Glen O. Robinson

  • David and Mary Harrison Distinguished Professor of Law Emeritus

Glen Robinson joined the Law School faculty in 1976 after serving as Commissioner of the Federal Communications Commission from 1974-1976. He began his teaching career at the University of Minnesota in 1967 and taught there until his appointment to the FCC. He practiced law with the Washington, D.C., firm Covington & Burling from 1961 to 1967. He is an honors graduate of Stanford Law School and Harvard University.

Robinson has served as a consultant to the U.S. State Department on communications matters, and in 1979 was Ambassador and U.S. Representative to the World Administrative Radio Conference in Geneva.

Robinson has taught and written extensively in a number of fields, including administrative law, antitrust, communications, property and torts. He currently teaches antitrust, Internet law, communications law and property; his research interests are in the fields of antitrust, communications and cyberlaw.

Scholarship Profile: Questioning Conventional Wisdom Wherever He Finds It (Virginia Journal 2007)

Education

  • J.D.
    Stanford Law School
    1961
  • A.B.
    Harvard University
    1958

Books

American Bureaucracy: Public Choice and Public Law, University of Michigan Press (1991).
Communications for Tomorrow: Policy Perspectives for the 1980s, Praeger (1978).

Textbooks

Communications Regulation (with Thomas B. Nachbar), Thomson/West (2008).
The Administrative Process (with Harold H. Bruff & Ernest Gellhorn), West (4 ed. 1993).
The Administrative Process (with Harold H. Bruff & Ernest Gellhorn), West (3 ed. 1986).
The Administrative Process (with Harold H. Bruff & Ernest Gellhorn), West (2 ed. 1981).
The Administrative Process (with Ernest Gellhorn), West (1 ed. 1974).

Book Chapters

Hearings Required by Procedural Due Process, in A Guide to Federal Agency Adjudication, American Bar Association, 9–28 (2002).
The Right to a Hearing under the APA, in A Guide to Federal Agency Adjudication, American Bar Association, 29–35 (2002).
Regulatory and Institutional Change, in After the Breakup: Assessing the New Post-AT&T Divestiture Era, Columbia University Press, 79–91 (1991).
Risk, Causation, and Harm, in Liability and Responsibility: Essays in Law and Morals, Cambridge University Press, 317–347 (1991).
Evolving Conceptions of “Property” and “Liberty” in Due Process Jurisprudence, in Liberty, Property, and Government: Constitutional Interpretation Before the New Deal, State University of New York Press, 63–120 (1989).
The Federal Communications Act: An Essay on Origins and Regulatory Purpose, in A Legislative History of the Communications Act of 1934, Oxford University Press, 3–24 (1989).
Perspectives on Medical Malpractice and Tort Law Reform, in Medical Malpractice—Tort Reform, University of Tennessee, Memphis, 29–52 (1987).
Communications for the Future: An Overview of the Policy Agenda, in Communications for Tomorrow: Policy Perspectives for the 1980s, Praeger, 467–500 (1978).
The Judicial Role, in Communications for Tomorrow: Policy Perspectives for the 1980s, Praeger, 415–444 (1978).

Articles & Reviews

Regulating Communications: Stories from the First Hundred Years, 13 The Green Bag Second Series 303–317 (2010).
Designing Competition Policy for Telecommunications (with Dennis L. Weisman), 7 Review of Network Economics 509–546 (2008).
Personal Property Servitudes, 71 University of Chicago Law Review 1449–1523 (2004).
On Refusing to Deal with Rivals, 87 Cornell Law Review 1177–1232 (2002).
Reed Hundt, Revolutionary Manqué (reviewing Reed Hundt, You Say You Want a Revolution: A Story of Information Age Politics) 4 The Green Bag Second Series 197–205 (2001).
Spectrum Property Law 101, 41 Journal of Law & Economics 609–625 (1998).
The Electronic First Amendment: An Essay for the New Age, 47 Duke Law Journal 899–970 (1998).
Communities, 83 Virginia Law Review 269–348 (1997).
The New Video Competition: Dances with Regulations, 97 Columbia Law Review 1016–1047 (1997).
The "New" Communications Act: A Second Opinion, 29 Connecticut Law Review 289–329 (1996).
Explaining Vertical Agreements: The Colgate Puzzle and Antitrust Method, 80 Virginia Law Review 577–624 (1994).
Collective Justice in Tort Law (with Kenneth S. Abraham), 78 Virginia Law Review 601–636 (1992).
Explaining Contingent Rights: The Puzzle of "Obsolete" Covenants, 91 Columbia Law Review 546–581 (1991).
Aggregative Valuation of Mass Tort Claims (with Kenneth S. Abraham), 53 Law & Contemporary Problems 137–157 (1990).
Commentary on "Administrative Arrangements and the Political Control of Agencies": Political Uses of Structure and Process, 75 Virginia Law Review 483–498 (1989).
Independent Agencies: Form and Substance in Executive Prerogative, 1988 Duke Law Journal 238–251 (1988).
Public Choice Speculations on the Item Veto, 74 Virginia Law Review 403–422 (1988).
The Titanic Remembered: At&T and the Changing World of Telecommunication, 5 Yale Journal on Regulation 517–545 (1988).
Rethinking the Allocation of Medical Malpractice Risks between Patients and Providers, 49 Law & Contemporary Problems 173–199 (1986).
The Medical Malpractice of the 1970's: A Retrospective, 49 Law & Contemporary Problems 5–35 (1986).
Probabilistic Causation and Compensation for Tortious Risk Critical Issues in Tort Law Reform: A Search for Principles, 14 Journal of Legal Studies 779–798 (1985).
Rizzo on Rules: A Comment, 4 Cato Journal 885–892 (1985).
The FCC in the Year 2000, 37 Federal Communications Law Journal 155–170 (1985).
Cable Television and the First Amendment, 6 Communications & the Law 47–62 (1984).
Review of Pool, Technologies of Freedom, 1 Constitutional Commentary 350–369 (1984).
Access to Government Information: The American Experience, 14 Federal Law Review 35–61 (1983).
Stalking the Washington Bureaucrat, 68 Cornell Law Review 269–280 (1983).
The Role of Economic Analysis in Legal Education (with Ernest Gellhorn), 33 Journal of Legal Education 247–273 (1983).
The Sherman Act as a Home Rule Charter: Community Communications Co. v. City of Boulder, 2 Supreme Court Economic Review 131–164 (1983).
A Theory of Legislative Delegation (with Peter H. Aranson & Ernest Gellhorn), 68 Cornell Law Review 1–67 (1982).
Multiple Causation in Tort Law:  Reflections on the DES Cases, 68 Virginia Law Review 713–770 (1982).
Regulating International Airwaves: The 1979 WARC, 21 Virginia Journal of International Law 1–54 (1981).
Rulemaking "Due Process": An Inconclusive Dialogue (with Ernest Gellhorn), 48 University of Chicago Law Review 201–262 (1981).
The Federal Communications Commission:  An Essay on Regulatory Watchdogs, 64 Virginia Law Review 169–262 (1978).
January Perspectives on Communications Policy: Looking Back into the Future, 29 Federal Communications Bar Journal 173–188 (1976).
Perspectives on Administrative Law (with Ernest Gellhorn), 75 Columbia Law Review 771–799 (1975).
The Adminsitrative Conference and Administrative Law Scholarship, 26 Administrative Law Review 269–280 (1974).
Wilderness: The Last Frontier, 59 Minnesota Law Review 1–66 (1974).
On Reorganizing the Independent Regulatory Agencies, 57 Virginia Law Review 947–995 (1971).
Making of Administrative Policy: Another Look at Rulemaking and Adjudication and Administrative Procedure Reform, 118 University of Pennsylvania Law Review 585–539 (1970).
Radio Spectrum Regulation: The Administrative Process and the Problems of Institutional Reform, 53 Minnesota Law Review 1179–1268 (1969).
The FCC and the First Amendment: Observations on 40 Years of Radio and Television Regulation, 52 Minnesota Law Review 67–164 (1967).

Reports & Datasets

StatementInternational Satellite Issues , US Government Print Office 862–876 (1985).
StatementFCC Network Acquisition Approval Act of 1985 , US Government Print Office 64–69 (1985).
The Fairness Doctrine and Product AdvertisingBeer and Wine Advertising: Impact of Electronic Media , US Government Print Office 216–230 (1985).
Statement2 Effectiveness of the Postal Reorganization Act of 1970 , US Government Print Office 167–177 (1982).
StatementsThe World Administrative Radio Conference and International Communications Policy , US Government Print Office 1–27, 76 (1980).
StatementInternational Space Activities, 1979 , US Government Print Office 63–76 (1979).
Statement1979 World Administrative Radio Conference—Oversight , US Government Print Office 1–18 (1979).
UNESCO and Freedom of InformationUNESCO and Freedom of Information , US Government Print Office 14–23 (1979).
StatementTelevision Broadcast Policies , US Government Print Office 54–64 (1978).
StatementReorganization Plan No. 1 of 1977 (Executive Office of the President) , US Government Print Office 102–121 (1977).

Op-Eds, Blogs, Shorter Works

Eliminating Racial Preferences in College Admissions (with Dennis L. Weisman), Economist’s Voice (June, 2012).
Antitrust: Will it Change the Lives of Telecommunications Executives?, 4 Richmond Journal of Law & Technology 3 (1997).
Medical Malpractice: plus ça Change..., Virginia Law School Report 18–20 (1985).
Another Look at Pacifica, New York Law Journal 5 (May 11, 1984).
Chadha and the Demise of the Legislative Veto, Virginia Law Weekly 1, 3 (September 30, 1983).
International Telecommunications: The 1979 World Radio Conference and the Virtues of Thinking Small, Virginia Law School Report 12–16 (1981).
Dean Joseph M. Livermore: A Tribute, 18 Arizona Law Review 495–497 (1976).

Current Courses

No courses were found for this instructor.

All Courses

Antitrust
Communications Law
Internet Law
Property
Torts

IN THE NEWS

10/12/2017
No, President Trump Can’t Order the FCC to Shut News Down (cnet)
10/11/2017
Trump Can Challenge NBC's Broadcast Licenses, But He's Likely to Fail (Washington Examiner)
11/05/2013
Meet Glen O. Robinson, Prof. Emeritus - University of Virginia School of Law (Notice and Comment)
05/19/2010
The FCC's Future of Media' Project: 'Let Them Eat Broccoli' (Free State Foundation)
08/10/2009
FCC Lacks General Authority to Regulate Internet (The Progress & Freedom Foundation)
04/23/2008
Newsday Suitors Wait to See if Deal Flies (Newsday)
03/18/2008
Supreme Court Will Review FCC's Policy on Expletives (Washington Times)
10/03/2007
'Howl' Too Hot to Hear / 50 Years After Poem Ruled Not Obscene, Radio Fears to Air It (San Francisco Chronicle)
12/01/2006
Guilds to FCC: Discard Indecency Standards (The Hollywood Reporter)
01/09/2006
Let the Fight Begin/Will the FCC Let the Shock Jock Speak His Mind? (Houston Chronicle)
06/10/2003
Today's Events in Washington (Bulletin's Frontrunner)
06/09/2003
Antitrust: Legal Scholars Divided Over Revising Media-Ownership Cap (National Journal's Technology Daily)
06/09/2003
Legal Scholars Divided Over Revising Media Ownership Cap (National Journal's Congress Daily)
04/12/2003
Embattled Channel Searching for Clear Daylight (The Times [London])
04/09/2003
Radio Station Owners War Rallies Cause A Stir (Post and Courier)
03/20/2003
Media Giant's Rally Sponsorship Raises Questions (Newport News Daily Press)
12/03/2002
TELECOM: Lawyers Debate Professor's Thinking On 'Idle Spectrum' (National Journal's Technology Daily)
06/11/2002
Experts Debate the Future of Telecom (InfoWorld Daily News)

AT UVA LAW

Nachbar and Robinson Co-author Communications Regulation Casebook
Robinson Slows Down Long Enough To Retire
Robinson Slows Down Long Enough To Retire