Scott Cummings holds the inaugural Robert Henigson Chair in Legal Ethics at the UCLA School of Law, where he has taught since 2002. He is the founding Faculty Director of the Program on Legal Ethics and the Profession, which promotes research and dialogue on the professional challenges of global legal practice and the role of legal ethics in democracy. In 2023, Professor Cummings was awarded the Guggenheim Fellowship for his work on lawyers in backsliding democracy and the UCLA Distinguished Teaching Award.
Professor Cummings has authored several books and more than fifty articles and chapters, and has been recognized as one of the most-cited scholars in the field of legal ethics and the legal profession. He has appeared in prominent news outlets, including NPR, the Los Angeles Times, Washington Post, NBC News, CNN, Bloomberg, and Slate, and has been a frequent contributor to webinars and podcasts on legal ethics in relation to the 2020 election, among other topics. His work has received international attention, marked by invited lectures in Australia, Europe, the Middle East, and South America, and his research has been translated into Spanish and Chinese. In 2022, Professor Cummings was selected as a Fellow at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences (CASBS) at Stanford University and as the Fulbright Distinguished Scholar at the European University Institute (EUI) in Florence, Italy. He is the 2023 Wiley Manuel Visiting Scholar at the UC Hastings School of Law and serves as a Trustee of the Law and Society Association and officer of the International Association of Legal Ethics.
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Academic Experience
2002–present
UCLA School of Law
2015–present
Robert Henigson Professor of Legal Ethics
2007–2015
Professor of Law
2002–2007
Assistant Professor of Law
Research: Legal Profession, Legal Ethics, Legal Mobilization, Law and Society, Lawyers and Democracy, Access to Justice, Economic Justice, Urban Studies, Labor, Inequality
2024-
UCLA Department of Sociology (by courtesy)
2023
The University of Pennsylvania Law School
Visiting Professor of Law (Fall)
2014
Harvard Law School
Visiting Professor of Law (Spring)
Professional Experience
2001–2002
United States Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit, Pasadena, California
Law Clerk, Honorable A. Wallace Tashima
1998–2001
Public Counsel Law Center, Los Angeles, California
Skadden Fellow (1998-2000), Staff Attorney (2000-2001), Community Development Law Project
1996–1998
United States District Court, Northern District of Illinois, Chicago, Illinois
Law Clerk, Honorable James B. Moran
Educational Experience
1996–1998
Harvard Law School, J.D., magna cum laude
Executive Editor, Harvard Civil Rights-Civil Liberties Law Review
1992
University of California, Berkeley, A.B., Political Economy, highest distinction
Phi Beta Kappa
Honors
2024-2025
Visiting Fellow, Faculty of Political and Social Sciences, Scuola Normale Superiore, Florence, Italy
2024-2025
Visiting Fellow, European University Institute, Department of Law, Florence, Italy
2024
Visiting Professor, Centre on Social Movement Studies, Faculty of Political and Social Sciences, Scuola Normale Superiore, Florence, Italy (March-May)
2023-2024
Visiting Fellow, European University Institute, Department of Law, Florence, Italy (September-February)
2023
2022–2023
Wiley Manuel Distinguished Visiting Scholar
UC Hastings College of Law, Center for Racial and Economic Justice, San Francisco, California
2022
Recognized in Leiter Ranking of Most-Cited Legal Ethics/Legal Profession Scholars
2022
2022
Fulbright Distinguished Scholar
Fulbright-Schuman Award at the European University Institute, Florence, Italy (January-July)
2021
Fellow, Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences
Stanford University, Stanford, California (Fall)
2021–2024
Trustee, Law and Society Association
2021
U. Serve L.A. Distinguished Service Award
UCLA School of Law, Los Angeles, California
2019
The University of Sydney Law School
Parsons Visitor (Summer)
2017
NSF Grantee
2013
NSF Grantee
Teaching
LAW 230: Business Association
This course provides a survey of the law of corporations, both public and closely held. Topics include corporate formation; the authority and duties of corporate managers, including the duty of care and duty of loyalty; voting and control arrangements; and fundamental corporate changes.
LAW 285: Local Government Law
This course will consider the source, scope, and limits of local government power. It will consider the relationship of local governments to state and federal government and of the relationship of local governments to the individuals and communities within and around them.
LAW 312: Professional Responsibility
This course deals with the Professional Responsibility Requirement and the law and ethics of lawyering; that is, the standards of law and the ethics that lawyers are held to (or aspire to) in their professional roles.
LAW 739: Community Economic
Development
Community economic development (CED) has emerged over the past quarter century as a important strategy for redressing urban poverty. The main programmatic goal of CED—advanced primarily by community-based nonprofit organizations—has been to increase investment in low-income neighborhoods in order to produce economic transformation and community empowerment.
Leadership
Program on Legal Ethics & the Profession at UCLA
The Program on Legal Ethics & the Profession addresses the central challenges facing today’s lawyers, serving as a forum examining professional issues drawn from across areas of legal practice. By fostering a discussion for the practical and scholarly exchange of the central challenges of contemporary legal practice, the Program on Legal Ethics & the Profession trains the next generation of lawyers and professional leaders to identify solutions to resolve complex ethical problems.
Editorial
Articles Editor, Legal Ethics
Editorial Board Member, Ethical Review of Social Sciences (2024–)
Editorial Board Member, International Journal of the Legal Profession (2022–)
Editorial Board Member, Jotwell (2021–)
Editorial Board Member, Law and Social Inquiry (2020-2022)
Editorial Board Member, Brazilian Journal of Empirical Legal Studies (2013–2015)
Editor-in-Chief (2007-2009), and Associate Editor (2005-2007), ABA Journal of Affordable Housing & Community Development Law
Professional
Law and Society Association: Trustee (2022-2025); Chair, Collaborative Research Network Activities Committee (2021-2022); Chair, Herbert Jacob Book Prize Committee (2021); Program Committee (2019-2020); International Scholarship Committee (2014-2015); Program Committee (2013-2014); Wheeler Mentorship Prize Committee (2012-2013); Wheeler Mentorship Prize Committee (2010-2011)
International Association of Legal Ethics: Treasurer and Board Member (2022-); Conference Advisory Committee (2022); Conference Chair (2022)
Fulbright Commission, Selections Committee (2023-2024)
American Bar Association: Advisory Board, Health & Human Rights Initiative (2019), Standing Committee on Pro Bono and Public Service (2011–2013), Pro Bono Publico Awards Subcommittee (2013), Subcommittee on Measurement Criteria for Pro Bono (2012-2013), Forum on Affordable Housing and Community Development (2003–2009)
Association of American Law Schools: Executive Committee, Community Economic Development Section (2019–2022); Member (since 2002)
The Global Pro Bono Bar Association: Advisory Committee (2017–2024)
Public Interest Law/Pro Bono/Corporate Social Responsibility Area of the Project on Globalization, Lawyering, and Emerging Economies at Harvard Law School, Coordinating Committee (2012–2013)
Legal Services Corporation Pro Bono Task Force–Toolkit Implementation Committee (2013–2014)