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Hon. Diane P. Wood (Ret.)
Arbitrator, Mediator, Expert & Mock Trial Advisor
Download BioJudge Diane P. Wood served for nearly three decades on the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, including seven years as Chief Judge. Her career also includes senior leadership in the U.S. Department of Justice Antitrust Division, private practice, international legal and policy work, and more than four decades on the faculty of the University of Chicago Law School.
Judge Wood was appointed to the Seventh Circuit in 1995 and served until her retirement in April 2024. From 2013 to 2020, she served as Chief Judge, becoming the first woman to lead the circuit.
Her antitrust experience extends well beyond the bench. From 1993 to 1995, Judge Wood served as Deputy Assistant Attorney General in the Antitrust Division of the U.S. Department of Justice, with responsibility for the Division’s international, appellate, and legal policy matters. Earlier, while in private practice at Covington & Burling, she handled trial and appellate antitrust litigation, antitrust counseling, general litigation, and international law matters.
Judge Wood also has significant international experience. Early in her career, she served in the U.S. Department of State’s Office of the Legal Adviser, working on international investment, antitrust, and transfer-of-technology issues. She later served as a consultant to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s Committee on Competition Law and Policy, where she co-authored a study of merger-control procedures. Her academic research and teaching have included international antitrust, international trade, and international business.
Judge Wood has been a member of the University of Chicago Law School faculty since 1981 and currently serves as a Senior Lecturer in Law. Her research interests include antitrust, federal civil procedure, and international trade and business. She previously served as Associate Dean and as the Harold J. and Marion F. Green Professor of International Legal Studies, becoming the first woman at the Law School to hold a named chair.
Judge Wood also served from 2007 to 2013 on the Judicial Conference of the United States Committee on Rules of Practice and Procedure.
Today, Judge Wood serves as Director of The American Law Institute. She was elected to ALI in 1990, elected to its Council in 2003, and became Director in May 2023.
Judge Wood began her legal career clerking for Judge Irving L. Goldberg of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit and Justice Harry A. Blackmun of the U.S. Supreme Court.
She received her B.A. in English with highest and special honors from the University of Texas at Austin and her J.D. with high honors from the University of Texas School of Law. She was elected to Phi Beta Kappa and Order of the Coif.
In 2015, the U.S. Department of Justice Antitrust Division presented Judge Wood with the John Sherman Award for her contributions to the field of antitrust.
Areas of Expertise
- ANTITRUST
- INTERNATIONAL LAW
- INTERNATIONAL ARBITRATION
Judicial & Professional Leadership
United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit
Circuit Judge, 1995–2024
Chief Judge, 2013–2020
The American Law Institute
Director, May 2023–present
Member, 1990–present
Elected to Council, 2003
U.S. Department of Justice, Antitrust Division
Deputy Assistant Attorney General for International, Appellate, and Legal Policy Matters, 1993–1995
Judicial Conference of the United States
Committee on Rules of Practice and Procedure, 2007–2013
University of Chicago Law School
Senior Lecturer in Law, 1995–present
Harold J. and Marion F. Green Professor of International Legal Studies, 1990–1995
Associate Dean, 1989–1992
Professor of Law, 1988–1990
Assistant Professor of Law, 1981–1988
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, Committee on Competition Law and Policy
Consultant, 1992–1993
Covington & Burling
Associate, 1978–1980
Trial and appellate antitrust litigation, antitrust counseling, general litigation, and international law
U.S. Department of State, Office of the Legal Adviser
Attorney-Adviser, 1977–1978
Education
University of Texas School of Law
J.D., high honors, 1975
Order of the Coif
University of Texas at Austin
B.A., English, highest and special honors, 1971
Phi Beta Kappa
Published Works
- “The Art of Agreeable Disagreement,” Editorial, 2 Transatlantic L. J. 193 (Sept. 2024 issue)
- “Managerial Judging in the Courts of Appeals” (with Zachary D. Clopton), 43 Rev. of Litig. 87 (2023)
- “Shortlisted” (with Renee Knake Jefferson and Hannah Brenner Johnson), 106 Judicature 8 (2023)
- “Indian Sovereignty in Context,” 2022 Wis. L. Rev. 211
- “Words, Words, Words: Some Reflections on the Texas Law Review,” 100 Tex. L. Rev. Online 172 (2022)
- “Losing Faith: Why Public Distrust in the Judiciary Matters—and What Judges Can Do About It” (with Raymond J. Lohier, Jr., Jeffrey S. Sutton, and David F. Levi), 106 Judicature 70 (2022)
- “In Honor of Stephen Burbank: Beyond the Forest and the Trees,” 169 U. Pa. L. Rev. 2061 (2021) and 23 U. Pa. J. Const. L. 1991 (2021)
- “The Enduring Challenges for Habeas Corpus,” Notre Dame Law Review (Vol. 95, Issue 5, 2020)
- “The Old New (or is it the New Old) Antitrust: I’m Not Dead Yet!!” 51 Loyola U. Chi. L. J. 1 (2019)
- “Some Observations About Judicial Precedents,” China Law Connect, Issue 7 (December 2019)
- “Sexual Harassment Litigation with a Dose of Reality,” 2019 Univ. Chicago L. Forum 395 (2019)
- Reconciling Efficiency and Equity: A Global Challenge for Competition Policy, ch. 1, Diane Wood, “Eleanor Fox: Insights from an Outsider,” at 19, Damien Gerard and Ioannis Lianos, eds. (2019)
- “Frederic Jenny: Standing Up for Convergence and Relevance in Antitrust,” Liber Amicorum, Volume I (Concurrences Antitrust Publications & Events)
- “Justice Blackmun and Individual Rights,” 122 Dickinson L. Rev. 33 (2018)
- Antitrust Law and Trade Regulation: Cases and Materials, 7th ed. (with A. Douglas Melamed, Randal C. Picker, Philip Weiser) (Foundation Press, 2018)