Richard Briffault is an American legal scholar. He is the Joseph P. Chamberlain Professor of Legislation at

Columbia Law School Columbia Law School (Columbia Law or CLS) is the law school of Columbia University, a private Ivy League university in New York City. Columbia Law is widely regarded as one of the most prestigious law schools in the world and has always ranked i ...

Biography

Briffault earned a bachelor's degree from

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

in 1974. During his undergraduate studies, Briffault served as managing editor of the ''

Columbia Daily Spectator The ''Columbia Daily Spectator'' (known colloquially as the ''Spec'') is the student newspaper of Columbia University. Founded in 1877, it is the oldest continuously operating college news daily in the nation after ''The Harvard Crimson'', and has ...

''. He graduated from

Harvard 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 1977. Briffault subsequently clerked for

Shirley Hufstedler Shirley Ann Mount Hufstedler (August 24, 1925 – March 30, 2016) was an American attorney and judge who served as the first United States secretary of education from 1979 to 1981. She previously served as a United States circuit judge of the Uni ...

, worked for

Hugh Carey Hugh Leo Carey (April 11, 1919 – August 7, 2011) was an American politician and attorney. He was a seven-term U.S. representative from 1961 to 1974 and the 51st governor of New York from 1975 to 1982. He was a member of the Democratic Party. ...

, and joined the law firm

Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP (known as Paul, Weiss) is an American multinational law firm headquartered on Sixth Avenue in New York City. By profits per equity partner, it is the fifth most profitable law firm in the world. ...

. Briffault began teaching at

in 1983, and was later named the Joseph P. Chamberlain Professor of Legislation. His specialty is constitutional law, government regulation, and election law. From 2014 to 2020, he served as Chairman of the

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

Conflicts of Interest Board.

Personal life and family

He married Canadian economist

Sherry Glied Sherry A. Glied (born 1961) is a Canadian-American economist, currently serving as the Dean of New York University's Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service. From 2010 to 2012, she served as Assistant Secretary at the United States Dep ...

in 1993. Glied currently serves as the Dean of

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then-Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin. In 1832, the ...

Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service The Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service is the public policy school of New York University in New York City, New York. The school is named after New York City former mayor Robert F. Wagner Jr. in 1989. History In 1938, NYU of ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Briffault, Richard Columbia Law School faculty Columbia College (New York) alumni Harvard Law School alumni Living people Year of birth missing (living people) 21st-century American lawyers 20th-century American lawyers New York (state) lawyers American legal scholars