Biography

Senior Faculty, Arthur and Toni Rembe Rock Center for Corporate Governance

Joseph A. Grundfest ’78 is a nationally prominent expert on capital markets, corporate governance, and securities litigation. His scholarship has been published in the Harvard, Yale, and Stanford law reviews, and he has been recognized as one of the most influential attorneys in the United States. Professor Grundfest founded the award-winning Stanford Securities Class Action Clearinghouse, which provides detailed, online information about the prosecution, defense, and settlement of federal class action securities fraud litigation. He launched Stanford Law School’s executive education programs and continues to co-direct Directors’ College, the nation’s leading venue for the continuing professional education of directors of publicly traded corporations. He is also a senior faculty member with the Arthur and Toni Rembe Rock Center for Corporate Governance. Additionally, he is co-founder and director of Financial Engines and a director of Kohlberg, Kravis, Roberts & Co.

Before joining the Stanford Law School faculty in 1990, Professor Grundfest was a commissioner of the Securities and Exchange Commission, served on the staff of the President’s Council of Economic Advisors as counsel and senior economist for legal and regulatory matters, and was an associate at Wilmer, Cutler & Pickering. Early in his career he was a research associate at the Brookings Institution and an economist and consultant with the RAND Corporation.

Key Works

• Joseph A. Grundfest. With Peter H. Huang, The Unexpected Value of Litigation: A Real Options Perspective, 58 Stanford Law Review 1267 (2006).
• Joseph A. Grundfest, Advice and Consent: An Alternative Mechanism for Shareholder Participation in the Nomination and Election of Corporate Directors, in Shareholder Access to the Corporate Ballot, Lucian Bebchuk, editor. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2005.
• Joseph A. Grundfest and A.C. Pritchard, Statutes with Multiple Personality Disorders: The Value of Ambiguity in Statutory Design and Interpretation, 54 Stanford Law Review 627-736 (2002).
• Joseph A. Grundfest, Disimplying Private Rights of Action Under the Federal Securities Laws: The Commission's Authority, 107 Harvard Law Review 961-1024 (1994).
• Joseph A. Grundfest, Just Vote No: A Minimalist Strategy for Dealing with Barbarians Inside the Gates, 45 Stanford Law Review 857-937 (1993).

In the News

• U.S. SEC Regulatory Outlook For 2012: Complex Issues, Congress, Elections Likely To Bog Down Rulemaking Agenda
  World Securities Report - BNA, February 07, 2012
• In 2012, Citigroup Proceedings Will Take Center Stage for SEC Enforcement
  Daily Report for Executives - BNA, January 26, 2012
• Report Cites Small Increases in Class Suits Over M&A Deals
  Class Action Litigation Alert - BNA, January 25, 2012
• Securities Lawsuits Hold Steady But Below Average
  The New York Times Dealbook, January 19, 2012
• SEC Cops Want To Fight U.S. Judge
  The Wall Street Journal Online, December 16, 2011

Courses & Programs

Courses

• Capital Markets I
• Capital Markets II
• Role of the Modern General Counsel
• Venture Capital

Programs

• Arthur and Toni Rembe Rock Center for Corporate Governance, SLS: W. A. Franke Professor of Law and Business
• John M. Olin Program in Law and Economics, W. A. Franke Professor of Law and Business
• Securities Class Action Clearinghouse (SCAC), W. A. Franke Professor of Law and Business
  Founder Director and Principal Investigator

Publications & Cases

Recent Publications View All

• Chris W. Waddell, Kendrick Nguyen, Evan Epstein, Francis Daniel Siciliano II, Joseph Grundfest, Identifying the Legal Contours of the Separation of Economic Rights and Voting Rights in Publicly Held Corporations, Rock Center for Corporate Governance at Stanford University Working Paper No. 90, 2010.
• Joseph Grundfest, Choice of Forum Provisions in Intra-Corporate Litigation: Mandatory and Elective Approaches (The 2010 Pileggi Lecture, October 8, 2010), Rock Center for Corporate Governance at Stanford University Working Paper No. 91 (2010)
• Joseph A. Grundfest, The United States Securities and Exchange Commission v. Goldman, Sachs & Co. and Fabrice Tourre. Stanford, Calif.: Rock Center for Corporate Governance, April 27, 2010.
• Joseph A. Grundfest, Wind-down Plans, Incomplete Contracting, and Renegotiation Risk: Lessons from Tiger Woods, in Ending Government Bailouts As We Know Them, Kenneth E. Scott, George P. Shultz, and John B. Taylor, eds., Stanford: Hoover Institution Press, March 2010.
• Joseph Grundfest, The SEC's Proposed Proxy Access Rules: Politics, Economics, and the Law, 65 Business Lawyer 361 (February 2010) / Rock Center for Corporate Governance at Stanford University Working Paper, No. 64 (November 2009).
• Joseph Grundfest and Evgeniya E. Hochenberg, Investor Owned and Controlled Rating Agencies: A Summary Introduction, Rock Center for Corporate Governance at Stanford University Working Paper, No. 66 (January 2010) / Stanford Law and Economics Olin Working Paper No. 391.
• Joseph Grundfest, Measurement Issues in the Proxy Access Debate, Rock Center for Corporate Governance at Stanford University Working Paper, No. 71 (January 2010).
• Joseph A. Grundfest and Nadya Malenko, Quadrophobia: Strategic Rounding of EPS Data, Rock Center for Corporate Governance Working Paper, No. 65 (2009) / John M. Olin Program in Law and Economics Working Paper, no. 388 (October 2009)
• Joseph A. Grundfest, What’s Needed is Uncommon Wisdom, DealBook Dialogue Too Soon to Rethink? Assessing the Financial Crisis, New York Times, October 6, 2009.
• Joseph A. Grundfest, Affidavit of Joseph A. Grundfest: Securities and Exchange Commission v. Bank of America, No. 09-CV-6829 in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York (August 21, 2009).

Affiliations & Honors

Professional Affiliations

• Founder and Director, Financial Engines, Inc.
• Member, Nominating Committee of the NASDAQ Stock Market

Honors and Awards

• Honoree, National Law Journal's "100 Most Influential Lawyers," 2006
• Recipient, John Bingham Hurlbut Award for Excellence in Teaching, Stanford, 1992, 2001
• Elected Member, American Law Institute