Janet Cooper Alexander
- Frederick I. Richman Professor of Law, Emerita
- Room 236, Crown Quadrangle
Biography
An expert in civil procedure, complex litigation and federal courts, Janet Cooper Alexander (MA ’73) has written on procedural design, the institutional dynamics of litigation and legal and constitutional issues related to terrorism. Her current research focuses on class actions, the civil jury, procedural design, federal courts and terrorism and the courts.
In addition to her role as a professor at Stanford Law School, Professor Alexander has been a principal investigator at the Stanford Center on Conflict and Negotiation, where she spearheaded interdisciplinary research in dispute resolution and litigation from 1994-2002. Before joining the Stanford Law School faculty in 1987, she was a partner at Morrison & Foerster in San Francisco and an attorney at Califano, Ross & Heineman in Washington, D.C. Professor Alexander is a former law clerk to U.S. Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall and Judge Shirley M. Hufstedler, LLB ’49, of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.
Education
- BA (with distinction) Swarthmore College 1968
- MA (English) Stanford University 1973
- Doctoral studies (English) Stanford University 1968-71
- JD University of California Berkeley School of Law (Boalt Hall) 1978
Affiliations & Honors
- Member, Association of American Law Schools
- Chair, AALS Section on Federal Courts, 2006
- Executive Committee, 2007
- Annual Meeting Program Chair and Chair-Elect, 2005
Terrorism and the Courts
The emergence of international terrorism and governments’ responses to it have led to novel questions for courts at the intersection of constitutional, criminal, international, and procedural law. This seminar will consider a series of interrelated problems that have arisen in federal courts over the treatment and punishment of suspected terrorists and compensation for victims.
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