Dr. Robert A. Levy is chairman of the board of directors at the Cato Institute. Dr. Levy is also a director of the Institute for Justice, the Foundation for Government Accountability, and the Forum Club of Southwest Florida. Prior to assuming the chairmanship, Dr. Levy was a Senior Fellow in Constitutional Studies at the Cato Institute, which was founded in 1977 and which seeks to broaden the parameters of public policy debate to allow consideration of more options that are consistent with the traditional American principles of limited government, individual liberty, and peace.
Prior to joining Cato in 1997, Dr. Levy's career in business began with his graduating with a Ph.D. in business in 1966 and founding CDA Investment Technologies, Inc., a major provider of financial information and software. Dr. Levy served as chief executive officer of CDA until 1991 when he left the company to obtain a law degree at George Mason University. While in law school, Dr. Levy was chief articles editor of the George Mason Law Review. Upon graduating from the law school in 1994, Dr. Levy clerked for Judge Royce C. Lamberth on the U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., and for Judge Douglas H. Ginsburg on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.
One year after leaving George Mason, Dr. Levy established The Robert A. Levy Fellowship in Law and Liberty. The purpose of the fellowship is to encourage emerging scholars to pursue a juris doctor degree at Antonin Scalia Law School, George Mason University. A Levy Fellow must either have earned a Ph.D. in economics, philosophy, political science, finance, or a related field from an accredited university or have successfully completed all course work in one of the above fields and have passed a general exam for a Ph.D. in one of those fields from an accredited university. Additionally, each fellow must pledge that it is his or her intention to pursue a policy-related or an academic career with an interdisciplinary teaching and research specialization.
It has been Dr. Levy's hope that the program participants will better understand the institutions of a free society and that they will develop into productive scholars whose writings reflect the importance of private property, the rule of law, and the market process to the preservation of individual liberty. Two or more Levy Fellowships are granted per year. The first two Levy Fellowships were awarded in 1995, with 13 fellowships awarded to date. Currently there are 5 Levy Fellows pursuing their J.D. at the law school.
Dr. Levy is also an adjunct professor at the Georgetown University Law Center, a director of the Institute for Justice, and a trustee of The Objectivist Center. He received his Ph.D. in business from the American University in 1966 and his J.D. in 1994 from Antonin Scalia Law School, George Mason University.