Professor Hovenkamp is a recognized expert and prolific author in the areas of Antitrust law and American Legal History. He holds a joint appointment between Penn Law and Wharton Business. Prior to that Professor Hovenkamp was Professor of Law at the University of Iowa, and before that at the University of California, Hastings College of the Law. He is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

He has been the Rockefeller Foundation Fellow, Harvard Law School; Fellow of the American Council of Learned Societies, Harvard Law School; Faculty Scholar, University of Iowa; Presidential Lecturer, University of Iowa; and the recipient of the University of Iowa Collegiate Teaching Award.