Neukom Center for the Rule of Law

About the Neukom Center for the Rule of Law

Building on Stanford Law School’s long-standing leadership in promoting the rule of law, the Sally B. and William H. Neukom Center for the Rule of Law brings together research, teaching, and practical initiatives to strengthen accountable governance, fair laws, and accessible justice worldwide. Established in 2022, the Center serves as an interdisciplinary hub that connects scholars, practitioners, and policymakers. Through research, teaching, and public dialogue, the Center advances understanding of how strong legal institutions and civic engagement sustain the rule of law as the foundation for justice and good governance everywhere.

The Neukom Center works across several focus areas, including Judicial Independence and Quality, Private Enforcement and the Rule of Law, and Restoring the Rule of Law. The Center collaborates across Stanford University, including with the University’s Center on Democracy, Development, and the Rule of Law; and with the Hoover Institution. The Center also works closely with institutions around the world , including the World Justice Project and the Wright Center for the Study of Computation and Just Communities at Dartmouth.

In Memoriam

William H. Neukom
Bill was everything we teach our students to be: a life-long lawyer of deep integrity who was committed to the legal profession and the rule of law. Despite his enormously successful career, he was humble, reminding everyone constantly that he considered himself a small-town lawyer. He was a fierce defender of our legal traditions and institutions. And he had a passionate interest in how courts could deliver for everyday people.

Professor Diego A. Zambrano, Professor of Law, Associate Dean for Global Programs, and Faculty Director of the Neukom Center for the Rule of Law

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Neukom Center for the Rule of Law 11

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Leadership

Publications/Working Papers

Affiliated Faculty

Colleen Honigsberg

Colleen Honigsberg

  • Professor of Law
  • Bernard Bergreen Faculty Scholar
  • Associate Dean of Curriculum
  • Faculty Co-Director, Arthur and Toni Rembe Rock Center for Corporate Governance
  • Senior Fellow, Stanford Institute for Economic and Policy Research (SIEPR)
Jenny S. Martinez 2

Jenny S. Martinez

  • Provost
  • Professor of Law
  • Frederick Emmons Terman Professorship
  • Senior Fellow, by courtesy, Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies
Curtis J. Milhaupt

Curtis J. Milhaupt

  • William F. Baxter-Visa International Professor of Law
  • Senior Fellow, by courtesy, Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies
Julian Nyarko

Julian Nyarko

  • Professor of Law
  • Co-Chair Stanford Law AI Initiative
  • Senior Fellow, Stanford Institute for Human-Cented AI (HAI)
Allen S. Weiner

Allen S. Weiner

  • Senior Lecturer in Law
  • Director, Stanford Program in International and Comparative Law
  • Director, Stanford Humanitarian Program
  • Director, Stanford Center on International Conflict and Negotiation

Affiliates

Fundamental to an equitable world, the rule of law is the very foundation of communities of justice, opportunity and peace.

William H. Neukom

Coursework

Projects

Previous Work Under Rule of Law Program

For more than two decades, Stanford University’s Rule of Law Program engaged in groundbreaking scholarship, research, and course offerings. The resulting body of work, and the program’s ongoing projects, now feed into the Neukom Center, positioning the Law School’s new home for rule of law initiatives for immediate impact.

Over the years, the Rule of Law Program sponsored numerous on-the-ground projects to advance the rule of law in Southeast Asia, South Asia, the Middle East, and Africa, as well as offered a broad range of courses to confront pressing global challenges. Research projects explored topics ranging from commercial arbitration in Iraqi Kurdistan to the development of law and policy in Cambodia.

The program’s longrunning Afghanistan Legal Education Project (ALEP) continues in a new form with the launch of the Center. ALEP, which has partnered with the U.S. Department of State to further education projects in Afghanistan, has transitioned to an online format, which continues to drive educational opportunities, especially for Afghan women.

learn more : Previous Work Under Rule of Law Program
What We Do
Lawyers are essential in strengthening and advancing rule of law here in the U.S. and abroad.

Jenny S. Martinez, Provost and Former Dean of Stanford Law School