Prof. Chris Jaeger Presents Scholarship at Harvard/Stanford/Yale Junior Faculty Forum

Professor Chris Jaeger recently returned from the Harvard/Stanford/Yale Junior Faculty Forum, hosted this year at Yale Law School, where he presented his paper, “A Two-System Theory of Negligence.” 

The nationally recognized forum brings together emerging legal scholars from across the country for intensive discussion of their recent scholarship. Participants are selected through a competitive double-blind review process, with senior scholars from Harvard Law School, Stanford Law School, and Yale selecting papers and then serving as commentators and discussion leaders at the forum.

Jaeger was one of only nine junior faculty scholars selected nationwide to present. Each presenter’s paper received extended feedback and discussion from fellow presenters and senior faculty scholars.

“It was an honor to have ‘A Two-System Theory of Negligence’ selected and to participate in the Harvard/Stanford/Yale Junior Faculty Forum,” Jaeger said. “The Forum was incredibly energizing for me as a scholar. The high-quality feedback and conversations will help me improve not only this paper, but the papers to come.”

Jaeger’s article examines negligence law through the lens of cognitive psychology, drawing on Nobel Prize-winning research by Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky. The paper distinguishes between negligence claims arising from rapid, instinctive thought processes and those arising from conscious decision-making, arguing that courts already evaluate such claims differently in practice.

“I have really enjoyed working on this interdisciplinary project at the intersection of tort law, psychology, and philosophy,” Jaeger said. “My hope is that this line of work generates new insights about what it means to hold someone liable for negligence.”

Baylor Law School is proud to have had Professor Chris Jaeger represent the Law School at the Harvard/Stanford/Yale Junior Faculty Forum. His participation reflects the national reach of his research and his engagement with leading legal scholarship.