Biography

Barbara Fried’s scholarly interests lie at the intersection of law, economics, and philosophy. She has written extensively on questions of distributive justice, in the areas of tax policy, property theory and political theory. She is also the author of a path-breaking intellectual biography of Robert Hale, one of the leading legal realists. Professor Fried is a three-time winner of the John Bingham Hurlbut Award for Excellence in Teaching. She regularly teaches the Legal Studies Workshop at Stanford Law School, an interdisciplinary student-faculty workshop designed for law students interested in pursuing academic careers, as well as contracts, tax, and advanced seminars in law and moral/political theory. She has twice been a visiting professor of law at New York University Law School.

Before joining the Stanford Law School faculty in 1987, Professor Fried practiced as an associate with the New York City law firm of Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison, and served as a law clerk to Judge J. Edward Lumbard of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.

Key Works

• Barbara H. Fried, Left-Libertariansim: A Review Essay, 32 Philosophy and Public Affairs 66-92 (2004).
• Barbara H. Fried, 'If You Don't Like It, Leave It': The Problem of Exit in Social Contractarian Arguments, 31 Philosophy & Public Affairs 40-70 (Winter 2003). 31 pages.
• Barbara H. Fried, Ex Ante/Ex Post, 13 Journal of Contemporary Legal Issues 123-160 (2003).
• Barbara H. Fried, The Progressive Assault on Laissez Faire: Robert Hale and the First Law and Economics Movement, Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1998. 338 pages.
• Barbara H. Fried, Wilt Chamberlain Revisited: Nozick's 'Justice In Transfer' and the Problem of Market-Based Distribution, 24 Philosophy and Public Affairs 226-245 (Summer 1995).

Courses & Programs

Courses

• Contract Theory
• Luck, Law, and Morality
• Taxation I

Publications & Cases

Recent Publications View All

• Barbara H. Fried, Robert Lee Hale, in Yale Biographical Dictionary of American Law, Roger K. Newman, ed., New Haven: Yale University Press, 2009.
• Barbara H. Fried, Punting Our Future: College Athletics and Admissions, Change, May/June 2007, pg. 8.
• Barbara H. Fried, What's Morality Got to Do With It? 120 Harvard Law Review 53 (2007).
• Barbara H. Fried, Is as Ought: The Case of Contracts (Symposium: Contemporary Political Theory and Private Law), 92 Virginia Law Review 1375 (2006).
• Barbara H. Fried, Begging the Question with Style : Anarchy, State, and Utopia at Thirty Years, 22 Social Philosophy and Policy 221-254 (2005).
• Barbara H. Fried, Begging the Question with Style : Anarchy, State, and Utopia at Thirty Years, in, Natural Rights Liberalism from Locke to Nozick. Ellen Frankel Paul, Fred D. Miller, Jr., and Jeffrey Paul, editors. Cambridge University Press, 2005.
• Barbara H. Fried, Left-Libertarianism, Once More: a Rejoinder to Vallentyne, Steiner and Otsuka, 33 Philosophy and Public Affairs 216-222 (2005).
• Barbara H. Fried, Moral Heuristics and the Ends/Means Distinction, 28 Behavioral and Brain Sciences 549 (2005).
• Barbara H. Fried, Left-Libertariansim: A Review Essay, 32 Philosophy and Public Affairs 66-92 (2004).
• Barbara H. Fried, Proportionate Taxation as a Fair Division of the Social Surplus: The Strange Career of an, Stanford Public Law Working Paper No. 78 (January 2004). 47 pages.

Affiliations & Honors

Professional Affiliations

• Member, Board of Advisors, Stanford Ethics in Society Program
• Review Editor, Philosophy and Public Affairs
• Affiliate, Stanford Center for the Study of Poverty and Inequality

Honors and Awards

• Recipient, John Bingham Hurlbut Award for Excellence in Teaching, Stanford, 1991, 2000, 2006