Bio


David Freeman Engstrom is the LSVF Professor in Law and Co-Director of the Deborah L. Rhode Center on the Legal Profession at Stanford Law School. He is a scholar of public law, complex organizations, and political economy whose research and teaching explore problems in litigation procedure, administrative law, artificial intelligence and the law, constitutional law, civil rights, and access to courts. He is a faculty affiliate at the Stanford Institute for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence, the Regulation, Evaluation, and Governance Lab (RegLab), and CodeX: The Stanford Center for Legal Informatics. Engstrom currently serves as the Reporter for the American Law Institute’s Principles of the Law, High-Volume Civil Adjudication. He co-founded the Filing Fairness Project, a multi-state effort to modernize court filing systems and widen access to our courts. He is an elected member of the American Law Institute, a Public Member of the Administrative Conference of the United States (ACUS), and a Fellow of the American Bar Foundation. Prior to joining the Stanford faculty, he was a litigator at a boutique D.C. law firm, where he represented clients before the U.S. Supreme Court and other courts and agencies, and clerked for Judge Diane P. Wood on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit.

Academic Appointments


Administrative Appointments


  • Co-Director, Deborah L. Rhode Center on the Legal Profession (2021 - Present)
  • Associate Dean, Stanford Law School (2018 - 2021)

Boards, Advisory Committees, Professional Organizations


  • Public Member, Administrative Conference of the United States (2020 - Present)
  • Elected Member, American Law Institute (2017 - Present)
  • Fellow, American Bar Foundation (2016 - Present)
  • Member, California Bar (2017 - Present)
  • Member, Maryland Bar (2003 - Present)
  • Member, District of Columbia Bar (2006 - Present)

Professional Education


  • J.D., Stanford Law School (2002)
  • Ph.D., Yale University (political science) (2005)
  • M.Sc., Oxford University (1996)
  • A.B., Dartmouth College (1993)

All Publications


  • Civil Justice at the Crossroads Introduction LEGAL TECH AND THE FUTURE OF CIVIL JUSTICE Engstrom, D., Engstrom, D. F. 2023: 1-18
  • Legal Tech and the Litigation Playing Field LEGAL TECH AND THE FUTURE OF CIVIL JUSTICE Engstrom, D., Engstrom, N., Engstrom, D. F. 2023: 133-154
  • Disparate Limbo: How Administrative Law Erased Antidiscrimination YALE LAW JOURNAL Ceballos, C., Engstrom, D., Ho, D. E. 2021; 131 (2): 370-474
  • Disparate Limbo: How Administrative Law Erased Antidiscrimination YALE LAW JOURNAL Ceballos, C., Engstrom, D., Ho, D. E. 2021; 131 (2): 370-474
  • DIGITAL CIVIL PROCEDURE UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA LAW REVIEW Engstrom, D. 2021; 169 (8): 2243-2289
  • Rights, Redistribution, and the Rise of the "Litigation State": The Case of Disability Discrimination Laws LAW AND SOCIAL INQUIRY-JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN BAR FOUNDATION Engstrom, D., Hausman, D. K. 2021; 46 (3): 788-825
  • LEGAL TECH, CIVIL PROCEDURE, AND THE FUTURE OF ADVERSARIALISM UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA LAW REVIEW Engstrom, D., Gelbach, J. B. 2021; 169 (4): 1001-1099
  • Algorithmic Accountability in the Administrative State YALE JOURNAL ON REGULATION Engstrom, D., Ho, D. E. 2020; 37 (3): 800–854
  • "Not Merely There to Help the Men": Equal Pay Laws, Collective Rights, and the Making of the Modern Class Action STANFORD LAW REVIEW Engstrom, D. 2018; 70 (1): 1–97
  • Bounty regimes RESEARCH HANDBOOK ON CORPORATE CRIME AND FINANCIAL MISDEALING Engstrom, D., Arlen, J. 2018: 334–61
  • What If California Had a Foreign Policy? The New Frontier of States' Rights WASHINGTON QUARTERLY Engstrom, D., Weinstein, J. M. 2018; 41 (1): 27–43
  • JACOBINS AT JUSTICE: THE (FAILED) CLASS ACTION REVOLUTION OF 1978 AND THE PUZZLE OF AMERICAN PROCEDURAL POLITICAL ECONOMY UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA LAW REVIEW Engstrom, D. 2017; 165 (7): 1531–63
  • PRIVATE ENFORCEMENT'S PATHWAYS: LESSONS FROM QUI TAM LITIGATION COLUMBIA LAW REVIEW Engstrom, D. F. 2014; 114 (8): 1913-2006
  • THE CIVIL RIGHTS ACT AT FIFTY: PAST, PRESENT, FUTURE STANFORD LAW REVIEW Engstrom, D. F. 2014; 66 (6): 1195-1204
  • Agencies as Litigation Gatekeepers YALE LAW JOURNAL Engstrom, D. F. 2013; 123 (3): 616-712
  • PUBLIC REGULATION OF PRIVATE ENFORCEMENT: EMPIRICAL ANALYSIS OF DOJ OVERSIGHT OF QUI TAM LITIGATION UNDER THE FALSE CLAIMS ACT NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY LAW REVIEW Engstrom, D. F. 2013; 107 (4): 1689-1755
  • THE TWIQBAL PUZZLE AND EMPIRICAL STUDY OF CIVIL PROCEDURE STANFORD LAW REVIEW Engstrom, D. F. 2013; 65 (6): 1203-1248
  • CORRALLING CAPTURE HARVARD JOURNAL OF LAW AND PUBLIC POLICY Engstrom, D. F. 2013; 36 (1): 31-39
  • HARNESSING THE PRIVATE ATTORNEY GENERAL: EVIDENCE FROM QUI TAM LITIGATION COLUMBIA LAW REVIEW Engstrom, D. F. 2012; 112 (6): 1244-1325
  • THE LOST ORIGINS OF AMERICAN FAIR EMPLOYMENT LAW: REGULATORY CHOICE AND THE MAKING OF MODERN CIVIL RIGHTS, 1943-1972 STANFORD LAW REVIEW Engstrom, D. F. 2011; 63 (5): 1071-1143
  • The 1996 welfare law: Key elements and reauthorization issues affecting children FUTURE OF CHILDREN GREENBERG, M. H., Levin-Epstein, J., Hutson, R. Q., Ooms, T. J., Schumacher, R., Turetsky, V., Engstrom, D. M. 2002; 12 (1): 27-57