Paul Brest

Paul Brest

Paul Brest
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Paul Brest is emeritus professor and former dean of Stanford Law School, having recently returned from a twelve-year stint as President of the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation.
Paul Brest

Paul Brest is emeritus professor and former dean of Stanford Law School, having recently returned from a twelve-year stint as President of the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation. Together with Professor Deborah Hensler, he is developing the law and public policy laboratory at the Law School, and he is a faculty co-director of the Stanford Center on Philanthropy and Civil Society.Paul received an A.B. from Swarthmore College in 1962 and an LL.B from Harvard Law School in 1965. He served as law clerk to Judge Bailey Aldrich and Supreme Court Justice John M. Harlan, and practiced with the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc., in Jackson, Mississippi, doing civil rights litigation.In 1969, he joined the faculty of Stanford Law School, where he was the Kenneth and Harle Montgomery Professor of Public Interest Law. His research and teaching focused on constitutional law, including articles on constitutional interpretation, race discrimination, and affirmative action. From 1987 to 1999, he served as the dean of Stanford Law School where he spearheaded the expansion of the School’s curriculum in business, environmental law, high technology, and negotiation, and led a $115 million capital campaign.Paul is co-author of Money Well Spent: A Strategic Guide to Smart Philanthropy (Bloomberg Press, 2008); Problem Solving, Decision Making, and Professional Judgment (Oxford University Press, 2010); and Processes of Constitutional Decision Making: Cases And Materials (Aspen Publishers, 2006)

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