Chancellor & Dean David Faigman
David L. Faigman is the Chancellor and Dean of the University of California Hastings College of the Law. He is also the John F. Digardi Distinguished Professor of Law at the College, and holds an appointment as Professor, Department of Psychiatry, School of Medicine, University of California, San Francisco. He is also the co-founder of JuriLytics, LLC, a company founded to bring high level academic peer review to expert testimony.
Professor Faigman was the founding director of the UCSF/UC Hastings Consortium on Law, Science & Health Policy. In that capacity, he and his colleagues at the Consortium developed numerous programs and partnerships in education, research, and clinical training and service. Among many achievements, he and his colleagues developed a multitude of signature programs, including the Medical-Legal Partnership for Seniors, which placed a UC Hastings Legal Clinic at a UCSF Medical Clinic. The MLPS provides free legal assistance to under-represented seniors, in such areas as wills & trusts, advanced directives and public benefits. The Consortium also developed two new degree programs, including the Master of Studies in Law and, jointly with UCSF, the Masters in Science in Health Policy and Law. The Consortium also collaborates on numerous grants with its UCSF partners.
Professor Faigman originated the idea of Lawyers for America, a two-year apprenticeship program that begins in the third year of law school. Working with Professor Marsha Cohen, who is now the CEO of LfA, he developed the concept from infancy to implementation. LfA fundamentally transforms the traditional legal education model by creating real-world placements, in state agency offices and private non-profits, in the final year of law school and the first year post-graduation. Although a very new program, LfA has attracted national attention. Professor Faigman is the Chair of LfA’s Board of Directors.
Professor Faigman is also a prolific scholar. He has published over 50 articles, many in the top law and science journals in the country, including The University of Chicago Law Review, Science, The University of Pennsylvania Law Review, Nature Neuroscience, The University of Virginia Law Review, Sociological Methods and Research, and The Northwestern University Law Review. He is also the author of three books, Constitutional Fictions: A Unified Theory of Constitutional Facts (Oxford, 2008), Laboratory of Justice: The Supreme Court’s 200-Year Struggle to Integrate Science and the Law (Henry Holt & Co. 2004) and Legal Alchemy: The Use and Misuse of Science in the Law (W.H. Freeman,1999). In addition, Professor Faigman is a co-author of the five-volume treatise Modern Scientific Evidence: The Law and Science of Expert Testimony (with Cheng, Mnookin, Murphy, Sanders & Slobogin) (West-Thomson-Reuters). The treatise has been cited widely by courts, including several times by the U.S. Supreme Court.
Professor Faigman was a member of the National Academy of Sciences panel that investigated the scientific validity of polygraphs and he is a member of the MacArthur Law and Neuroscience Network.
Professor Faigman received both his M.A. (Psychology) and J.D. from the University of Virginia. Professor Faigman clerked for the Honorable Thomas Reavley of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.
Related Links
- Nationally Renowned Scholar David L. Faigman Named Acting Chancellor & Dean of UC Hastings: Board of Directors lauds insightful and dynamic leadership qualities, entrepreneurial mindset, scholarship, and comprehensive vision for future success.
- Faculty Profile: David L. Faigman: Chancellor & Dean; John F. Digardi Distinguished Professor of Law
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