University of Georgia
School of Law
209 Hirsch Hall
Athens, GA 30602
United States
B.S., University of South Carolina
Ph.D., Texas A&M University
J.D., Stanford University
Property
Legislation and Regulation
Land Use
Regulation of Information
Modern American Legal Theory
Undergraduate Courses (PDF)
Christian Turner joined the University of Georgia School of Law in 2007 as an assistant professor and was promoted to associate professor with tenure in 2013. His areas of interest are legal theory, jurisprudence, the public-private distinction, legal institutions, law and cognition, property law, natural resources law, and the regulation of knowledge and information.
He came to UGA from the Fordham University School of Law, where he was a visiting assistant professor. Previously, he served as an associate at the Wiggin and Dana law firm in Connecticut and as a judicial clerk for Judge Guido Calabresi of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit. Turner also interned at the White House Council on Environmental Quality in 2000.
His scholarship focuses on legal foundations and institutions. Turner's publications include "Models of Law" in the Illinois Law Review and "Law's Public/Private Structure" in the Florida State Law Review. He has created courses and corresponding course materials, which are publicly available, in Modern American Legal Theory, Foundations of American Law (an undergraduate course), Legislation and Regulation, Property, and Land Use. Turner and his colleague, Joe Miller, also produce a long-running podcast on law and legal theory, Oral Argument.
Turner graduated magna cum laude from the University of South Carolina with a B.S. in mathematics in 1993, where he was named Mathematics Undergraduate of the Year. He earned his Ph.D. from Texas A&M University in 1999 before graduating from Stanford University with a J.D. in 2002. At Stanford, Turner served as president of the Stanford Law Review and was inducted into the Order of the Coif.
ARTICLES
The Nature of Standing, 29 Wm. & Mary Bill of Rts. J. 67 (2020) (with M. Hall).
The Gun Subsidy, 68 Buff. L. Rev. 1117 (2020) (with J. Van Orsdol).
The Segregation of Markets, 7 Tex. A&M L. Rev. 299 (2020).
Models of Law, 2018 U. Ill. L. Rev. 1293 (2018).
Submarine Statutes, 55 Harv. J. on Legisl.185 (2018).
State Action Problems, 65 Fla. L. Rev. 281 (2013).
Law's Public/Private Structure, 39 Fla. St. U. L. Rev. 1003 (2012).
The Burden of Knowledge, 43 Ga. L. Rev. 297 (2009).
Origin, Scope, and Irrevocability of the Manifest Disregard of the Law Doctrine: Second Circuit Views, 24 Quinnipiac L. Rev. 795 (2006) (with Joshua Ratner ).
CHAPTERS
"Origins of the Public/Private Theory of Legal Systems" in Private Law: Key Encounters with Public Law, K. Barker and D Jensen, eds. (Cambridge Press 2013).
"Rosetta Stone" in Our Environment, Our Future, Noreen Clancy and David Rejeski, eds. (Rand Corp., 2000).