STANFORD, Calif., July 6, 2026 — Albert H. Choi, a leading scholar of law and economics, contract law, mergers and acquisitions, and corporate law, has joined the Stanford Law School faculty as professor of law.

Choi comes to Stanford from the University of Michigan Law School, where he was on the faculty since 2019. His wide-ranging scholarship applies economic analysis to some of the central questions in business law, private law, and litigation, including corporate governance, merger agreements, contractual remedies, shareholder litigation, antitrust enforcement, and the design of legal institutions.

“Albert Choi is a superb and innovative scholar who has made many important contributions to corporate law, contract law, and law and economics,” said Dean George Triantis, JSD ’89, Richard E. Lang Professor of Law. “He takes widely assumed practical intuitions in these fields and subjects them to rigorous economic analysis. Whether dispelling or confirming them, he provides pathbreaking insights.”

Choi’s scholarly path grew out of his training in both economics and law. While concurrently pursuing a PhD in economics at MIT and a JD at Yale, he became interested in the ways economic analysis could shed light on contract law and the legal structures that shape markets and transactions.

“I have always been interested in using economic analysis to better understand how law works in practice,” Choi said. “In contracts, corporate law, and mergers and acquisitions, many interesting questions arise from the relationship between legal doctrine, economic theory, and the way lawyers structure transactions. Stanford is an extraordinary place to pursue those questions, and I am excited to join a faculty and student community that values rigorous, interdisciplinary scholarship.”

“Albert is incredibly versatile intellectually,” said A. Mitchell Polinsky, the Josephine Scott Crocker Professor of Law and Economics. “Most law and economics scholars are either good at applied theoretical work or at empirical research. Much of Albert’s earlier work was of the first sort, but he is now also undertaking empirical research, which is a rare combination. In seminar presentations, I have been impressed by the analytical rigor of his thinking and by his insightful responses to challenging questions. My interactions with Albert have been both enjoyable and intellectually rewarding, and he will be a very good colleague and contributor to the law and economics and business communities at Stanford Law School.”

Choi visited Stanford Law School in fall 2023 as the Herman Phleger Visiting Professor of Law, teaching mergers and acquisitions. He said the experience gave him an early sense of Stanford’s students and vibrant intellectual community.

Choi’s work has appeared in leading law reviews and peer-reviewed journals, including the American Economic Review, American Economic Journal: Microeconomics, Journal of Industrial Economics, Yale Law Journal, University of Chicago Law Review, NYU Law Review, Virginia Law Review, Journal of Law, Economics, and Organization, Journal of Legal Studies, and Journal of Law and Economics. His recent and forthcoming work includes scholarship on contractual remedies in mergers, IPO non-disclosure liability, contract modification, antitrust and environmentalism, and meme stock investing and corporate governance.

In the classroom, he said, he tries to help students connect early to the real-world realities of transactional legal work.

“Cases are essential to legal education, but transactional lawyers spend their careers drafting contracts, negotiating deals, and designing legal relationships,” Choi said. “One thing I try to bring into the classroom is a sense of what actual contracts, merger agreements, charters, bylaws, and corporate filings look like, and how such real-world contracts fit into a broader legal framework.”

Before joining Michigan Law in 2019, Choi spent more than a decade on the faculty at the University of Virginia School of Law. In addition to Stanford Law, he has also held visiting appointments at Yale Law School, Harvard Law School, Columbia Law School, and the University of Pennsylvania Law School.

Choi has held leadership roles in several major law and economics organizations. He served on the board of directors of the American Law and Economics Association and is currently serving as the association’s vice president. He has been elected to serve as president of the association in 2027-2028. He is also a research member of the European Corporate Governance Institute and serves on the boards of the Asian Law and Economics Association and the Korean Law and Economics Association.

Choi has served as co-editor of the Journal of Law, Economics, and Organization since 2024 and previously served as co-editor of the American Law and Economics Review.

He earned his BA, magna cum laude, in economics and mathematics from Pomona College; his PhD in economics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology; and his JD from Yale Law School. At MIT, he was a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellow. At Yale, he was a John M. Olin Fellow in Law and Economics and received the John M. Olin Prize for the best paper in law, economics, and public policy.

About Stanford Law School

Stanford Law School is one of the world’s leading institutions for legal scholarship and education. Its alumni are among the most influential decision makers in law, politics, business, and high technology. Faculty members argue before the Supreme Court, testify before Congress, produce outstanding legal scholarship and empirical analysis, and contribute regularly to the nation’s press as legal and policy experts. Stanford Law School has established a model for legal education that provides rigorous interdisciplinary training, hands-on experience, global perspective and a focus on public service.