After graduation, Fischel clerked for Judge
Thomas E. Fairchild of the
Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals and Justice
Potter Stewart of the
Supreme Court of the United States. He taught at
Northwestern University Law School from 1980 to 1983, the last year of which he was a visiting professor at his alma mater. Fischel joined the University of Chicago Law faculty in 1984, and served as dean from 1998 to 2001, when he resigned due his marriage to another university employee and the university's anti-nepotism policy. During his time as dean, he famously tried to convince
Barack Obama that his political career was finished following his resounding defeat to
Bobby Rush for U.S. Congress. He also drew controversy in 2009 for his purchase of a condominium in New York for over $8 million, which he sold for nearly $12 million in 2012. As an expert witness, Fischel testified on behalf of
Charles Keating,
Ken Lay, and
Jeffrey Skilling. His work concerning the collapse of
Lincoln Savings and Loan upset plaintiffs' law firm
Milberg Weiss, leading Fischel and Lexecon to file a
defamation and abuse of process suit, which led to a Supreme Court decision about
multi-district litigation (
Lexecon Inc. v. Milberg Weiss Bershad Hynes & Lerach, 523 U.S. 26 (1998)) and a $50 million settlement paid to him and/or his firm. A panel of the
Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals reversed the conviction of
Joseph Nacchio over alleged
insider trading of
Qwest because Judge
Edward Nottingham would not let Fischel testify on Nacchio's behalf. but the entire Circuit en banc reversed the reversal and Nacchio ultimately served jail time (being released in 2013). Fischel co-authored with
Frank Easterbrook The Economic Structure of Corporate Law (Harvard University Press, 1991). His book, "Payback", argued that the prosecution of
Michael Milken was unjust. == See also ==