Southwestern Law School has awarded endowed chairs to Professors Danielle Kei Hart and Andrea Freeman, recognizing their impactful contributions to legal education and scholarship. Professor Hart, known for her work in contract law and social justice, will serve as the Arleigh M. & William T. Woods Chair, while Professor Freeman, recognized for her research in critical race theory and food policy, has been named the Second Century Chair. 

Professor Hart, who joined Southwestern in 1999, teaches Contracts, Sales, and Critical Race Theory. She holds a B.A. from Whitman College, a J.D. from the University of Hawaii, and an LL.M. from Harvard Law School. Hart’s scholarship, which explores how contract law can reinforce systemic inequalities, particularly concerning access to justice, appears in journals including Texas A&M Law Review, Hastings Law Journal, and Nevada Law Journal. She is a co-author of the casebook Problems in Contract Law: Cases and Materials and has received Southwestern’s Excellence in Teaching Award—First Year Professor four times. Hart is actively involved with organizations such as ClassCrits, Inc., and the Law & Political Economy Collective, where she contributes to critical discussions on law and economic justice. 

Professor Freeman, who joined Southwestern in 2021, teaches Constitutional Law and Race, Culture, and Law. She holds a B.A. from the University of Toronto and a J.D. from the University of California, Berkeley. Freeman’s research focuses on critical race theory and food policy, particularly how food law affects marginalized communities. Her recent book, Ruin Their Crops on the Ground: The Politics of Food in the United States (Metropolitan 2024), addresses the impact of food policy on social and racial inequalities. She also authored Skimmed: Breastfeeding, Race, and Injustice (Stanford 2019). Freeman’s work has been featured in academic journals including the Harvard Civil Rights & Civil Liberties Law Review, the North Carolina Law Review, the U.C. Davis Law Review, and the Arizona Law Review and other publications such as The Washington Post, The Guardian, and The New Yorker. She is also a founding member of the Academy of Food Law and Policy and past Chair of the AALS Section on Constitutional Law. She received the 2020-2021 Fulbright King’s College London U.S. Scholar Award to study food inequality in the U.K. 

“Danielle Hart and Andrea Freeman bring exceptional expertise and passion to their work, both as teachers and scholars,” said Darby Dickerson, President and Dean of Southwestern Law School. “Their dedication to exploring the critical issues of our time not only enriches our students’ education but also contributes to the broader legal and social discourse. We are proud to support them in these roles.”