Interview with Prof. Ariel Porat

Prof. Ariel Porat- wins 2014 EMET Prize and was elected to the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities

31 December 2014
Interview with Prof. Ariel Porat

Professor Ariel Porat won the 2014 EMET prize in the category of social science and law. Porat won the prestigious prize "for his path-breaking research in the fields of Tort Law and Contract Law, for his contribution to the deepening of the theoretical understanding of private law and for his contribution to the development of the law of Israel.

This award joins a long list of awards awarded to Prof. Porat over the years. Among these awards is the 2010 Cheshin Prize for Academic Excellency of Law and the 2012 Zeltner Prize for the Research of Law. Prof. Porat also won the Zusman Award (for young researches) and the Tel Aviv University 2008 Rector Award for teaching Excellency. This year, Prof. Porat was elected as a member of the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities, one of the most distinguished forms of evaluation for research achievements of all disciplines.

 

From Contracts to Economic Analysis of Law

Prof. Porat began his studies at the Buchman Faculty of Law, Tel-Aviv University. While he was a student, Porat tells us, that he preferred contract law, and he continues to be academically active within this field in his research.  He discovered tort law later on in his academic path and not entirely by choice.  When he joined TAU Law as a faculty member, there were more than enough professors of contracts, and he found himself having to teach torts. Looking back, Porat is very pleased that the circumstances led him to specialize in torts, which he feels is relevant to everyone's basic interests.  

 

Prof. Porat points out that in Chicago University, where he visits on a regular basis, it is commonly expected of a faculty member to be able to study and teach whichever subject that is required. This working method affected his research to the extent that he could sometimes maneuver between different areas of law. An example for that are his recent few articles on criminal law.

 

The methodology of research that Prof. Porat commonly uses is economic analysis of law. While he was a student, legal education was conducted in a doctrinal manner, mainly focusing on judicial opinions and with almost no regards to any theories of law. While in the process of writing his PhD (supervised by Prof. Daniel Friedmann), Porat discovered the abundant American writing on the economic analysis of law and started an autodidact process. Prof. Porat’s most formative experience occurred during his stay at Yale University for his Post-doctoral studies. Porat enrolled in a tort law class, intended for first year students, taught by Professor Guido Calabresi, today, a judge at the Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit and one of the founding fathers of the Economic Analysis of the Law. Porat confesses that this experience had a great influence over him, and at that point, he made the decision to focus his research on torts and the economic analysis of law. Indeed, to this day, Porat incorporates economic analysis throughout his courses, and he and Judge Calabresi still keep in touch.

 

Law and Family

Both of Prof. Porat’s parents served as judges (his father at the Tel Aviv District Court, and his mother at the National Labor Court), which inevitably had an effect on his career choice. Since he was a child, he knew this would be his path. Within his own family, he used to share his ideas and work with his three children, although only one of them chose to continue in his father’s footsteps. Prof. Porat remembers asking his son, Haggai, now a law student at TAU Law, what motivated him to study law; Haggai answered that he has been studying law since he was six years old…

 

In 1990, Prof. Porat returned to TAU Law as a faculty member. Regarding the changes that have occurred within the Faculty over the years, he points out to the faculty’s composition. Porat states that nowadays, most faculty members are highly identified with international and multi-disciplinary education. Most studied at a certain point in law schools abroad, mainly in the United States. This factor, Prof. Porat continues, has an effect upon the way in which they teach. In accordance, the Faculty's academic achievements has endured a more international point of view.  

 

Academic Desire

For all the young students, currently attending law school, Prof. Porat recommends to take a deep look into their hearts and figure out who they really are and how they envision their lives. Prof. Porat believes that an area of practice should be a decision derived by passion, this is the same advice he gave his own children. Prof. Porat shares that at the beginning of his professional path, he never imagined that he would end up at the academy; in fact, by the end of his Ph.D. studies, he still was not convinced. He used to think of the academy as too individualistic, a place where you spend most of your time in solitude, and as a social person, Prof. Porat wanted to interact with other people. Prof. Porat has concluded his own internship at the Civil Department at the General Attorney's office in Tel Aviv. During his internship, he appeared before courts frequently and quite enjoyed the experience. It was that tort law class with Prof. Calabresi that eventually convinced him to pursue an academic career, and Porat is happier with his decision with every passing year. Prof. Porat believes that the only way to succeed at something is if you truly are passionate about it, then success will shortly follow.

 

When asked about his most fulfilling achievement, Prof. Porat talks about the Periphery Program, which he established while acting as the Dean of TAU Law. Back then, Prof. Porat felt that the psychometric score, as a standard requirement for acceptance to law school, did not reflect accurately the candidates’ potential. He thought that a better standard would be excellency among peers. A student who grew up in the periphery and does not hold high enough psychometric score to be admitted to the university, but is one of the leading student among 300 of his or her peers, probably has excellent qualities that the university is seeking for, and is well-deserved admittance as a university student. At the program’s first year, ten students were admitted based on relative excellency, only one of which would have passed the formal standard of admission. Out of the ten, seven graduated their first year studies with honors. It is now more than ten years that the program operates, and by now, there are specially assigned seats for students of this program throughout the university.

 

To our request, Prof. Porat tries to look onto the future, and to the next peak to be conquered, and confesses that the domain of academic management is quite appealing to him. However, for the meantime, his research work provides him with many new challenges, and as he believes- “personal fulfillment is more important than any award.”"

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