Thomas E. Kauper

Thomas E. Kauper (September 25, 1935 – February 9, 2025) was an American lawyer and legal scholar. He was the Henry M. Butzel Professor of Law Emeritus at the University of Michigan Law School. Kauper was best known as a property law and antitrust expert. Kauper earned his A.B. from the University of Michigan in 1957 and his J.D. from the University of Michigan Law School in 1960. At Michigan Law, Kauper was editor-in-chief of the Michigan Law Review and was elected to the Order of the Coif.

Kauper twice took leaves of absence from Michigan Law faculty to serve in U.S. Department of Justice posts: first as deputy assistant attorney general in the Office of Legal Counsel from 1969 to 1971, where he was deputy to William H. Rehnquist, and then as Assistant Attorney General for the Antitrust Division from 1972 to 1976.