Biography

An expert in civil procedure, complex litigation, and federal courts, Janet Cooper Alexander (MA ’73) has written landmark articles on procedural design and on the institutional dynamics of securities class actions. Her current research focuses on class actions, civil jury, procedural design, and terrorism and the courts.

In addition to her role as a professor at Stanford Law School, Professor Alexander has been a principal investigator at the Stanford Center on International Conflict and Negotiation, where she spearheaded interdisciplinary research in dispute resolution and litigation from 1994-2002. Before joining the Stanford Law School faculty in 1987, she was a partner at Morrison & Foerster in San Francisco and an attorney at Califano, Ross & Heineman in Washington, D.C. Professor Alexander is a former law clerk to U.S. Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall and Judge Shirley M. Hufstedler of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.

Key Works

• Janet Cooper Alexander, Procedural Design and Terror Victim Compensation, 53 DePaul Law Review 627-718 (Winter 2003).
• Janet Cooper Alexander, Rethinking Damages in Securities Class Actions., Stanford: John M. Olin Program in Law and Economics Working Paper No. 125, 1996.
• Janet Cooper Alexander, Do the Merits Matter? A Study of Settlements of Securities Class Actions, Securities Law Review 25-126 (1992).
• Janet Cooper Alexander, Unlimited Shareholder Liability Through a Procedural Lens, 106 Harvard Law Review 387-445 (1992).

Courses & Programs

Courses

• Civil Jury

Publications & Cases

Recent Publications View All

• Janet Cooper Alexander, Jurisdiction-Stripping in the War on Terrorism, 2 Stanford Journal of Civil Rights and Civil Liberties 259 (2006).
• Janet Cooper Alexander, Procedural Design and Terror Victim Compensation, 53 DePaul Law Review 627-718 (Winter 2003).
• Janet Cooper Alexander and Ronald A. Fein, The History and Structure of the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund, 53 DePaul Law Review 692 (2003).
• Janet Cooper Alexander, An Introduction to Class Action Procedure in the United States, Presented at Conference: Debates over Group Litigation in Comparative Perspective, Geneva, Switzerland, July 21-22, 2000.
• Janet Cooper Alexander, Class Actions for Consumer Protection, in, Judicial Conference of Spain and National Institute of Consumers/Justicia and Proteccion de Los Consumidores, 2000.
• Janet Cooper Alexander, Letter to the Editor: When Housework is Class Struggle, New York Times (February 22, 1999).
• Janet Cooper Alexander, The Administration of Justice in Commercial Disputes: Developments in the United States, in, The Administration of Justice in Commercial Disputes. Canadian Institute for the Administration of Justice. Montréal : Thémis, 1999.
• Janet Cooper Alexander, Contingent Fees and Class Actions, 47 DePaul Law Review 347-361 (1998).
• Janet Cooper Alexander, Rethinking Damages in Securities Class Actions: Fraud Litigation Under the Securities Laws, 30 Securities Law Review 351-401 (1998).
• Janet Cooper Alexander, Methodology and the Merits, American Bar Association, Torts and Insurance Practice Section, (Annual Meeting program materials), 1997.

Affiliations & Honors

Professional Affiliations

• Member, Association of American Law Schools