Biography

A leading authority on Supreme Court practice and nationally recognized expert on criminal procedure, Jeffrey L. Fisher's work at the law school revolves around handling cases in the U.S. Supreme Court. His successes include bringing and winning the landmark cases of Crawford v. Washington and Melendez-Diaz v. Massachusetts, in which he persuaded the Court to adopt a new approach to the Constitution's Confrontation Clause; Blakely v. Washington, in which the Court held that the Sixth Amendment right to a jury trial applies to sentencing guidelines; and Kennedy v. Louisiana, in which the Court held that the Eighth Amendment prohibits states from imposing capital punishment for crimes against individuals that do not result in death. In 2006, The National Law Journal named Professor Fisher one of the 100 most influential lawyers in America—the youngest person on the list.

In addition to his teaching and practice concerning the Supreme Court, Professor Fisher has published numerous articles on various criminal and constitutional issues, and he currently is writing a treatise on the Confrontation Clause. Before joining the Stanford faculty, Professor Fisher co-chaired the appellate practice group of Davis Wright Tremaine. He clerked for U.S. Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens and Judge Stephen Reinhardt of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.

Key Works

• Jeffrey L. Fisher, The Exxon Valdez Case and Regularizing Punishment, 26 Alaska Law Review 1 (2009).
• Jeffrey L. Fisher, What Happened-and What is Happening-to the Confrontation Clause, 15 Journal of Law & Policy 587 (2007).
• Jeffrey L. Fisher, Categorical Requirements in Constitutional Criminal Procedure, 94 Georgetown Law Journal 1493 (2006).

In the News

• High Court Could Expand Deportation Ruling
  Daily Journal, May 03, 2012
• High Court Limits Suits For Victims Of Torture
  The Wall Street Journal Online, April 19, 2012
• Court Wary Of Torture Cases
  The Wall Street Journal, February 29, 2012
• Argument Recap: Downhill, From The Start; Analysis
  SCOTUSblog, February 28, 2012
• Shell Asks U.S. Supreme Court To Bar Human-Rights Suit
  Bloomberg News, February 28, 2012

Courses & Programs

Courses

• Supreme Court Litigation Clinic

Programs

• Supreme Court Litigation Clinic, Co-Director

Publications & Cases

Recent Publications View All

• Jeffrey L. Fisher, The Bill of Rights Doesn’t Come Cheap, New York Times, Dec. 2, 2011, p. A27.
• Jeffrey L. Fisher, A Supreme Court Clinic's Place in the Supreme Court Bar, Stanford Public Law and Legal Theory Working Paper No. 1921430, September 5, 2011.
• Jeffrey L. Fisher, Originalism as an Anchor for the Sixth Amendment, Compilation from Originalism 2.0, the 29th Federalist Society National Student Symposium, 34 Harvard Journal of Law & Public Policy 53 (2011).
• Jeffrey L. Fisher, Of Facts & Fantasies: Justice Stevens and the Judge/Justice Story,14 Green Bag 53 (2010).
• Jeffrey L. Fisher, Justice Stevens' Unfinished Revival of the Right to Jury Trial, SCOTUSBlog, June 14, 2010.
• Susan Estrich, Eduardo M. Penalver, Jeffrey L. Fisher, Cliff Sloan, Deborah N. Pearlstein, and Joseph Thai, My Boss, Justice Stevens, New York Times, April 11, 2010, pg. WK11.
• Jeffrey Fisher, Remarks: Liberty Panel (Symposium: The Honorable John Paul Stevens), 43 UC Davis Law Review 877 (February 2010).
• Jeffrey L. Fisher, Due Process Challenges to Discretionary Sentences, Champion, August 2009, pg. 14.
• Jeffrey L. Fisher, Preface, 38 Georgetown Law Journal Annual Review of Criminal Procedure (2009).
• Jeffrey L. Fisher, The Exxon Valdez Case and Regularizing Punishment, 26 Alaska Law Review 1 (2009).

Affiliations & Honors

Professional Affliations

• Co-Chair, Amicus Committee of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers
• Co-Chair, Oral Arguments Committee of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers

Honors and Awards

• Recipient, National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, Robert C. Heeney Memorial Award (organization's highest honor), 2008
• Honoree, The National Law Journal, "The 100 Most Influential Lawyers in America", 2006
• Recipient, Washington Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers William O. Douglas Award (organization’s highest honor), 2005
• Honoree, National Law Journal's "40 Under 40", 2005
• Recipient, Order of the Coif, University of Michigan Law School