Valeria P. Hans, the Charles F. Rechlin Professor of Law at Cornell University, in partnership with two co-authors, has been named a recipient of the 2025 Civil Justice Scholarship Award from the National Civil Justice Institute, a national legal nonprofit dedicated to ensuring access to justice for ordinary citizens.
Dr. Hans and her colleagues Richard Jolly of Southwestern Law School and Robert Peck of the Center for Constitutional Law were honored for their paper, “Democratic Renewal and Civil Jury.” The article was recognized for providing “a practical roadmap to restoring juries to their historic importance in the American legal system.”
A Cornell Law School faculty member for nearly two decades, Dr. Hans conducts empirical studies of law and the courts. Throughout her career, she has conducted extensive research on juries, jury reforms, and the uses of social science in law. She has authored or edited 10 books, most recently Juries, Lay Judges, and Mixed Courts: A Global Perspective (Cambridge University Press, 2021).
Dr. Hans is an honors graduate of the University of California, San Diego, where she majored in psychology. She holds a master’s degree and Ph.D. in social psychology from the University of Toronto in Canada.