The Paper Chase (novel) - Professor Charles W. Kingsfield Jr

Professor Charles W. Kingsfield Jr

Professor Charles W. Kingsfield Jr. is one of the key characters in the novel, film and television series. Kingsfield is an imperious, highly respected (and feared) professor of contracts at Harvard Law School, known for his unrelenting use of the Socratic method on his students.

Kingsfield himself was a law student at Harvard, as shown by the presence of his own class notes in the institution's archives. Kingsfield has a daughter with a fiercely independent personality.

In modern parlance, law students are quick to compare their most challenging professors to Kingsfield.

There are several possible inspirations for the character. Retired Harvard Law professor Clark Byse is said to have been the inspiration for the character's position at Harvard Law School, though not the character's personality. According to John Houseman, the inspiration for Kingsfield was crusty professor Edward "Bull" Warren, also reflected in the Boston Globe in 2004. Houseman noted that Kingsfield's behavior is actually a toned-down version of Warren's famous classroom rudeness, as enshrined in classroom lore, and recounted several examples of the professor's putdowns.