Gregory Mitchell

  • Joseph Weintraub-Bank of America Distinguished Professor of Law

Greg Mitchell joined the faculty in 2006 after visiting during the 2004-05 academic year. He teaches courses in civil litigation and law and psychology, and his scholarship focuses on legal judgment and decision-making, the psychology of justice, and the application of social science to legal theory and policy.

After receiving his law degree and doctorate in psychology from the University of California, Berkeley, Mitchell clerked for Judge Thomas A. Wiseman, Jr., in the Middle District of Tennessee, and then practiced civil litigation with the Nashville law firm of Doramus, Trauger & Ney. Prior to joining the Law School, Mitchell was an assistant professor at Michigan State, an associate professor and the Sheila M. McDevitt Professor of Law at Florida State, and a visiting associate professor at Vanderbilt.

Scholarship Profile: The Promise and Limitations of an Empirical Approach to Law (Virginia Journal 2008)

Education

  • J.D.
    University of California at Berkeley School of Law
    1993
  • Ph.D.
    University of California at Berkeley
    1994
  • M.A.
    University of California at Berkeley
    1990
  • B.A.
    University of Arkansas
    1988

Forthcoming

Error Aversions and Due Process (with Brandon L. Garrett), Michigan Law Review.

Books

The Psychology of Judicial Decision Making (edited with David E. Klein), Oxford University Press (2010).

Textbooks

American Courts (with Daniel J. Meador), West Academic (1–4 ed. 1991–2021).
American Courts Explained: A Detailed Introduction to the Legal Process Using Real Cases (with David Klein), West Academic (2016).
American Courts (with Daniel J. Meador), West (1–4 ed. 1991–2021).

Book Chapters

Judicial Decision Making, in Psychological Science and the Law, Guilford Press, 395–416 (2019).
External Validity, in The Sage Encyclopedia of Educational Research, Measurement, and Evaluation, Sage, 654–657 (2018).
Jumping to Conclusions: Advocacy and Application of Psychological Research, in The Politics of Social Psychology, Routledge, 139–155 (2018).
The Price of Abstraction, in Research Handbook on Behavioral Law and Economics , Edward Elgar, 459–475 (2018).
Experimental Political Philosophy: Justice Judgments in the Hypothetical Society Paradigm (with Philip E. Tetlock), in New Explorations in Political Philosophy, Routledge, 47–71 (2017).
Popularity as a Poor Proxy for Utility: The Case of Implicit Prejudice (with Philip E. Tetlock), in Psychological Science under Scrutiny: Recent Challenges and Proposed Solutions, Wiley Blackwell, 164–195 (2017).
Implicit Attitude Measures (with Philip E. Tetlock), in Emerging Trends in the Social and Behavioral Sciences: An Interdisciplinary, Searchable, and Linkable Resource, Wiley (2015).
Alternative Behavioral Law and Economics, in The Oxford Handbook of Behavioral Economics and the Law, Oxford University Press, 167–191 (2014).
Cognitive Styles and Judging, in The Psychology of Judicial Decision Making, Oxford University Press, 279–284 (2010).
Evaluating Judges (with Philip E. Tetlock), in The Psychology of Judicial Decision Making, Oxford University Press, 221–248 (2010).
Disentangling Reasons and Rationalizations: Exploring Perceived Fairness in Hypothetical Societies (with Philip E. Tetlock), in Social and Psychological Bases of Ideology and System Justification, Oxford University Press, 126–157 (2009).
The Relation Between Consistency and Accuracy of Witness Testimony: Legal Versus Cognitive Explanations (with Neil Brewer & Ronald P. Fisher), in Handbook of Psychology of Investigative Interviewing: Current Developments and Future Directions, Wiley Blackwell, 121–136 (2009).
Liberal and Conservative Approaches to Justice: Conflicting Psychopolitical Portraits (with Philip E. Tetlock), in Psychological Perspectives on Justice, Cambridge University Press, 234–255 (1993).

Articles & Reviews

Overcoming Hope and Fear in Compliance (with Brandon L. Garrett), Starling Compendium (2022).
The internal validity obsession (with Philip E. Tetlock), 45 Behavioral and Brain Sciences e83 (2022).
Battling to a draw: Defense expert rebuttal can neutralize prosecution fingerprint evidence (with Brandon L. Garrett), 35 Applied Cognitive Psychology 976–987 (2021).
Testing Compliance (with Brandon L. Garrett), 83 Law & Contemporary Problems 47–84 (2020).
Employee Surveys on Sensitive Topics, 16 Compliance and Ethics Professional Magazine 28–30 (2019).
Maintaining Scholarly Integrity in the Age of Bibliometrics (with Andrew Hayashi), 69 Journal of Legal Education 138–154 (2019).
The Impact of Proficiency Testing Information and Error Aversions on the Weight Given to Fingerprint Evidence (with Brandon L. Garrett), 37 Behavioral Sciences & the Law 195–210 (2019).
An Implicit Bias Primer, 25 Virginia Journal of Social Policy & the Law 27–57 (2018).
Comparing Categorical and Probabilistic Fingerprint Evidence (with Brandon L. Garrett & Nicholas Scurich), 63 Journal of Forensic Science 1712–1717 (2018).
The Proficiency of Experts (with Brandon L. Garrett), 166 University of Pennsylvania Law Review 901–960 (2018).
Libertarian Nudges, 82 Missouri Law Review 695–708 (2017).
Measuring Situational Bias or Creating Situational Bias?, 28 Psychological Inquiry 292–296 (2017).
Infantilization by Regulation (with Jonathan Klick), 39 Regulation 32–37 (2016).
Forensics and Fallibility: Comparing the Views of Lawyers and Jurors (with Brandon L. Garrett), 119 West Virginia Law Review 621–637 (2016).
Balancing Fairness and Efficiency: The Impact of Identity-Blind and Identity-Conscious Accountability on Applicant Screening (with John Angus Hildreth et al.), 10 PLoS ONE e0145208 (2015).
Discovery and the Evidentiary Foundations of Implicit Bias (with Richard W. Black et al.), 66 Labor Law Journal 49–64 (2015).
Toward a Meaningful Metric of Implicit Prejudice (with Hart Blanton et al.), 100 Journal of Applied Psychology 1468–1481 (2015).
Using the IAT to Predict Ethnic and Racial Discrimination: Small Effect Sizes of Unknown Societal Significance (with Hart Blanton et al.), 108 Journal of Personality & Social Psychology 562–571 (2015).
Why So Few Conservatives and Should We Care? (with Philip E. Tetlock), 52 Society 28–34 (2015).
Discovery and the Evidentiary Foundations of Implicit Bias (with Richard Black et al.), 40 Employee Relations Law Journal 4–33 (2014).
Detecting and Punishing Unconscious Bias (with L. Jason Anastasopoulos & Philip E. Tetlock), 42 Journal of Legal Studies 83–110 (2013).
How Jurors Evaluate Fingerprint Evidence: The Relative Importance of Match Language, Method Information, and Error Acknowledgment (with Brandon L. Garrett), 10 Journal of Empirical Legal Studies 484–511 (2013).
Predicting Ethnic and Racial Discrimination: A Meta-Analysis of IAT Criterion Studies (with Hart Blanton et al.), 105 Journal of Personality & Social Psychology 171–192 (2013).
Effective Use and Presentation of Social Science Evidence (with Allan G. King & Jeffrey S. Klein), 37 Employee Relations Law Journal 3–22 (2012).
Revisiting Truth or Triviality: The External Validity of Research in the Psychological Laboratory, 7 Perspectives on Psychological Science 109–117 (2012).
The Importance of Replication in the Field, 25 Psychology 351–352 (2012).
Beyond Context: Social Facts as Case Specific Evidence (with John T. Monahan & W. Laurens Walker), 60 Emory Law Journal 1109–1155 (2011).
Case Specific Sociological Inference: Metanorms for Expert Opinions (with John T. Monahan & W. Laurens Walker), 40 Social Methods & Research 668–680 (2011).
Proactive Responses to Second Generation Risks in Labor and Employment Cases (with Mary R. Baker, Hunter D., Hughes & Philip E. Tetlock), 37 Employee Relations Law Journal 28–53 (2011).
Reassessing the Predictive Validity of the IAT II: Reanalysis of Heider & Skowronski (2007) (with Hart Blanton), 13 North American Journal of Psychology 99–106 (2011).
Should It Be Easier to Get Married?, 2011 Michigan State Law Review 217–228 (2011).
The ASA’s Missed Opportunity to Promote Sound Science in Court (with John T. Monahan & W. Laurens Walker), 40 Social Methods & Research 605–620 (2011).
Good Causes and Bad Science, 63 Vanderbilt Law Review En Banc 133–147 (2010).
Good Scholarly Intentions Do Not Guarantee Good Policy, 95 Virginia Law Review in Brief 109–115 (2010).
Situated Identities Constrain Morally-Defensible Choices (with Philip E. Tetlock), 5 Perspectives on Psychological Science 206–208 (2010).
A Renewed Appeal for Adversarial Collaboration (with Philip E. Tetlock), 29 Research in Organizational Behavior 71–72 (2009).
Adversarial Collaboration Aborted but Our Offer Still Stands (with Philip E. Tetlock), 29 Research in Organizational Behavior 77–79 (2009).
Facts Do Matter: A Reply to Bagenstos (with Philip E. Tetlock), 37 Hofstra Law Review 737–761 (2009).
Implicit Bias and Accountability Systems: What Must Organizations Do to Prevent Discrimination? (with Philip E. Tetlock), 29 Research in Organizational Behavior 3–38 (2009).
Second Thoughts, 40 McGeorge Law Review 687–722 (2009).
Strong Claims and Weak Evidence: Reassessing the Predictive Validity of the IAT (with Hart Blanton et al.), 94 Journal of Applied Psychology 598–603 (2009).
The Limits of Social Framework Evidence (with John T. Monahan & W. Laurens Walker), 8 Law, Probability, & Risk 307–321 (2009).
Transparency Should Trump Trust: Rejoinder to McConnell and Leibold (2009) and Ziegert and Hanges (2009) (with Hart Blanton et al.), 94 Journal of Applied Psychology 598–603 (2009).
Calibrating Prejudice in Milliseconds (with Philip E. Tetlock), 71 Social Psychology Quarterly 12–16 (2008).
Contextual Evidence of Gender Discrimination: The Ascendance of “Social Frameworks” (with John T. Monahan & W. Laurens Walker), 94 Virginia Law Review 1715–1749 (2008).
Law and Proximity (with Adam J. Hirsch), 2008 University of Illinois Law Review 557–598 (2008).
The Challenge of Debiasing Personnel Decisions: Avoiding Both Under- and Over-Correction (with Terry L. Murray & Philip E. Tetlock), 1 Industrial & Organizational Psychology 439–443 (2008).
An Empirical Inquiry into the Relation of Corrective Justice to Distributive Justice (with Philip E. Tetlock), 3 Journal of Empirical Legal Studies 421–466 (2006).
Antidiscrimination Law and the Perils of Mindreading (with Philip E. Tetlock), 67 Ohio State Law Journal 1023–1121 (2006).
Government Regulation of Irrationality: Moral and Cognitive Hazards (with Jonathan Klick), 90 Minnesota Law Review 1620–1663 (2006).
Asking the Right Questions About Judge and Jury Competence, 32 Florida State University Law Review 519–528 (2005).
Beyond Fireside Inductions, 32 Florida State University Law Review 315–322 (2005).
Libertarian Paternalism Is an Oxymoron, 99 Northwestern University Law Review 1245–1277 (2005).
Case Studies, Counterfactuals, and Causal Explanations, 152 University of Pennsylvania Law Review 1517–1608 (2004).
Empirical Legal Scholarship as Scientific Dialogue, 83 North Carolina Law Review 167–204 (2004).
Experiments Behind the Veil: Structural Influences on Judgments of Social Justice (with Jennifer S. Lerner, Daniel G. Newman & Philip E. Tetlock), 24 Political Psychology 519–547 (2003).
Mapping Evidence Law, 2003 Michigan State Law Review 1065–1148 (2003).
Tendencies Versus Boundaries: Levels of Generality in Behavioral Law and Economics, 56 Vanderbilt Law Review 1781–1814 (2003).
Taking Behavioralism Too Seriously? The Unwarranted Pessimism of the New Behavorial Analysis of Law, 43 William & Mary Law Review 1907–2022 (2002).
Why Law and Economics' Perfect Rationality Should Not Be Traded for Behavioral Law and Economics' Equal Incompetence, 91 Georgetown Law Journal 67–168 (2002).
Against "Overwhelming" Appellate Activism: Constraining Harmless Error Review, 82 California Law Review 1335–1370 (1994).
Legitimacy and the Empowerment of Discretionary Legal Authority: The United States Supreme Court and Abortion Rights (with Tom M. Tyler), 43 Duke Law Journal 703–815 (1994).
Judgments of Social Justice: Compromises Between Equality and Efficiency (with Barbara Mellers, Lisa Ordóñez & Philip E. Tetlock), 65 Journal of Personality & Social Psychology 629–639 (1993).
Psychological Perspectives on Nuclear Deterrence (with Charles, Jr. McGuire & Philip E. Tetlock), 42 Annual Review of Psychology 239–276 (1991).

Current Courses

Civil Procedure
Evidence
Law and Social Science Colloquium
Professional Responsibility

All Courses

Civil Procedure
Evidence
Employment Discrimination
Law and Psychology

IN THE NEWS

02/25/2022
Study Shows Defense Expert Rebuttals Can Neutralize Prosecution Fingerprint Evidence (Center for Statistics and Applications in Forensic Evidence)
04/14/2021
Derek Chauvin Trial Turns Into Clash of Experts (The Wall Street Journal)
12/03/2017
The World is Relying on a Flawed Psychological Test to Fight Racism (Quartz)
06/05/2017
Implicit Bias: Is Everyone Racist? (BBC)
02/06/2017
12 Faculty Books Delve into Notions of Home and Nation (UVA Today)
01/11/2017
Psychology's Favorite Tool for Measuring Racism Isn't Up to the Job (New York Magazine)
04/18/2016
Law Professors Pen Guide to American Courts (WVTF)
02/01/2016
The Latest From the World of Bite Mark Evidence (The Washington Post)
04/20/2015
As CA Attorney General Launches Implicit Bias Training, a Look Behind the Science (89.3 KPCC)
08/11/2014
UVA Study: Implicit Bias Difficult to Overcome (The Daily Progress)
01/15/2012
What the Right Gets Right (The New York Times)
03/27/2011
Supreme Court to Weigh Sociology Issue in Wal-Mart Discrimination Case (The New York Times)
07/08/2010
Records Describe Scene of Violence at Love's Apartment (Baltimore Sun)
04/25/2008
Our Hidden Prejudices, on Trial (Chronicle of Higher Education)
12/12/2007
Fishburne to Pay $250,000 (The News Virginian)

AT UVA LAW

‘Common Law’: Predicting Violence
‘Common Law’ S4 E8: The Psychology of Eyewitness Memory
‘Common Law’: The Psychology of Eyewitness Memory
‘Common Law’: Why Fair Procedures Matter in Policing
‘Common Law’ S4 E4: Why Fair Procedures Matter in Policing
‘Common Law’ Podcast’s Fourth Season Features 4 ‘Co-Counsel’
Faculty Focus: Civil Litigation and Democratic Process
The Future of Law
New UVA Law Research May Test Jurors' Faith in Forensics
Ushering in the Death of Junk Science
UVA Law's Criminal Law Faculty Help Shape National Conversation on Justice
Legal Empiricist, Economist Joshua Fischman Returns to UVA Law Faculty
Charge to the Class of 2016 with UVA Law Professor Greg Mitchell
Professor Greg Mitchell's New Book Demystifies U.S. Court System
Insight From the Trenches: 7 J-Term Courses That Pair Outside Experts with UVA Law Professors
Greg Mitchell Wins UVA All-University Teaching Award
Charge to the Class of 2014, with Professor Greg Mitchell
“Valuing Attribution and Publication in Intellectual Property,” with Professor Chris Sprigman
Supreme Court Justices Cite Virginia Law Professors in Wal-Mart Decision
Faculty Q&A: Greg Mitchell, Larry Walker and John Monahan on Wal-Mart Employment Discrimination Class Action
Mitchell Explores What Psychology Can Bring to Study of Judicial Decision-Making in New Book
Common Law S4 E8: The Psychology of Eyewitness Memory

Featured Scholarship