Jamelle C. Sharpe

Jamelle C. Sharpe is a legal scholar in administrative law and the 14th Dean of the University of Illinois College of Law.^[1][2] His research focuses on the division of policymaking authority between courts and administrative agencies, the limits of congressional delegation, and the role of federal courts in the administrative state.^[1][2] He is also the author of Administrative Law: A Lifecycle Approach, a widely used casebook in the field.^[1]

Sharpe earned his Bachelor of Arts in English and American Literature magna cum laude from New York University, where he was elected to Phi Beta Kappa.^[1][2] Before entering law school, he worked for three years as an analyst in the Investment Banking Division of Morgan Stanley in New York.^[1][2] He later earned his Juris Doctor from Yale Law School, where he served as managing editor of the Yale Journal of International Law.^[1][2]

After graduating from Yale Law School, Sharpe began his legal career as a litigation associate at Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP in New York, where he practiced from 2003 to 2005.^[1][2] He then clerked for Judge Gerald Bard Tjoflat of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit from 2005 to 2006.^[1][2] Following his clerkship, he transitioned to academia, serving as a Bigelow Teaching Fellow and Lecturer in Law at the University of Chicago Law School from 2006 to 2008.^[1][2]

Sharpe joined the University of Illinois College of Law in 2008 as a member of the faculty. Over the course of his career at Illinois, he has taught courses in Administrative Law, Federal Courts, and Immigration Law.^[1][3] Between 2013 and 2016, he served as the Senior Associate Dean for Academic Affairs, helping to guide the school’s curriculum and academic policies.^[1] In 2015–2016, he was selected as a fellow in the CIC Academic Leadership Program, and in 2017, he was named a Provost Fellow for the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.^[1][2]

In recognition of his scholarship, Sharpe was appointed Guy Raymond Jones Faculty Scholar, one of the law school’s named faculty positions.^[1] In August 2023, he became the 14th Dean of the University of Illinois College of Law, where he oversees the school’s academic programs, faculty development, and student success initiatives.^[1]

Sharpe is regarded as a leading voice in administrative law scholarship.^[2] His articles have appeared in numerous law journals and his 2018 article “Delegation and Its Discontents”^[4] won the Carroll P. Hurd Award for Excellence in Faculty Scholarship.^[1] His casebook Administrative Law: A Lifecycle Approach (Aspen Casebook Series)^[5] earned the Wayne R. LaFave Award for Excellence in Faculty Scholarship in 2022.^[1]

Sharpe is married to Nicola Faith Sharpe, a Professor of Law at the University of Illinois College of Law,^[6] who teaches business law and whose research centers on corporate governance, ethics, and board decision-making.