Nicholas O. Stephanopoulos, Kirkland & Ellis Professor of Law, was elected as a member of the American Law Institute, this fall.
The American Law Institute, describing itself as “the leading independent organization in the United States producing scholarly work to clarify, modernize, and improve the law,” drafts, discusses, revises, and publishes Restatements of the Law, Model Codes, and Principles of Law, which are influential in the courts and legislatures, as well as in legal scholarship and education.
Stephanopoulos was one of 32 new members elected this year, along with six Harvard Law School alumni:
- Olufunmilayo B. Arewa ’94, professor of transactional and business law at Temple University Beasley School of Law;
- Michael R. Bromwich J.D./M.P.P. ’80, senior counsel at Steptoe & Johnson;
- The Hon. Daniel P. Maguire ’92, Yolo County, California Superior Court;
- Douglas NeJaime ’03, professor at Yale Law School;
- David Allan Singleton ’91, executive director and attorney at Ohio Justice & Policy Center;
- Lauren D. Sudeall ’05, professor at Georgia State University College of Law.
Stephanopoulos joined the Harvard Law faculty in 2020 as a professor of law. His research and teaching interests include election law, constitutional law, administrative law, legislation, and comparative law. His work is particularly focused on the intersection of democratic theory, empirical political science, and the American electoral system.
His academic articles have appeared in, among others, the California Law Review, Columbia Law Review, Duke Law Journal, Harvard Law Review, Northwestern University Law Review, New York University Law Review, Stanford Law Review, University of Chicago Law Review, University of Pennsylvania Law Review, Virginia Law Review, and Yale Law Journal. He has also written for popular publications including the New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune, Atlantic, New Republic, Slate, and Vox. He has been involved in several litigation efforts as well, including two partisan gerrymandering cases based on his scholarship and decided by the Supreme Court.
Before joining the Harvard Law School faculty, Stephanopoulos was a professor of law at the University of Chicago Law School. He was previously an associate-in-law at Columbia Law School and an associate in the Washington, DC office of Jenner & Block. Before entering private practice, he clerked for Judge Raymond C. Fisher of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.
A graduate of Yale Law School, Stephanopoulos also holds an M.Phil. in European Studies from Cambridge University and an A.B. in Government from Harvard College, graduating summa cum laude. While at Yale, he served as editor-in-chief of the Yale Journal of International Law, received the Jewell Prize for best second-year student contribution to a law journal, and was a finalist in both the moot court and mock trial competitions.
Stephanopoulos is a frequent television and radio commentator on legal issues. He is a co-founder of PlanScore, a website evaluating past, present, and proposed district plans. He is a member of policy reform initiatives including the Campaign Legal Center’s Litigation Strategy Council and the Committee for the Study of Digital Platforms. He has been named to The Politico 50 list as well as the National Law Journal’s “Chicago’s 40 Under 40.”