Rate My Professor Geoffrey Rapp

Geoffrey Rapp served as the Harold A. Anderson Professor of Law and Values and senior associate dean for academic affairs at the University of Toledo College of Law for 21 years, joining the faculty in 2004. He earned an AB magna cum laude in economics from Harvard College, where he was elected to Phi Beta Kappa; an MSS from the US Army War College; and a JD from Yale Law School, serving as notes editor of the Yale Law Journal and as a teaching fellow and head teaching fellow in the Departments of Economics and Computer Science. Prior to academia, he clerked for Judge Cornelia Kennedy of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit and worked in private practice. In his administrative role at Toledo Law, Rapp oversaw academic affairs, coached moot court teams that competed nationally, and contributed to partnerships such as joint degree programs with Adrian College and Marietta College.

Rapp's research and teaching focus on torts, corporate law, and the sports industry. He authored the casebook Tort Law in Focus, published by Wolters Kluwer (now Aspen Publishing) in 2020. His scholarly articles have appeared in prestigious journals including the North Carolina Law Review, Washington University Law Review, Georgia Law Review, Washington & Lee Law Review, BYU Law Review, and Boston University Law Review. Select publications include 'The Wreckage of Recklessness' (Washington University Law Review, 2008), 'Defense Against Outrage and the Perils of Parasitic Torts' (Georgia Law Review, 2010), and 'Suicide, Concussions, and the NFL' (FIU Law Review, 2012). In 2011, he testified before the U.S. Congress on Dodd-Frank whistleblower bounties. Rapp received the University of Toledo's Outstanding Faculty Research and Scholarship Award in 2016, the College of Law's Beth A. Eisler Award for First-Year Teaching in 2023, and was named 2013 Outstanding Faculty Member by the law alumni association. One of his articles was selected twice as one of the top 10 law review articles of 2012. He chaired the AALS Section on Associate Deans for Academic Affairs and Research in 2019, served on LSAC committees from 2017 to 2025, and led or participated in seven ABA site visit teams.