Business Law Scholar, Former County Mayor Lee Harris Joins Law School

Harris, who is completing his second term as Shelby County mayor, will teach contracts, business associations and mergers and acquisitions as a tenured law professor.

"Professor Harris' extensive business and corporate law expertise combined with the practical application of business law to public policy will set UM School of Law apart and provide our students with distinct knowledge and skills," said Fred Slabach, the school's dean.

Harris has admired the work done on the Ole Miss campus for many years.

"This is one of the top college campuses in the South," he said. "I wanted to be part of this vibrant community of educators and students."

Before serving as mayor, Harris was a faculty member at the University of Memphis School of Law for 13 years and held the inaugural FedEx Professorship from 2012 to 2018. He authored two textbooks about business law and also taught at George Washington School of Law, Yale Law School and Grenoble Ecole de Management in France.

He also brings private sector experience from when he practiced law with the firm of Baker Donelson in Memphis.

"I love teaching and creating a serious, yet fun, classroom experience for students," he said. "I'm teaching the new law students in the fall, and I already know how exciting and life-changing this time is for entering students.

"I plan to ask many very direct questions and teach first-year students the content of law, as well as how to stand, speak and organize their thinking like a lawyer."

Harris holds a law degree from Yale Law School and an undergraduate degree from Morehouse College, where he majored in international studies and minored in economics.

"Ole Miss is chock-full of opportunity, too many stimulating learning environments to count, a vast community of scholars who are mission-aligned in the search for the truth and problem-solving, and administrators and campus leaders who deeply care about supporting the most innovative research," he said.

Harris plans to continue exploring the research he began before his time in public service, as well as new topics.

"I'll restart my work on surfacing the connections between corporate institutions and politics, which has been the heart of my research for years," he said. "But my research interests have broadened significantly as I have seen more and, frankly, lived.

"For instance, I'll also be working on issues in technology, particularly artificial intelligence, and how these new AI models impact higher education."

Harris has also become interested in the post-emancipation period in the South.

"I can think of no better place to ponder this history seriously than at Ole Miss, given the incredible historical work being done by the history and law faculty," he said.

Top: Lee Harris, a business and corporate law expert, joins the School of Law as a tenured professor this fall. Photo by Srijita Chattopadhyay/Ole Miss Digital Imaging Services