Larry Kramer (born June 23, 1958) is an American legal scholar and nonprofit executive. He is the current president of the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation and the former dean of Stanford Law School (2004–2012). He is a scholar of both

constitutional law Constitutional law is a body of law which defines the role, powers, and structure of different entities within a State (polity), state, namely, the executive (government), executive, the parliament or legislature, and the judiciary; as well as th ...

and civil procedure.

Biography

Education

Kramer was born on June 23, 1958, in

Chicago, Illinois (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

to a Jewish family. He graduated

magna cum laude Latin honors are a system of Latin phrases used in some colleges and universities to indicate the level of distinction with which an academic degree has been earned. The system is primarily used in the United States. It is also used in some So ...

and

Phi Beta Kappa The Phi Beta Kappa Society () is the oldest academic honor society in the United States, and the most prestigious, due in part to its long history and academic selectivity. Phi Beta Kappa aims to promote and advocate excellence in the liberal a ...

from

Brown University Brown University is a private research university in Providence, Rhode Island. Brown is the seventh-oldest institution of higher education in the United States, founded in 1764 as the College in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providenc ...

in 1980 with an

A.B. Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...

in psychology and religious studies. He graduated

Order of the Coif The Order of the Coif is an honor society for United States law school graduates. The name is a reference to the ancient English order of advocates, the serjeants-at-law, whose courtroom attire included a coif—a white lawn or silk skullcap, whi ...

and cum laude from the

University of Chicago Law School The University of Chicago Law School is the law school of the University of Chicago, a private research university in Chicago, Illinois. It is consistently ranked among the best and most prestigious law schools in the world, and has many dist ...

, in 1984. Kramer clerked for Judge Henry Friendly of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit (1984–85) and U.S. Supreme Court Justice

William J. Brennan Jr. William Joseph "Bill" Brennan Jr. (April 25, 1906 – July 24, 1997) was an American lawyer and jurist who served as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1956 to 1990. He was the seventh-longest serving justice ...

(1985–86).

Academic career

Kramer was an assistant professor at the

from 1986-1990 and a professor from 1990-1991. He then served as a visiting professor at the University of Michigan Law School from 1990-1991, and as a professor from 1991-1994. Kramer was a visiting professor at New York University Law School from 1993-1994, as well as at

Harvard University Law School Harvard Law School (Harvard Law or HLS) is the law school of Harvard University, a private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest continuously operating law school in the United States. Each class ...

in 1997, and at

Columbia University Law School Columbia Law School (Columbia Law or CLS) is the Law school in the United States, law school of Columbia University, a Private university, private Ivy League university in New York City. Columbia Law is widely regarded as one of the most prestig ...

in 2001. From 1994 to 2004 he was the Associate Dean for Research and Academics and the Russell D. Niles Professor at New York University Law School. From 2004-2012 he served as the Richard E. Lang Professor and Dean at Stanford Law School. Before joining Stanford, he served as a consultant for

Mayer Brown Mayer Brown is a global white-shoe law firm, headquartered in Chicago, Illinois, United States. It has offices in 27 cities across the Americas, Asia, Europe, and the Middle East, with its largest offices being in Chicago, Washington, D.C., New Y ...

. During his tenure at Stanford, Kramer spearheaded major reforms, including the expansion of joint degree programs as part of a multidisciplinary approach to legal studies. He enlarged the clinical education program and revamped programs to foster a public service ethos, and built out the international law program to support a growing emphasis on globalization in legal practice. He was a major supporter of the Afghanistan Legal Education Program, an initiative led by Stanford Law Students to develop innovative legal curricula to help Afghanistan's university train the next generation of lawyers and leaders.

Legal scholar

Kramer has written and taught in such varied fields as constitutional law, conflict of laws, civil procedure, federal and its history, and the role of courts in society. He is the author of numerous books and articles, including ''The People Themselves: Popular Constitutionalism and Judicial Review'', ''Reforming the Civil Justice System'', ''Conflict of Laws: Cases-Comments-Questions'', ''Judicial Supremacy and the End of Judicial Restraint'', ''Madison's Audience'', and ''Popular Constitutionalism''.

Other

Kramer serves on the board of directors of

Equal Justice Works Equal Justice Works is a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit organization that focuses on careers in public service for lawyers. Equal Justice Works' stated mission is "to create a just society by mobilizing the next generation of lawyers committed ...

, a nonprofit organization that helps advance public interest law, and the

ClimateWorks Foundation ClimateWorks Foundation is a San Francisco-based nonprofit organization founded in 2008. ClimateWorks Foundation's mission is to slow global warming by funding other organizations internationally to help find best practice solutions to cut down o ...

. Kramer is also an advisor to Ravel Law, a legal research start-up founded by two Stanford Law students while he was Dean.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kramer, Larry 1958 births Living people American legal scholars Brown University alumni Conflict of laws scholars Deans of Stanford Law School Hewlett Foundation Scholars of constitutional law Stanford Law School faculty University of Michigan Law School faculty