David Freeman Engstrom

Biography

David Freeman Engstrom’s teaching and writing focus on the institutional design of litigation and regulatory regimes, as well as topics in administrative law, civil procedure, constitutional law, civil rights, and law and education. His award-winning scholarship has appeared in Stanford Law Review, Yale Law Journal, and Columbia Law Review, among others, and has been cited in dozens of federal and state court decisions and litigation briefs. His expert commentary has appeared in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, USA Today, The National Law Journal, CNN, and MSNBC. He has served as counsel or consultant to a range of entities, including law firms, major corporations, and a leading litigation finance company. Recent scholarly projects include the first large-scale empirical investigation of qui tam litigation under the False Claims Act. Current projects include a book charting the institutional evolution of American job discrimination laws, an empirical analysis of agency use of “guidance” documents, and a study of the political economy of American civil procedure rulemaking. Professor Engstrom is an elected member of the American Law Institute and also currently serves on the Model Adjudication Rules Working Group of the Administrative Conference of the United States. Before joining Stanford’s faculty, Engstrom litigated at Kellogg, Huber, Hansen, Todd, Evans & Figel in Washington, D.C., where he represented clients before the U.S. Supreme Court, U.S. Courts of Appeals, and various trial courts and agencies. He also clerked for (now Chief) Judge Diane P. Wood of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit and was a John M. Olin Fellow at Yale Law School. Earlier in his career, he worked on education, early childhood, and civil rights issues at the Edward Zigler Center at Yale University and the Hewlett Foundation and taught high school and coached football in the Mississippi Delta. He holds a J.D. from Stanford Law School, an M.Sc. from Oxford University, and a Ph.D. from Yale University.

Research Interest

Administrative Law, Anti-Discrimination Law, Civil Procedure & Litigation, Constitutional Law, Public Policy & Empirical Studies