Faculty Bio
Contact Information
Online Resources
Assistant
Laurence Claus
Professor of Law
- DPhil, 1998, University of Oxford
- LLB, 1991, University of Queensland
- BEcon, 1987, University of Queensland
Areas of Expertise
Professor Claus teaches constitutional law, comparative constitutional law, and contracts. He writes about public law and legal theory.
Professional Experience
Claus clerked for distinguished jurists in his native Australia and for the Honorable Frank H. Easterbrook of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit. He served for three years at the U.S. Embassy in London for the Office of Foreign Litigation, U.S. Department of Justice.
Honors and Affiliations
Claus was awarded USD’s highest academic honor, the University Professorship, in 2013-14. He received Herzog Endowed Scholar Award in 2007 and 2011, and won USD’s Thorsnes Prize for Outstanding Legal Scholarship in 2008.
Key Works
Claus’ publications include Law’s Evolution and Human Understanding (Oxford University Press, 2012); "The Empty Idea of Authority" in 2009 University of Illinois Law Review 1301 (2009); "The One Court That Congress Cannot Take Away: Singularity Supremacy, and Article III" in 96 Georgetown Law Journal 59 (2007); and "Montesquieu’s Mistakes and the True Meaning of Separation" in 25 Oxford Journal of Legal Studies 419 (2005).
