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About the Neukom Center for the Rule of Law

Building on Stanford Law School’s legacy of rule of law scholarship, the Neukom Center for the Rule of Law advances accountability, just laws, open government, and accessible justice worldwide through rigorous research, practical engagement, and partnerships that drive real-world impact.

Led by our Faculty Director, Professor Diego Zambrano, the Neukom Center works across several focus areas, including Judicial Independence and Quality, Private Enforcement and the Rule of Law, Teaching the Rule of Law, and Revitalizing 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 such as the World Justice Project, the Bingham Centre for the Rule of Law, and the Wright Center for the Study of Computation and Just Communities at Dartmouth.

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

— William H. Neukom

Leadership

Fellows

Affiliates

Jan van Zyl Smit

Jan van Zyl Smit

  • Non-residential Fellow, Neukom Center for the Rule of Law
  • Director of the Bingham Centre for the Rule of Law at the British Institute of International and Comparative Law (BIICL)

Neukom Student Fellows

2

Dayle Chung

  • Rule of Law Student Fellow
Fiona Clunan

Fiona Clunan

  • Rule of Law Student Fellow
Ayan

Ayan Kent

  • Rule of Law Student Fellow
Christine Li

Christine Li

  • Rule of Law Student Fellow
Emily F. Liu

Emily F. Liu

  • Rule of Law Student Fellow
Amanda 1

Amanda Morrison

  • Rule of Law Student Fellow
Ben Vagle

Ben Vagle

  • Rule of Law Student Fellow

Affiliated Faculty

  • Professor of Law, Emeritus
  • Director of Law and Policy Lab

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

  • Carl and Sheila Spaeth Professor of Law
  • Professor, by courtesy, English
  • Professor, by courtesy, Comparative Literature

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

  • Associate Professor
  • Director, International Human Rights and Conflict Resolution Clinic

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

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

Partners