Biography

An expert on torts and legislative compensation schemes, Robert Rabin is highly regarded for his extensive knowledge of the history and institutional dynamics of accident law. He is a prolific author on issues relating to the functions of the tort system and alternative regulatory schemes and is the co-editor of a classic casebook on tort law.

Professor Rabin is currently an advisor to the ongoing American Law Institute Restatement of Torts Third project and has been the program director for the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Program on Tobacco Policy Research and Evaluation, as well as a reporter for the American Law Institute Project on Compensation and Liability for Product and Process Injuries and the American Bar Association Action Commission to Improve the Tort Liability System. He has been a member of the Stanford Law School faculty since 1970.

Key Works

• Marc A. Franklin, Robert L. Rabin, and Michael D. Green, Tort Law and Alternatives : Cases and Materials, 8th ed., New York, NY: Foundation Press, 2006.
• Robert L Rabin. The Renaissance of Accident Law Plans Revisited, 64 Maryland Law Review 699 (2005).
• Robert L. Rabin and Stephen D. Sugarman, Torts Stories, New York, N.Y.: Foundation Press, 290 p., 2003.
• Robert L. Rabin and Stephen D. Sugarman, Regulating Tobacco, New York: Oxford University Press, 2001. 299 pages
• Robert L. Rabin, The Historical Development of the Fault Principle: A Reinterpretation, 15 Georgia Law Review 925 (1981).

In the News

• Class action filed for Cedars radiation patients
  Los Angeles Times, October 24, 2009

Courses & Programs

Courses

• Torts

Programs

• Environmental and Natural Resources Law & Policy Program (ENRLP), A. Calder Mackay Professor of Law

Publications & Cases

Recent Publications View All

• Robert L. Rabin, Territorial Claims in the Domain of Accident Law: Conflicting Conceptions of Tort Preemption, 74 Brooklyn Law Review (2009) / Stanford Public Law Working Paper, No. 1411262 (May 2009).
• Robert L. Rabin, Tobacco Control Strategies: Past Efficacy and Future Promise, 41 Loyola of Los Angeles Law Review 1721 (Summer 2008) / Stanford Public Law Working Paper, No. 1262529.
• Robert L. Rabin, Dissembling and Disclosing: Physician Responsibility on the Frontiers of Tort Law (Symposium: Challenges to the Attorney-Client Relationship: Threats to Sound Advice?) 57 DePaul Law Review (2008).
• Robert L. Rabin, Poking Holes in the Fabric of Tort: A Comment (Response to Article by Catherine M. Sharkey and John Fabian Witt), 56 DePaul Law Review 293 (Winter 2007).
• Robert L. Rabin, Smoke Gets in Your Eyes (Book Review: Allan M. Brandt, The Cigarette Century: The Rise, Fall and Deadly Persistence of the Product that Defined America, Basic Books, 2007), American Scientist, September/October 2007.
• Robert L. Rabin and Stephen D. Sugarman, The Case for Specially Compensating the Victims of Terrorist Acts: An Assessment, 35 Hofstra Law Review 901 (Spring 2007).
• Robert L. Rabin, Controlling the Retail Sales Environment, in Ending the Tobacco Problem: A Blueprint for the Nation, Appendix L, Institute of Medicine, 2007.
• Robert L. Rabin, Respecting Boundaries and the Economic Loss Rule in Tort, 48 Arizona Law Review 857 (2006).
• Robert L. Rabin and S. Bratis, Financial Compensation for Victims of Catastrophes: United States, in Financial Compensation for Victims of Catastrophes: A Comparative Legal Approach, Michael Faure and Tom Hartlief, eds., New York: Springer, 2006.
• Robert L. Rabin, Pain and Suffering and Beyond: Some Thoughts on Recovery for Intangible Loss, 55 DePaul Law Review 359 (2006).

Affiliations & Honors

Professional Affiliations

• Member, Editorial Board, Foundation Press
• Member, Editorial Board, Tort Law Review
• Member, Advisory Committee, Restatement of the Law, Third, Torts: General Principles
• Member, Advisory Board, Journal of Tort Law, Berkeley Electronic Press