Edward R. Morrison, a three-time U of C graduate, will return to the Law School on July 1 after nearly a decade at Columbia University.

Morrison (M.A. ’97, J.D. ’00, Ph.D. ’03), noted for his analysis of bankruptcy in law and business contexts, is currently a law and economics professor at Columbia and the co-director of the Richman Center for Business Law and Public Policy at Columbia.

According to Dean of the Law School Michael Schill, Morrison’s interdisciplinary background will be a valuable asset, strengthening a faculty already considered to be “the best in the nation” in empirical law and economics.

“Ed Morrison is a dream appointment for the Law School. He is universally considered to be among the most important legal scholars of his generation. It was a real coup for us to hire him from Columbia,” Schill wrote in an email.

Upon his return, Morrison will be charged with developing the Law School’s new business curriculum and strengthening its ties to the Booth School of Business.

Law professor Douglas Baird also said that Morrison’s expertise and contacts will be beneficial.

“[Morrison] is comfortable with finance theory and the latest empirical methods in statistics and economics. He works with elite lawyers in such organizations as the National Bankruptcy Conference,” Baird wrote in an e-mail.

Already a Hyde Park familiar, Morrison taught at the University as a visiting professor in 2008, and previously moved through the ranks of the University’s economics and law programs. Though Schill took efforts to convince Morrison to relocate to Chicago, according to Baird, Morrison looks forward to returning to his alma mater.

“I am particularly enthusiastic about helping the school build a new center focused on the intersection of law, business, and regulation,” he said in a News Office press release.