John S. Wiley

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Only a few instructors are able at once to entertain and to inform, to teach and to delight. Law professor John Wiley is among these few. Wiley began his teaching career at UCLA in 1983, having just completed two prestigious clerkships, one with the U.S. Supreme Court. He possesses not only a powerful intellect, but also a challenging, committed teaching style that has been described, in the most favorable sense, as innovative and risky. Wiley is especially noted for using economic theory to illuminate and critique difficult areas of the law, including intellectual property and anti-trust law.

He has also become legend for his unique approach to class presentation, having virtually abolished student note-taking. In a happy turnabout, it is not the students who write down the teacher’s remarks in Wiley’s classes, but rather the teacher who makes note of student input! Wiley wants students to participate in class discussions; he does not want them with heads down, madly scribbling. So, in advance of each class, Wiley prepares a detailed outline of his lecture. After guiding the class through the material, he supplements his notes with student insights, comments and suggestions. Later, he distributes the finished notes, so that by the end of the semester, every student has a written sketch of the information covered in each class session. His approach works. Students often remark that Wiley “treats them as colleagues,” a quality common to many of the truly great teachers.