Dr. Sophia Lee

Biography

Dean Sophia Z. Lee is a prominent legal historian and an award-winning teacher at Penn Carey Law. Her scholarship is primarily focused on administrative constitutional law, utilizing historical context to shed light on legal principles and their evolution. She was a pioneer in the study of 'administrative constitutionalism,' which explores the role of administrative agencies in shaping constitutional law. Lee's notable work includes her 2014 book, 'The Workplace Constitution from the New Deal to the New Right,' which investigates the roots of the rights-based strand of the conservative legal movement that emerged in the postwar era. Furthermore, her research into civil rights lawyering has generated significant interest in the intersection of administrative law and racial justice movements. Dean Lee has received multiple awards for her excellence in teaching, including the Harvey Levin, Leo Levin, and Robert Gorman awards at Penn Carey Law. Her courses encompass Administrative Law, Employment Law, and seminars on racial justice movements and constitutional history. Lee's career trajectory has been unconventional, initially earning degrees in sociology and social work at U.C. Berkeley before pursuing a JD and PhD in history at Yale University. She has held various leadership roles in legal history associations and served as Deputy Dean at Penn Carey Law. Dean Lee joined the faculty in 2009 as an Assistant Professor of Law and has been influential in broadening access to legal education.

Research Interests

Experience