J. Shahar Dillbary

Biographical Sketch

Professor Dillbary is an award-winning scholar and teacher and the Associate Dean for Faculty Research. His research spans disciplines and methodologies and includes theoretical, empirical, and experimental work in torts, antitrust, and the intersections of law, economics, social norms, and psychology. Professor Dillbary also holds a joint appointment in the Department of Economics in George Mason University’s College of Humanities and Social Sciences and is an affiliate of the Interdisciplinary Center for Economic Science (ICES).

Professor Dillbary’s scholarship has been published in leading law reviews, including the University of Chicago Law Review (twice), Northwestern University Law Review, Washington University Law Review, Boston College Law Review, Indiana Law Journal, Washington and Lee Law Review, and Cardozo Law Review. His work has also appeared in leading peer-reviewed journals, including the Journal of Institutional and Theoretical Economics and the International Review of Law and Economics. His empirical and theoretical scholarship in torts and intellectual property has been cited by the Vermont Supreme Court and the Supreme Court of Israel, as well as by leading treatises, and has been featured on JOTWELL and the Harvard Law School blog.

In 2021, Professor Dillbary and his co-author, Professor Edward Griffin, received the Dukeminier Awards’ Stu Walter Prize for their article, “An Empirical Analysis of Sexual Orientation Discrimination,” 86 U. Chi. L. Rev. 1 (2019), which documented race, gender, and sexual-orientation discrimination in mortgage lending. The Dukeminier Awards are bestowed annually by the Williams Institute at UCLA School of Law to recognize outstanding achievements in legal scholarship. Professor Dillbary is also the co-author, with William Landes of the University of Chicago, of Law and Economics: Theory, Cases and Other Materials, published by Aspen in 2022.

Professor Dillbary received his B.A. in Economics and LL.B. in Law, summa cum laude, from Bar-Ilan University in Israel. He earned his LL.M., and J.S.D. from the University of Chicago, where he was a Fulbright Scholar and a John M. Olin Scholar in Law and Economics.

Before joining George Mason University’s Antonin Scalia Law School in 2023, Professor Dillbary held an endowed professorship at the University of Alabama School of Law, where he was the James M. Kidd, Sr. Professor of Law and Director of the Cross-Disciplinary Legal Studies Program. He also held a joint appointment at the Culverhouse College of Commerce and Business Administration and was a member of the graduate faculty.

Before entering academia, Professor Dillbary practiced law in the New York office of Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP, where he represented and advised clients on a broad range of antitrust and intellectual property matters, including horizontal and vertical arrangements, joint ventures, mergers and acquisitions, patent pools, and standard setting. His practice also included false advertising and unfair competition matters. Professor Dillbary is also admitted to the Israeli Bar. In Israel, he practiced at S. Horowitz & Co. and at Meitar, where his practice focused on complex commercial litigation. He also advised private and public companies on matters including shareholder disputes, bankruptcy proceedings, trademarks, and privacy.

Drawing on his substantive expertise and legal experience, Professor Dillbary also mediates business, tort, family, divorce, and domestic-relations disputes. He is registered on the Alabama State Court Mediator Roster and has provided pro bono mediation services, including in conjunction with the University of Alabama School of Law Mediation Clinic.

Professor Dillbary has taught, presented, lectured, and advised audiences throughout North America, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and Asia. He has received numerous awards for teaching, scholarship, and service, including the Outstanding Faculty Member Award (2010), the Commitment to Academic Excellence Award (2011), and, twice, the Dean Thomas W. Christopher Award (2012 and 2013), recognizing lasting contributions to legal education and the University of Alabama School of Law, outstanding scholarly achievement, and distinguished service. In special recognition of his research and scholarly accomplishments, he was named Dean’s Scholar for 2013–2016.