Faculty The Stanford Law School faculty ranks within the top 5–10 range in the United States in terms of scholarly impact, lower than its USNews rank, and faculty members include some of the most widely cited legal scholars in intellectual property law (Mark Lemley) and legal ethics (Deborah L. Rhode). A 2012 study found that five Stanford Law professors are among the 50 most relevant law professors in the nation, and a 2013 study found that 25 percent of Stanford Law School's tenured faculty have been elected to the
American Academy of Arts & Sciences. In 2013,
The National Law Journal recognized Professors Jeffrey L. Fisher and Mark Lemley as two of the 100 most influential lawyers in America, and in 2014, a study by
Reuters identified former Dean Kathleen M. Sullivan and Professors Jeffrey L. Fisher, Pamela S. Karlan, and Brian Wolfman as among the 66 most successful appellate litigators before the
U.S. Supreme Court.
Current faculty •
Joseph Bankman – tax law •
Ralph Richard Banks – family law, employment discrimination law, race and the law •
Paul Brest (emeritus) – former Dean of the law school; constitutional law, judgment and decision-making •
Gerhard Casper (emeritus) – former President of Stanford University; constitutional law scholar •
Joshua Cohen (
emeritus) – political theorist and philosopher •
John J. Donohue III – law and economics, empirical analysis •
Jeffrey L. Fisher – co-director of the Stanford Supreme Court Litigation Clinic and appellate litigator who has argued more than 40 cases before the U.S. Supreme Court •
Richard Thompson Ford - civil rights, local & state government, critical theory; named one of Esquire's Best-Dressed Real Men in 2009 •
Barbara Fried - legal theory •
Lawrence M. Friedman – legal historian •
Paul Goldstein – international intellectual property, copyright, trademark; author of best-selling legal fiction novels •
Thomas C. Grey (emeritus) – legal theory, modern American legal thought, constitutional law •
Joseph Grundfest – corporate governance and securities litigation •
Thomas Heller – international trade and tax specialist •
Pamela S. Karlan – co-director of the Stanford Supreme Court Litigation Clinic; election law and constitutional law scholar who previously served as the U.S. Deputy Assistant Attorney General for Voting Rights in the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice •
Mark Kelman - Vice Dean of the law school; application of social sciences to law •
Michael Klausner – corporate law, business transactions, corporate governance, financial regulation •
Larry Kramer – constitutional law, conflict of laws •
Mark Lemley – intellectual property law, patent law, law and technology •
Jennifer Martínez – Provost of Stanford University since 2023; former Dean of the law school (2019-2023); human rights and international law scholar; represented
José Padilla before the U.S. Supreme Court •
Michael W. McConnell – constitutional law scholar and former Judge of the
United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit •
Nathaniel Persily – election law and constitutional law scholar •
A. Mitchell Polinsky – law and economics •
Deborah Sivas – environmental law •
Jane S. Schacter – sexual orientation law, statutory interpretation, constitutional law •
Barton Thompson – natural resources law •
Allen S. Weiner – international law scholar •
Robert Weisberg – criminal law and law and literature
Visiting faculty and lecturers •
Viola Canales – former litigator, short story author, and published novelist •
Lanhee Chen – lecturer in law and former chief policy advisor to
Mitt Romney •
Mariano-Florentino Cuéllar – visiting professor, current Justice of the
Supreme Court of California, former
White House official, and former Stanley Morrison Professor of Law at Stanford •
Russ Feingold – lecturer in law and former
U.S. Senator •
Bertram Fields – lecturer in law and entertainment attorney •
Benjamin Ginsberg – lecturer in law and former national counsel to the 2000 and 2004 Bush-Cheney presidential campaigns •
Jennifer Granick – intellectual property and First Amendment scholar and practitioner •
Thomas B. Griffith – lecturer in law and current judge of the
U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit •
Goodwin Liu – lecturer in law and current Associate Justice of the
Supreme Court of California Former faculty •
Michelle Alexander – associate professor of law and author of
The New Jim Crow •
Anthony G. Amsterdam – professor of clinical education (1969–1981) •
Barbara Allen Babcock (emerita) – criminal law, civil procedure, women's legal history •
Tom Campbell – professor of law (1987–2002), associate professor of law (1983–1987) •
Barbara A. Caulfield – lecturer in law (1988–2010) •
Mariano-Florentino Cuéllar – professor of law (2001–2015), visiting professor and Herman Phleger Professor (2015–2021), current president of the
Carnegie Endowment for International Peace; administrative law, legislation, international law, executive power, artificial intelligence •
John Hart Ely – professor of law (1982–1996); former Dean (1982–1987) •
Tom Goldstein – clinical lecturer (2004–2012); co-founder of the Stanford Supreme Court Litigation Clinic •
Gerald Gunther – professor of law (1962–1995), professor emeritus (1995–2002) •
Lawrence Lessig – professor of law (2000–2009); founder of the
Stanford Center for Internet and Society •
M. Elizabeth Magill – former Dean of the law school; constitutional law and administrative law scholar •
Lia Matera – teaching fellow •
Richard Posner – associate professor of law (1968–1969) •
Margaret Jane Radin – professor of law (1989–2006) •
Deborah L. Rhode – legal ethics, gender and the law; former president of the
Association of American Law Schools •
Joseph Tyree Sneed, III – professor of law (1962–1971) •
Kathleen M. Sullivan – professor of law (1992–2012); former Dean (1999–2004) •
Luke W. Cole – Professor of Environmental Law
Alumni Stanford Law School alumni practice in 61 countries, 50 U.S. states, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, the Marshall Islands, and Washington D.C. Stanford Law alumni are partners at 87 of the 100 largest law firms in the United States; 94 of the largest law firms employ Stanford Law alumni as attorneys. Consistent with Stanford's expertise in law and technology, Stanford Law graduates currently work or have previously worked as general counsels for many of the leading high-tech companies, including Microsoft, Google, Cisco, eBay, Yahoo!, Qualcomm, Oracle, and Genentech. The law school's alumni include several of the first women to occupy Chief Justice or Associate Justice posts on
supreme courts: former
Chief Justice of New Zealand Sian Elias, retired
U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, and the late
Chief Justice of Washington Barbara Durham. Other justices of supreme courts who graduated from Stanford Law include the late
Chief Justice of the United States William Rehnquist, retired
Chief Justice of California Supreme Court Ronald M. George, retired
California Supreme Court Justice Carlos R. Moreno, and the late California Supreme Court Justice
Frank K. Richardson. ==See also==