Professor Vars joined the faculty in the summer of 2008 after practicing law for six years at Miller Shakman & Beem LLP in Chicago. His practice included all phases of civil litigation, with an emphasis on legal malpractice. Professor Vars teaches Property, Decedents’ Estates, and Mental Health Law. His research interests include mental health and empirical analysis of law. He is a former law clerk to Judge Bruce M. Selya on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit and Judge Joan B. Gottschall on the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois. Professor Vars also served as Fellow in the Center for the Study of Corporate Law at Yale Law School. Professor Vars received his A.B. from Princeton University (Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs) and J.D. from Yale Law School, where he served on the editorial board for The Yale Law Journal. His work includes:
Three Interventions to Address the Other Pandemic—Firearm Injury and Death, 325 JAMA 343 (2021) (with Frederick P. Rivara and Ali Rowhani-Rahbar).
Voluntary Do-Not-Sell Lists — An Innovative Approach to Reducing Gun Suicides, 383 New Engl. J. Med. 1299 (2020).
Weapon of Choice: Fighting Gun Violence While Respecting Gun Rights (Harv. U. Press, 2020) (with Ian Ayres)
Libertarian Gun Control, 167 U. Pa. L. Rev. 921 (2019) (with Ian Ayres)
Wrongful Living, 104 Iowa L. Rev. 1921 (2019) (with Alberto G. Lopez)
Why Exempting Negligent Doctors May Reduce Suicide: An Empirical Analysis, 93 Ind. L.J. 457 (2018) (with Shahar Dillbary and Griffin Edwards)
From Hospitals to Prisons: A New Explanation, 102 Cornell L. Rev. Online 101 (2017) (with Shelby Calambokidis)
“Self-Defense Against Suicide,” www.StopGunSuicide.com (compiling materials from on-going suicide prevention project)
“’Bind Me More Tightly Still’: Voluntary Restraint Against Gun Suicide,” Harvard J. on Legislation (2016) (with Angela Selvaggio) (here) [http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2641139]
“Self-Defense Against Gun Suicide,” Boston College L. Rev. (2015) (here) [http://www.law.ua.edu/misc/04_vars.pdf]
“Symptom-Based Gun Control,” 46 Connecticut L. Rev. 1633 (2014) (here) [http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2384144]
“Behavioral Economics and Evidence Law,” in OXFORD MANUAL ON BEHAVIORAL ECONOMICS AND LAW (Eyal Zamir & Doron Teichman, eds. 2014) (here) [http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2269775]
“When God Spikes Your Drink: Guilty Without Mens Rea,” 4 California L. Rev. Circuit 209 (2013) (here) [https://www.californialawreview.org/online/when-god-spikes-your-drink-guilty-without-mens-rea]
“Do the Mentally Ill Have a Right to Bear Arms?,” 48 Wake Forest L. Rev. 1 (2013) (with Amanda Young) (accepted for presentation at AALS)
“Delineating Sexual Dangerousness,” 50 Houston L. Rev. 855 (2013)
“Comment on Slobogin,” in PREVENTING DANGER: NEW PARADIGMS IN CRIMINAL JUSTICE (Michele Caianiello & Michael Louis Corrado, eds., 2013)
“Irregular Kelo Takings: A Potential Response to Natural Disasters,” 44 Urban Lawyer 853 (2012) (accepted for poster presentation at CELS, Honorable Mention Award)
“Last Resort of Individuals with Dementia Threatened,” 60 J. Am. Geriatrics Soc’y 2185 (2012) (letter) (with Caroline N. Harada)
“Rethinking the Indefinite Detention of Sex Offenders,” 44 Connecticut L. Rev. 161 (2011)
“Don’t Try This at Home,” 36 Vermont L. Rev. 373 (2011) (book review)
“Subversive Apologia,” 35 Law & Psychology Rev. 109 (2011) (symposium)
“Toward a General Theory of Standards of Proof,” 60 Catholic Univ. L. Rev. 1 (2010) (accepted for presentation at ALEA)
“Missing Well: Optimal Targeting of Soccer Shots,” 22 Chance 21 (Fall 2009)
“Illusory Consent: When an Incapacitated Patient Agrees to Treatment,” 87 Oregon L. Rev. 353 (2008)
“To Insure Prejudice: Racial Disparities in Taxicab Tipping,” 114 Yale L.J. 1613 (2005) (with Ian Ayres & Nasser Zakariya)
“Determinants of Citations to Articles in Elite Law Review,” 29 J. Legal Studies 427 (2000) (with Ian Ayres)
“When Does Private Discrimination Justify Public Affirmative Action?,” 98 Columbia L. Rev. 1577 (1998) (with Ian Ayres)
“SAT Scores, Race and College Performance: New Evidence from Selective Colleges and Universities,” in THE BLACK-WHITE TEST SCORE GAP (Christopher Jencks & Meredith Phillips eds., 1998) (with William G. Bowen)
“Attitudes Toward Affirmative Action: Paradox or Paradigm?,” in RACE VERSUS CLASS: THE NEW AFFIRMATIVE ACTION DEBATE (Carol M. Swain ed., 1996)