Joseph A. Grundfest
Professor of Law and Business
Stanford Law School
Joseph A. Grundfest is the William A. Franke Professor of Law and Business at Stanford Law School and co-director of the Rock Center on Corporate Governance at Stanford University. He joined Stanford's faculty in 1990 after having served for more than four years as a Commissioner of the United States Securities and Exchange Commission. While at the SEC, Professor Grundfest dealt extensively with matters related to capital markets, finance, enforcement of federal securities laws, corporate governance, takeover regulation, market volatility, and internationalization of U.S. capital markets.
Professor Grundfest's scholarship in the areas of corporate law, securities regulation, and litigation has been published in the Harvard, Yale, and Stanford Law Reviews. The National Law Journal lists Professor Grundfest as among the nation’s 100 most influential attorneys, Directorship lists him as among the 100 most influential leaders in corporate governance, and California Lawyer has listed him as among the top 10 lawyers in California. Prior to joining the SEC, Professor Grundfest served as counsel and senior economist for legal and regulatory matters at the President's Council of Economic Advisors. An attorney and economist, Professor Grundfest has also practiced law with Wilmer, Cutler & Pickering, and has served as an economist with the Brookings Institution and the Rand Corporation.
Professor Grundfest holds a bachelor's degree in economics from Yale University (1973) and completed the M.Sc. program in mathematical economics and econometrics at the London School of Economics (1972) (no degree awarded). His law degree is from Stanford (1978) where he also completed all requirements for a doctorate in economics but for the dissertation (1978).
Professor Grundfest is founder and director of Directors’ College at Stanford Law School, and principal investigator for Stanford Law School’s Securities Litigation Clearinghouse. He has served on the New York Stock Exchange's Legal Advisory Board, on the NASDAQ Legal Advisory Committee, on a rules committee of the United States District Court for the Northern District of California, on the SEC’s Advisory Committee on Improvements to Financial Reporting, and has been elected to membership in the American Law Institute. Professor Grundfest has been selected as a National Fellow by the Hoover Institution, has been awarded a John M. Olin Faculty Fellowship, and is an Adjunct Scholar of the American Enterprise Institute. Professor Grundfest is admitted to practice in California and in the District of Columbia.
Professor Grundfest has twice received the John Bingham Hurlbut Award for Excellence in Teaching as well as the Associated Students of Stanford University award as the best professor at the Stanford Law, Business, and Medical Schools. Professor Grundfest is also co-founder and director of Financial Engines, Inc., chairman of the board nominating committee of the NASDAQ Stock Market, and a former director of Oracle Corp.
