Pritchett Award of the Law and Courts Section, American Political Science Association, for best book on law and courts in 1998.
  • Edward S. Corwin Award of the American Political Science Association for best doctoral dissertation in the area of public law, 1996
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FUNDED RESEARCH & FELLOWSHIPS

  • Principal Investigator (on behalf of PhD student Shannon Portillo), "Doctoral Dissertation Research: The Face of the State: The Influence of Social Status on the Mobilization of Authority," National Science Foundation, $7997 (SES 0715298).
  • Principal Investigator, "Reconstructing Law on the Street: The Influence of Citizen Characteristics on Traffic Law Enforcement,"National Science Foundation, 2002-03, $188,393 (with co-investigators Steven Maynard-Moody and Donald Haider-Markel).
  • Principal Investigator, Administrative Legalization: Sources and Consequences in American Cities, National Science Foundation, 1999-2001 (SES 9905189, $127,237).
  • Principal Investigator, Litigation Against Local Governments, General Research Fund Faculty Grant, University of Kansas, 1998
  • Principal Investigator, Litigation Against Local Governments, New Faculty Fellowship, University of Kansas, 1997
  • Summer Faculty Fellowship, Indiana University, 1995
  • Co-Investigator (with Joel B. Grossman, director), Constitutional Courts and the Rights Agenda in Comparative Perspective, National Science Foundation Dissertation Research Grant, 1993-94 (#SES9225087, $12,000)
  • Canadian Government Dissertation Research Grant, 1993
  • University Dissertation Fellowship, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1992-93
  • Legal Studies Fellowship, Institute for Legal Studies, University of Wisconsin Law School, 1991-1992
  • Ogg Fellowship, Department of Political Science, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1990
  • University Summer Research Fellowship, University of Kansas, 1987, 1988
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INVITED PRESENTATIONS:

  • Ohio University, Department of Political Science, 43rd annual James Lecturer, April 2008.
  • University of Connecticut, Department of Political Science, March 2007.
  • New York University, Institute for Law & Society, October 2000.
  • Wichita State University, Department of Political Science, April 2000.
  • New York University, Institute for Law & Society, February 2000.
  • Ohio State University, Institute for Law & Policy, September 1999.
  • Ohio University, Contemporary History Institute, September 1999.
  • Johns Hopkins University, Department of Political Science, December 1998.
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CONFERENCE PARTICIPATION

  • "The Liability Revolution and Administrative Legalization," paper presented at the Law & Society Association annual conference, Montreal, Quebec, May 29-June 1, 2008.
  • Discussant, panel on Regulating Government, Law & Society Association annual conference, Montreal, Quebec, May 29-June1, 2008.
  • Chair, panel on Legal Liberalism and Counter-Mobilization after the 1960s, American Political Science Association annual conference, Chicago, IL, Aug. 30-Sept. 2, 2007.
  • Chair, panel on Law, Legal Networks, and Bureaucracies, Law & Society Association annual conference, Berlin, Germany, July 25-28, 2007.
  • "Institutions, Legal Mobilization, and the Bureaucratic Response to Law," paper presented at the Law & Society Association annual conference, Berlin, Germany, July 25-28, 2007.
  • "The Evolving Construction of Legal Liability in Professional Publications: The Case of Policing," Paper presented at the Law & Society Association annual conference, Baltimore, MD, July 6-9, 2006.
  • "Racial Profiling: Drivers' Stories of Traffic Stops," Prepared for presentation at the annual conference of the Law & Society Association, Baltimore, MD, July 6-9, 2006 (with Steven Maynard-Moody, Donald Haider-Markel, and Shannon Portillo).
  • "The Role of Tort Lawsuits in Reconstructing the Issue of Police Abuse in the United Kingdom," paper presented at the conference Cultural Foundations of Tort Law, Sturm College of Law, University of Denver, April 6-7, 2006.
  • "Managing Rights in the Shadow of Tort Law: Administrative Policies on Police Brutality, Playground Safety, and Sex Harassment," paper presented at the conference on "The Intersection of Rights and Regulation: New Directions in Socio-Legal Scholarship," Oxford, England, July 1-4, 2005.
  • "Assessing Racial Disparities in Traffic Stop Outcomes Using a Citizen Survey Approach," Charles Epp, Steven Maynard-Moody and Don Haider-Markel, paper presented at the annual meeting of the Law & Society Association, Las Vegas, NV, June 3-5, 2005.
  • "Reconstructing Law on the Street: The Influence of Citizen Characteristics on Traffic Law Enforcement," Charles Epp, Steven Maynard-Moody, and Don Haider-Markel, paper presented at the annual meeting of the Law & Society Association, Chicago, IL, May 27-30, 2004.
  • Discussant, panel on Gender and Law, Dickinson Conference on Law & Legal Rights in China, Dickinson College, Carlisle, PA, March 2004.
  • "Legal Liability as a Form of Regulation: A Comparison of Police, Playgrounds, and Personnel," paper presented at the 2002 annual meeting of the American Political Science Association, Aug. 28-Sept. 1, 2002.
  • "The Judge Over Your Shoulder: The Complex Evidence of European-American Convergence," paper presented at the 2002 annual meeting of the Law & Society Association, May 30-June 2, 2002.
  • "Do Rights Matter? The Impact of Legal Liability on Administrative Policies," paper presented at the 2001 annual meeting of the American Political Science Association, Aug. 29-Sep. 2, 2001.
  • "The Fear of Being Sued: Variations in Perceptions of Legal Threat Among Managers in the United States," paper presented at the 2001 annual meeting of the Law & Society Association, Budapest, Hungary, July 3-7.
  • Discussant, panel on the public reaction to the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Bush v. Gore, 2001 annual meeting of the Law & Society Association, Budapest, Hungary, July 3-7.
  • Chair and discussant, panel on "Litigation as a Strategy for Change in Different State Settings," annual meeting of the Law & Society Association, Miami Beach, FL, 2000.
  • Chair and discussant, panel on "Understanding Rights in Constitutional Interpretation," annual meeting of the Law & Society Association, Miami Beach, FL, 2000.
  • Co-coordinator, session on publishing research, for the Graduate Student Workshop, annual meeting of the Law & Society Association, Miami Beach, FL, 2000.
  • Chair, book round on The Rights Revolution: Lawyers, Activists, and Supreme Courts in Comparative Perspective, annual meeting of the Law & Society Association, Miami Beach, FL, 2000.
  • "Exploring the Costs of Administrative Legalization: City Expenditures on Legal Services, 1960-1995," paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Political Science Association, Atlanta, GA, 1999.
  • Participant, Roundtable Discussion on "Inside the Black Box: Understanding Institutions," 1999 annual meeting of the Law & Society Association, Chicago, IL.
  • "Judicial Activism: What is It?", paper presented at the 1999 annual meeting of the Law & Society Association, Chicago, IL (with Joel B. Grossman).
  • "Regulating the ‘Litigious Society’? The Effects of Liability Laws on City Legal Expenditures," paper presented at the 1998 annual meeting of the American Political Science Association, Boston, MA.
  • "Litigation Stories: Official Perceptions of Lawsuits Against Local Governments," paper presented at the 1998 annual meeting of the Law & Society Association, Snowmass, CO.
  • Discussant, panel on Comparative Perspectives on Courts, 1998 annual meeting of the Law & Society Association, Snowmass, CO.
  • "Litigation Against Local Governments: Expenditures on Legal Services, 1960-1995," paper presented at the 1997 annual meeting of the American Political Science Association, Washington, D.C.
  • "Litigation and Local Government Accountability," paper presented at the 1997 annual meeting of the Law and Society Association, St. Louis.
  • Discussant, panel on The Second Presidency, 1997 Annual Meeting of the Midwest Political Science Association, Chicago.
  • "Civil Society, Democracy and the Indian Supreme Court," paper presented at the 1996 annual meeting of the American Political Science Association, San Francisco.
  • "External Pressure and the U.S. Supreme Court's Agenda," paper presented at the 1995 Annual Meeting of the American Political Science Association, Chicago.
  • Discussant, panel on Legal Mobilization and Social Reform, 1995 Annual Meeting of the Law & Society Association, Toronto.
  • Discussant, panel on Author Meets Readers: W.A. Bogart's Courts and Country (Oxford University Press), 1995 Annual Meeting of the Law & Society Association, Toronto.
  • "The Sources of Growth in the Canadian Supreme Court's Rights Agenda," paper presented at the 1995 Annual Meeting of the Law & Society Association, Toronto.
  • Chair and discussant, panel on Comparative Studies of Judicial Behavior, 1995 Annual Meeting of the Midwest Political Science Association, Chicago, Ill.
  • "The Development of a Rights Agenda in the British House of Lords," paper presented at the 1994 Annual Meeting of the Midwest Political Science Association, Chicago, Ill.
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COURSES TAUGHT

  • Law, Politics, and Society (introductory undergraduate)
  • Introduction to Public Administration (advanced undergraduate)
  • American Constitutional Law: Government Powers (advanced undergraduate)
  • American Constitutional Law: Civil Rights and Liberties (advanced undergraduate)
  • American Political Thought (advanced undergraduate)
  • Judicial Politics (advanced undergraduate)
  • Concepts of Civil Society (advanced undergraduate)
  • Law and the Administration of Justice (advanced undergraduate)
  • Law and Public Management (graduate)
  • Law, Courts and Public Policy (graduate)
  • Role, Context and Ethics of Public Administration (graduate)
  • Public Law (graduate)
  • Constitutional Foundations of Public Administration & the Administrative State (graduate)
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PROFESSIONAL MEMBERSHIPS, ACTIVITIES, AND SERVICE:

Professional association memberships:

  • Member, American Society for Public Administration
  • Member, American Political Science Association
  • Member, Law and Society Association
  • Member, Midwest Political Science Association

Service as manuscript/grant proposal reviewer:

  • Presses: University of Chicago Press, Princeton University Press, Cambridge University Press, University of California Press, Stanford University Press, University of Michigan Press
  • Journals: American Political Science Review; American Politics Quarterly; American Journal of Political Science; American Journal of Sociology; Canadian Journal of Political Science; Comparative Political Studies; Journal of Politics; Law & Society Review; Law & Social Inquiry; Political Research Quarterly; Social Science Quarterly
  • Grant proposals: National Science Foundation Section on Law and Social Science, and Section on Political Science; Social Science Research Council of Canada; Economic and Social Research Council (U.K.)

Editorial boards & trustees:

  • Editorial Advisory Board, Law & Society Review, 2005- Current
  • Editorial Board, University Press of Kansas, 2003-Current
  • Board of Trustees, Law & Society Association, 2001-2003
  • Editorial board, Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory
  • Editorial board, Law and Courts Newsletter (Law and Courts Section of the APSA)
  • Editorial board, Law and Politics Book Review (electronic review service)

Other national and international service:

  • Member, Best Article Award Committee, American Political Science Association Section on Law and Courts, 2009
  • Member, Diversity Committee, Law & Society Association, 2007-
  • Member, Summer Institute Planning Committee, Law & Society Association, 2005-07
  • Member, Edward S. Corwin Award Committee, Law & Courts Section of the American Political Science Association, 2004-05
  • Member, Executive Committee, Law & Courts Section of the American Political Science Association, 2004-06
  • Chair, Nominations Committee, Law & Society Association, 2004-05
  • Member, Lifetime Achievement Award committee, Law & Courts Section, American Political Science Association, 2004-05.
  • Chair, Editor Search Committee, Law & Politics Book Review, 2002
  • Editor Search Committee, Law & Society Review, 2002

  • Best dissertation award committee, Law & Society Association, 2000

University service: (selected)

  • PhD Director, Department of Public Administration, 2007-
  • Center for Teaching Excellence faculty board (TEAM), 2006-08
  • University Committee on Distinguished Professorships, 2006-08
  • Faculty Council Task Force on Classified Research, 2005-06
  • Research and Graduate Studies Committee for New Program Approval, 2008-
  • Office of International Programs Dean’s Advisory Committee, 2005-07
  • Provost’s Research and Scholarship Committee, 2004-05
  • Faculty Council, University of Kansas, 2003-06
  • University Committee on Promotion and Tenure, University of Kansas, 2000-03
  • Graduate Studies Committee, Division of Government, University of Kansas, 1996-2002

  • Committee on the Budget, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, University of Kansas, 1998-2001

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