Biography

An expert on civil rights and anti-discrimination law, Richard Thompson Ford has distinguished himself as an insightful voice and compelling writer on questions of race and multiculturalism. His scholarship combines social criticism and legal analysis and he writes for both popular readers and for academic and legal specialists. His work has focused on the social and legal conflicts surrounding claims of discrimination, on the causes and effects of racial segregation, and on the use of territorial boundaries as instruments of social regulation. Methodologically, his work is at the intersection of critical theory and the law.

Before joining the Stanford Law School faculty in 1994, Professor Ford was a Reginald Lewis Fellow at Harvard Law School, a litigation associate with Morrison & Foerster, and a housing policy consultant for the City of Cambridge, Massachusetts. He has also been the Commissioner of the Housing Authority of San Francisco. He has written for the Washington Post, San Francisco Chronicle, Christian Science Monitor and for Slate, where he is a regular contributor to the Convictions legal blog. His latest book is The Race Card: How Bluffing About Bias Makes Race Relations Worse.

Key Works

• Richard Thompson Ford, Racial Culture: A Critique, Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2005.
• Richard Thompson Ford, Brown's Ghost, 117 Harvard Law Review 1305-1333 (March 2004).
• Richard Thompson Ford, Law's Territory (A History of Jurisdiction), 97 Michigan Law Review 843-930 (1999).
• Richard Thompson Ford, The Boundaries of Race: Political Geography in Legal Analysis, 107 Harvard Law Review 1841-1921 (1994).

In the News

• Reasonable Accomodations?
  Palo Alto Weekly, May 09, 2008
• Controversial Pastor Takes Political Spotlight
  CNN, April 28, 2008
• Author deals with playing of race card
  Philadelphia Inquirer, April 17, 2008
• In Levity, Plenty Of Political Points
  The Boston Globe, March 10, 2008
• Crying Wolf
  The Washington Post, March 09, 2008

Courses & Programs

Courses

• Employment Discrimination
• Local Government Law
• Local Initiatives

Publications & Cases

Recent Publications View All

• Richard Ford, Genetic Discrimination: Like Racism? (Convictions: Slate's Blog on Legal Issues), Slate.com, May 5, 2008.
• Richard Ford, LAPD Ends Racial Profiling! (Convictions: Slate's Blog on Legal Issues), Slate.com, May 1, 2008.
• Richard Ford, Wright Screws Obama (Convictions: Slate's Blog on Legal Issues), Slate.com, April 30, 2008.
• Richard Ford, Crawford (Convictions: Slate's Blog on Legal Issues), Slate.com, April 29, 2008.
• Richard Ford, Polling and Race (Convictions: Slate's Blog on Legal Issues), Slate.com, April 24, 2008.
• Richard Ford, Yoo, Academic Freedom, and the Rule of Law (Convictions: Slate's Blog on Legal Issues), Slate.com, April 15, 2008.
• Richard Ford, Family Friendly Law Schools (Convictions: Slate's Blog on Legal Issues), Slate.com, April 10, 2008.
• Richard Ford, Home Rule in the Breach (Convictions: Slate's Blog on Legal Issues), Slate.com, April 10, 2008.
• Richard Ford, Family Friendly Legal Practice: Why Not (Convictions: Slate's Blog on Legal Issues), Slate.com, April 9, 2008.
• Richard Ford, Which is Worse? Racism, or Sexism, or Asking Which is Worse? (Convictions: Slate's Blog on Legal Issues), Slate.com, April 2, 2008.

Affiliations & Honors

Professional Affiliations

• Member, Directing Committee of the Modern Thought and Literature Program
• Member, Urban Studies Faculty