WashU Law is pleased to welcome outstanding additions to our faculty: Professor Sepehr Shahshahani, Lecturer Anselm Dannecker, and Associate Professor of Practice Stacie Reardon joining us this fall, with Professors Lawrence Liu and Jonathan Choi set to arrive in 2026. Their diverse expertise reflects the law school’s continued commitment to academic excellence and impactful scholarship.
Jonathan Choi, James Carr Professor of Law (joining Spring 2026)
Professor Choi joins WashU Law from USC Gould School of Law where he was a professor specializing in tax law, statutory interpretation, and the intersection of law and artificial intelligence. He earned his JD from Yale Law School, where he served as Executive Bluebook Editor of the Yale Law Journal. Before entering academia, he practiced tax law at Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz in New York and previously taught at the University of Minnesota and the University of Southern California. His scholarship has appeared in leading journals including the Stanford Law Review, New York University Law Review, and Yale Journal on Regulation, and has been featured by outlets such as CNN, The Washington Post, The New Yorker, and Bloomberg.
Anselm Dannecker, Lecturer (joining Fall 2025)
Anselm Dannecker joins WashU Law as a Lecturer. His work focuses on complex multistakeholder negotiations as well as interpersonal and civil conflict. At Wash U he will continue to advance the collaborative research initiative ‘Turn the Tide’ that is hosted at Harvard Kennedy School’s Center for Public Leadership and seeks to enhance negotiation efficacy of marginalized communities in climate negotiations. He served as a Senior Research Fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School, holds an MPA from Harvard Kennedy School where he was a McCloy Fellow, an MSc from the London School of Economics, and a BA from Bayreuth University. Before joining academia Anselm Dannecker served as an Adviser to the CEO at IFC (World Bank) and worked in various capacities in the German public sector.
Lawrence Liu, Associate Professor of Law (joining summer 2026)
Professor Liu will join WashU Law as an Associate Professor in summer 2026. He is a comparative law and politics scholar, with a focus on state-society relations in China and the United States. His research pays particular attention to the actors who engage and occupy legal institutions, such as lawyers, interest groups, administrative adjudicators, and judges. Before arriving to St. Louis, Lawrence will be a fellow at the Neukom Center for the Rule of Law at Stanford Law School. He holds a Ph.D. in Jurisprudence and Social Policy from the University of California, Berkeley, a J.D. from Yale Law School, and an A.B., magna cum laude, from Princeton University’s School of Public and International Affairs. He clerked for the Honorable Andrew D. Hurwitz on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.
Stacie Reardon, Associate Professor of Practice and Director of Legal Practice Program
Prior to joining the university, Stacie practiced law for over thirteen years in St. Louis at Dentons where she specialized in real estate. In her six years with the university, Stacie has served as Assistant Dean of the WashU Law Career Center and most recently, as Assistant Vice Chancellor and Associate General Counsel for the Washington University Office of General Counsel, representing the university in real estate and commercial transactions. In addition to these roles, Stacie has worked as director of the Lawyering Practice Externship Program and as a lecturer in law in the Legal Practice Program at WashU Law. Stacie is a 2005 graduate of the law school.
Sepehr Shahshahani, Professor of Law (joining fall 2025)
Professor Shashahani joins WashU Law from Fordham Law School, where he taught civil procedure and intellectual property. His interdisciplinary research uses legal analysis, game theory, and quantitative methods to explore how legal institutions influence competition and innovation. He holds a Ph.D. in politics from Princeton University, where he was a Charlotte Elizabeth Procter Honorific Fellow, and has published in leading journals such as the Journal of Law and Economics, Journal of Legal Studies, Cornell Law Review, and N.Y.U. Law Review. Before entering academia, he practiced litigation at Paul, Weiss in New York and clerked for judges on both the U.S. District Court for the District of Rhode Island and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit.