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 also 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. In addition, he is a senior affiliated faculty member with the Arthur and Toni Rembe Rock Center for Corporate Governance.
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
Courses & Programs
Courses
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
- Joseph Grundfest, The SEC's Proposed Proxy Access Rules: Politics, Economics, and the Law, Rock Center for Corporate Governance at Stanford University Working Paper, No. 64 / Stanford Law and Economics Olin Working Paper, No. 386 (November 2009).
- 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).
- Joseph Grundfest and Alan L. Beller, Reinventing the Securities Disclosure Regime: Online Questionnaires as Substitutes for Form-Based Filings, Stanford Law and Economics Olin Working Paper, No. 361 (August 2008).
- Joseph A. Grundfest, Is There an Express Section 10(b) Private Right of Action? A Response to Professor Prentice, Stanford Law and Economics Olin Working Paper, No. 352, December 2007.
- Peter Clapman, Walking the Walk on Corporate Governance, Pensions & Investments, August 6, 2007
- Joseph Grundfest, Scheme Liability: A Question for Congress, Not for the Court, Stanford Law and Economics Olin Working Paper, No. 344 (August 2007).
- Joseph A. Grundfest and Steven E. Bochner, Fixing 404, 105 Michigan Law Review 1643 (2007).
- Joseph A. Grundfest, The Class-Action Market, Wall Street Journal, February 7, 2007, p. A15.
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

- grundfest@stanford.edu
- 650 723.0458
- Curriculum Vitae
- SSRN Published Papers
Education
- MSc Program, London School of Economics, 1972
- BA, Yale University, 1973
- JD, Stanford Law School, 1978
- Doctoral studies (economics), Stanford University, 1975-78
Expertise
- Business and Corporate Law
- Corporate Governance
- Securities Regulation
- Venture Capital