Biography

A political scientist and public policy analysis who was the director of the RAND Corporation’s Institute for Civil Justice before joining the Stanford Law School faculty, Deborah Hensler’s empirical research on dispute resolution, complex litigation, and mass tort liability has won national recognition. She has testified before state and federal legislatures on issues ranging from alternative dispute resolution to asbestos litigation and mass torts, and consulted with judges and lawyers outside of the United States on the design of class action regimes. She co-authored RAND’s comprehensive 2002 report on the status of asbestos litigation in the United States and is the lead author of Class Action Dilemmas: Pursuing Public Goals For Private Gain. At Stanford she teaches seminars on complex litigation, the legal profession, and the use of policy analysis in the law and oversees the graduate law programs. Professor Hensler is a fellow of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, serves on the board of overseers for the RAND Institute for Civil Justice and was the Director of the Stanford Center on Conflict and Negotiation from 1998-2003. Before joining the Stanford Law School faculty in 1998, she was a professor at the University of Southern California Gould School of Law and held a variety of high-level positions at RAND, where she was employed from 1973-2001.

Key Works

• Deborah Hensler, Bringing Shutts Into the Future: Rethinking Protection of Future Claimants in Mass Tort Class Actions, 74 UMKC Law Review 585 (2006).
• Stephen J. Carroll, Deborah R. Hensler, Jennifer Gross, Elizabeth M. Sloss, Matthias Schonlau, Allan Abrahamse, J.Scott Ashwood, Asbestos Litigation, Santa Monica, CA: RAND Institute for Civil Justice, 2005. MG-162. 170 pages.
• Deborah R. Hensler, Our Courts, Ourselves: the Transformation of the U.S. Court System, 108 Penn State Law Review 165-197 (2003).
• Deborah R. Hensler, Nicholas M. Pace, Bonita Dombey-Moore, Beth Giddens, Jennifer Gross, and Erik K. Moller, Class Action Dilemmas: Pursuing Public Goals for Private Gain, Santa Monica: Rand Institute for Civil Justice, 609 p., 2000

In the News

• 12 scholars named to American Academy of Arts and Sciences
  Stanford Report, April 20, 2009

Courses & Programs

Courses

• Complex Litigation
• JSD Research Colloquium
• Legal Profession Workshop
• SPILS Research Methods Workshop
• Uses of Policy Analysis in the Law

Publications & Cases

Recent Publications View All

• Deborah R. Hensler, Jurors in the Material World: Putting Tort Verdicts in Their Social Context, 13 Roger Williams University Law Review 8 (Winter 2008).
• Deborah R. Hensler, Has the Fat Lady Sung? The Future of Mass Toxic Torts, 26 Review of Litigation 883 (2007).
• Deborah R. Hensler, Mass Torts, in Encyclopedia of Law & Society, David S. Clark, ed., Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, 2007.
• Deborah Hensler, A Brief History of Asbestor Litigation in the United States, 826 New Business Law 28 (2006). (translated into Japanese by Machiko Furuyama)
• Deborah Hensler, Bringing Shutts Into the Future: Rethinking Protection of Future Claimants in Mass Tort Class Actions, 74 UMKC Law Review 585 (2006).
• Deborah R. Hensler, Alternative Courts? Litigation-Induced Claims Resolution Facilities, 57 Stanford Law Review 1429 (2005).
• Stephen J. Carroll, Deborah R. Hensler, Jennifer Gross, Elizabeth M. Sloss, Matthias Schonlau, Allan Abrahamse, J.Scott Ashwood, Asbestos Litigation, Santa Monica, CA: RAND Institute for Civil Justice, 2005. MG-162. 170 pages.
• Deborah R. Hensler, Volunteering' to Arbitrate Through Predispute Arbitration Clauses: The Average Consumer's Experience, 67 Law & Contemporary Problems 55 (2004). (with Linda J. Demaine)
• Linda Demaine and Deborah R. Hensler, Choosing Arbitration: What Consumer Contracts Tell the Average Joe About His Options, 67 Law & Contermporary Problems (forthcoming 2004).
• Deborah R. Hensler, Money Talks: Searching for Justice Through Compensation for Personal Injury and Death, 53 DePaul Law Review 417-455 (Winter 2003).

Affiliations & Honors

Professional Affiliations

• Member, Board of Overseers, Rand Institute of Civil Justice
• Member (1993-1999), Board of Directors, American Judicature Society
• Member (1997-2001), Board of Directors, American Inns of Court, Leadership Council

Honors and Awards

• Thorsten Sellin Fellow (2002-Present), American Academy of Political and Social Science
• Recipient, Robert McKay Award for Tort Scholarship, 2002