Paul Brest
- Professor of Law, Emeritus
- Director of Law and Policy Lab
- Room N240, Neukom Building
Biography
Paul Brest is Professor Emeritus (active), at Stanford Law School, a lecturer at the Stanford Graduate School of Business, faculty director of the Stanford Law and Policy Lab, and faculty director of the Effective Philanthropy Learning Initiative at the Stanford Center on Philanthropy and Civil Society. He was dean of Stanford Law School from 1987-99 and president of the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation from 2000-2012.
He is co-author of Money Well Spent: A Strategic Guide to Smart Philanthropy (2nd ed 2018), Problem Solving, Decision Making, and Professional Judgment (2010), and Processes of Constitutional Decision Making (7th ed. 2018); of articles on constitutional law, philanthropy, and impact investing; and of the online courses on Developing a Strategy For Social Change and Thinking in Systems. His current courses include Problem Solving for Social Change (SLS and GSB), The University in Crisis (GSB), Citizenship in the 21st Century (H&S), and Democracy and Disagreement (H&S).
Professor Brest is a fellow in the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and holds honorary degrees from Northwestern University School of Law and Swarthmore College. Before joining the Stanford Law School faculty in 1969, he clerked for Judge Bailey Aldrich of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit and Justice John M. Harlan of the U.S. Supreme Court, and did civil rights litigation with the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund in Mississippi.
Education
- BA Swarthmore College 1962
- LLB Harvard Law School 1965
Courses
- Democracy and Disagreement
- Discussion (1L): Academic Freedom, Free Expression, Diversity, and Inclusion
- Discussion (1L): The University in Crisis
- Discussion (1L): Universities in Crisis
- Elements of Policy Analysis
- Policy Practicum: Assessing Whether Fossil Fuel Companies Have Disseminated Disinformation
- Policy Practicum: Improving Constructive Discourse and Civic Engagement at Stanford
- Policy Practicum: Thinking in Systems
- Problem Solving and Decision Making for Public Policy and Social Change
- Thinking in Systems
Affiliations & Honors
- Honorary LLD, Northeastern University School of Law, 1980; Swarthmore College, 1991
- Fellow, American Academy of Arts and Sciences
Policy Practicums
Key Works
News
How the Compact Curtails Academic Freedom
Inside Higher Ed
Paul Brest wrote an opinion piece, "How the Compact Curtails Academic Freedom", published by Inside Higher Ed. https://www.insidehighered.com/opinion/views/2025/10/23/how-compact-curtails-academic-freedom-opinion
Read More : How the Compact Curtails Academic Freedom