Stefano Liebman, the Labor Law Expert who guides the School of Law

IN BOCCONI SINCE 1995, HE HAS BEEN CONFIRMED IN THE TEAM OF THE NEW RECTOR GIANMARIO VERONA AT THE HEAD OF THE SCHOOL OF LAW

“I enrolled in a law school because I wanted to study economics”, Stefano Liebman says. “It wasn’t unusual in the 70s. Many economics scholars had a background in law. When I realized I could never be a good economist I went on to study law as a social science”.
 
Forty years later, Liebman is Dean of Bocconi University’s School of Law, confirmed in the team of new Rector Gianmario Verona who takes office on November 1, where a complete training in law and legal subjects is backed up by studies in economics and management, a school of law where mathematics is taught since the first year. It wasn’t easy though.
 
The son of an eminent civil law scholar, associate professor at the University of Milan where his father had taught, he left his “alma mater” in 1995 to be the first-ever Labor Law professor at Bocconi. A few years later, he took part in the design and launch of the School of Law. He calls himself “one of the most enthusiastic supporters of the project of a Bocconian jurisprudence that differs from the traditional one, a jurisprudence that promotes integration between law, economics and quantitative subjects, not to mention a strong international presence”.
 
His goal is to fine-tune the School of Law through the rejuvenation of the faculty members and the strenghtening of the internationalization process. He enjoys the satisfaction “that comes from seeing the consolidation of the idea that we can measure legal phenomena, something that until recently it was thought impossible”.
 
He is interested in big scenarios more than in small technicalities. When asked about a book that has influenced him, he picks The History of European Liberalism by Guido De Ruggiero. “I read it when I was working on my thesis, at Gino Giugni’s suggestion. It has nothing to do with law”. The classroom is his element. He deeply loves connecting with students, sharing the knowledge, impart the sense of the complexity of things. “I still suffer if a lesson is less than perfect. Even today, at 63, every time I enter a classroom I wonder how it will go”.


 
 

by Claudio Todesco