Lawyerly Lairs: Professor Laurence Tribe's $3.4 Million Mansion

The eminent constitutional scholar has a lovely, albeit eccentrically decorated, home.

The front of the house doesn't do it justice.

The front of the house doesn’t do it justice.

Before we dig into the interior, some of you might be wondering: law professors are paid well, but are they paid $3.4-million-house well? As you’ll see if you look at the public records, the house is owned by Tribe himself (or his trust); this is not an NYU Law situation (where the university owns $3.5 million, $3.6 million, and $5.2 million properties, which it makes available to professors on very favorable terms).

In Tribe’s case, however, recall that the professor has a longstanding and successful private practice on the side. Last year he got a lot of flak from his fellow liberals for coming to the defense of the coal industry in a challenge to EPA regulations aimed at fighting global warming (regulations issued by the administration of his former star pupil at HLS, Barack Obama). But as noted by fellow law professor Tim Wu, Tribe supports strong corporate rights just as he supports strong individual rights, “and in this capacity he has at times advanced constitutional arguments that might invalidate great parts of the administrative state” — on behalf of deep-pocketed clients like Nike, General Electric, and Peabody Energy (the coal company turned EPA antagonist).

Now, on to Professor Tribe’s residence. It’s a three-story home in the Queen Anne style, with six bedrooms, four and a half baths, and almost 5,000 square feet of living space. Here’s the gracious foyer:

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To the left is the formal living room, furnished in an elegant (if unexciting) modern style:

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33 Fresh Pond Parkway 4

I am less a fan of the dining room….

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