Ethan J. Leib

Ethan J. Leib is Professor of Law at Fordham Law School. He teaches in contracts, legislation, and regulation. His most recent book, Friend v. Friend: Friendships and What, If Anything, the Law Should Do About Them, explores the costs and benefits of the legal recognition of and sensitivity to friendship; it was published by Oxford University Press. Leib’s scholarly articles have recently appeared in the Yale Law Journal, Virginia Law Review, Georgetown Law Journal, University of Pennsylvania Law Review, University of Chicago Law Review, California Law Review, and elsewhere. He has also written for a broader audience in the New York Times, USA Today, Policy Review, Washington Post, New York Law Journal, The American Scholar, and The New Republic. Before joining Fordham, Leib was Professor of Law at the University of California–Hastings in San Francisco. He has served as a Law Clerk to then-Chief Judge John M. Walker, Jr., of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit and as a Litigation Associate at Debevoise & Plimpton LLP in New York.

Education

• JD, Yale Law School
• PhD and BA, Yale University
• MPhil, Cambridge University

Representative Publications

Books

FRIEND V. FRIEND: THE TRANSFORMATION OF FRIENDSHIP – AND WHAT THE LAW HAS TO DO WITH IT (Oxford University Press 2011) (reviewed in THE NEW REPUBLIC; COMMONWEAL; CHOICE; ZÓCALO PUBLIC SQUARE; LAW LIBRARY JOURNAL)

PRIVILEGE OR PUNISH? CRIMINAL JUSTICE AND THE CHALLENGE OF FAMILY TIES (Oxford University Press 2009) (with Jennifer Collins & Dan Markel) (reviewed in YALE LAW JOURNAL; LAW & POLITICS BOOK REVIEW; HARVARD JOURNAL OF LAW & PUBLIC POLICY; NEW CRIMINAL LAW REVIEW)

THE SEARCH FOR DELIBERATIVE DEMOCRACY IN CHINA (Palgrave Macmillan 2006) (co-edited with Baogang He) (reviewed in PACIFIC AFFAIRS; PERSPECTIVES ON POLITICS; CHOICE) (new updated paperback edition 2010)

DELIBERATIVE DEMOCRACY IN AMERICA: A PROPOSAL FOR A POPULAR BRANCH OF GOVERNMENT (Penn State Press 2004) (reviewed in POLITICAL SCIENCE QUARTERLY; PERSPECTIVES ON POLITICS; PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION REVIEW; JOURNAL OF PUBLIC DELIBERATION; CHOICE; CHRONICLE OF HIGHER EDUCATION; POLITICAL STUDIES REVIEW; CAMPAIGNS & ELECTIONS; INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF PUBLIC OPINION RESEARCH) (paperback 2005) (Chinese edition 2008)

Articles

Contract as Vow or Oath, 30 Legal Theory 22 (2024) (peer-reviewed)

Interpretive Divergence in the New York Court of Appeals, 50 Journal of Legislation 387 (2024)

Three Modalities of Originalist Fiduciary Constitutionalism, 63 Am. J. Legal History 183 (2023) (peer-reviewed)

Class Action Settlements as Contracts?, 102 North Carolina L. Rev. 73 (2023) (with Howard Erichson)

Statutory Interpretation in the 2020s: A View of the Cathedral, 97 S. Cal. L. Rev. Postscript PS11 (2023) (with Nora Donnelly)

“Any,” 49 BYU L. Rev. 465 (2023) (with Jim Brudney)

The Textual Canons in Contract Cases: A Preliminary Study, 2022 Wisconsin L. Rev. 1109 (2022)

Are the Federal Rules of Evidence Unconstitutional?, 71 Am. Univ. L. Rev. 911 (2022)

The Anxiety of Influence in Rabbinic Jurisprudence, 36 Constitutional Commentary 381 (2021) (reviewing David Flatto, The Crown and the Courts: Separation of Powers in the Early Jewish Imagination (2020))

Fiduciary Law and the Law of Public Office, 62 Wm. & Mary L. Rev. 1297 (2021) (with Andrew Kent) (invited symposium essay)

Motives and Fiduciary Loyalty, 65 American Journal of Jurisprudence 41 (2020) (with Stephen R. Galoob) (peer-reviewed)

The Belt-and-Suspenders Canon, 105 Iowa L. Rev. 735 (2020) (with Jim Brudney), cited in State v. Thompson, No. 19-1259, 2021 WL 401071 (Supreme Court of Iowa 2021); U.S. v. Bolton, 2020 WL 5866623 (D.D.C. 2020)

Fiduciary Constitutionalism: Implications for Self-Pardons and Non-Delegation, 17 Geo. J.L. & Pub. Pol’y 463 (2019) (with Jed Shugerman) (invited symposium essay)

Faithful Execution and Article II, 132 Harv. L. Rev. 2111 (2019) (with Andrew Kent & Jed Shugerman) (winner of the 2019 Richard D. Cudahy Writing Competition), cited in Seila Law LLC v. CFPB, 140 S.Ct. 2183, 2228 (2020); U.S. v. UCB, Inc, 970 F.3d  835, 847 n.3 (7th Cir. 2020)

Contract Creep, 107 Geo. L.J. 1277 (2019) (with Tal Kastner)

Statutory Interpretation as “Interbranch Dialogue?,” 66 UCLA L. Rev. 346 (2019) (with Jim Brudney)

Fiduciary Loyalty, Inside and Out, 92 S. Cal. L. Rev. 69 (2018) (with Stephen R. Galoob)

Legislative Underwrites, 103 VA. L. Rev. 1487 (2017) (with Jim Brudney)

Consumer Form Contracting in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction: The Unread and the Undead, 2017 UNIV. ILL. L. REV. 65 (2017) (with Zev Eigen)

Fiduciary Political Theory: A Critique, 125 YALE L.J. 1820 (2016) (with Stephen R. Galoob)

Local Judges and Local Government, 18 N.Y.U. J. LEGIS. & PUB. POL’Y 707 (2015)

Hail Marriage and Farewell, 84 FORDHAM L. REV. 41 (2015) (invited symposium essay)

Contra Proferentem and the Role of the Jury in Contract Interpretation, 87 TEMPLE L. REV. 773 (2015) (with Steve Thel) (invited symposium essay)

Regleprudence – at OIRA and Beyond, 103 GEO. L.J. 259 (2015) (with Nestor M. Davidson)

Intentions, Compliance, and Fiduciary Obligation, 20 LEGAL THEORY 106 (2014) (with Stephen R. Galoob) (peer-reviewed)

Fiduciary Principles and the Jury, 55 WM. & MARY L. REV. 1109 (2014) (with Michael Serota & David L. Ponet) (invited symposium essay)

A Fiduciary Theory of Judging, 101 CALIF. L. REV. 699 (2013) (with David L. Ponet & Michael Serota), translated into Japanese at 20 HOKKAIDO J. OF NEW GLOBAL L. & POL’Y 1 (2013),available at http://www.juris.hokudai.ac.jp/gcoe/journal/LPG_vol20/20_1.pdf.

The Political Morality of Voting in Direct Democracy, 97 MINN. L. REV. 1596 (2013) (with Michael Serota) (invited symposium essay)

Localist Statutory Interpretation, 161 U. PENN. L. REV. 897 (2013)

Translating Fiduciary Principles into Public Law, 126 HARV. L. REV. F. 91 (2013) (with David L. Ponet & Michael Serota)

Elected Judges and Statutory Interpretation, 79 U. CHI. L. REV. 1215 (2012) (with Aaron-Andrew Bruhl)

Fiduciary Representation and Deliberative Engagement with Children, 20 J. POL. PHIL. 178 (2012) (with David L. Ponet) (peer-reviewed)

Why Party Democrats Need Popular Democracy and Popular Democrats Need Parties, 100 CALIF. L. REV. 69 (2012) (with Chris Elmendorf)

Work Friends, 35 WASH. U. J. L. & PUB. POL’Y 149 (2011) (invited symposium comment)

Fiduciary Law’s Lessons for Deliberative Democracy, 91 B.U. L. REV. 1249 (2011) (with David L. Ponet) (invited symposium essay)

The Costs of Consensus in Statutory Construction, 120 YALE L.J. ONLINE 47 (2010), http://yalelawjournal.org/2010/7/30/leib_serota.html (with Michael Serota)

Contracts and Friendships, 59 EMORY L.J. 649 (2010), excerpted in RANDY BARNETT, PERSPECTIVES ON CONTRACT LAW (4th ed., Aspen 2010)

Rethinking Criminal Justice and Family Status, 119 YALE L.J. 1864 (2010) (with Dan Markel & Jennifer Collins)

(When) Should Family Status Matter in the Criminal Justice System?, 13 NEW CRIM. L. REV. 151 (2010) (with Jennifer Collins & Dan Markel) (faculty-edited)

Friends as Fiduciaries, 86 WASH. U. L. REV. 665 (2009)

Voluntarism, Vulnerability, and Criminal Law: A Reply to Professors Hills and O'Hear, 88 B.U. L. REV. 1449 (2008) (with Dan Markel & Jennifer Collins)

Punishing Family Status, 88 B.U. L. REV. 1327 (2008) (with Jennifer Collins & Dan Markel)

Interpreting Statutes Passed Through Referendums, 7 ELECTION L.J. 49 (2008) (peer-reviewed)

Adding Legislation Courses to the First-Year Curriculum, 58 J. LEGAL EDU. 166 (2008) (invited essay, faculty-edited)

Democratic Principle and Electoral College Reform, 106 MICH. L. REV. FIRST IMPRESSIONS 105 (2008), http://www.michiganlawreview.org/firstimpressions/vol106/leibmark.pdf (with Eli J. Mark)

Why Supermajoritarianism Does Not Illuminate the Interpretive Debate Between Originalists and Non-Originalists, 101 NW. U. L. REV. 1905 (2007)

The Perpetual Anxiety of Living Constitutionalism, 24 CONSTITUTIONAL COMMENTARY 353 (2007) (faculty-edited)

Representation in America: Some Thoughts on Nancy Pelosi, Gavin Newsom, Tim Johnson, and Deliberative Engagement, 16 THE GOOD SOCIETY 1 (2007) (with David L. Ponet) (faculty-edited)

Friends and the Law: Can Public Policy Support the Institution of Friendship?, 145 POL’Y REV. 55 (October & November 2007)

Friendship & the Law, 54 UCLA L. REV. 631 (2007)

Criminal Justice and the Challenge of Family Ties, 2007 UNIV. OF ILL. L. REV. 1147 (with Dan Markel & Jennifer Collins), cited in United States v. Corozzo, 256 F.R.D. 398, 402 (E.D.N.Y. 2008)

Can Direct Democracy Be Made Deliberative?, 54 BUFFALO L. REV. 903 (2006) (invited contribution)

Responsibility and Social/Political Choices About Choice, 25 LAW & PHIL. 453 (2006) (peer-reviewed)

Supermajoritarianism and the American Criminal Jury, 33 HASTINGS CON. L.Q. 141 (2006)

On Collaboration, Organizations, and Conciliation in the General Theory of Contract, 24 QUINNIPIAC L. REV. 1 (2005)

Rorty’s New School of American Pride, 34 POLITY 175 (2004) (peer-reviewed)

The Politics of Family and Friends in Aristotle and Montaigne, 31 INTERPRETATION: J. POL. PHIL. 165 (2004) (peer-reviewed)

Redeeming the Welshed Guarantee: A Scheme for Achieving Justiciability, 24 WHITTIER L. REV. 143 (2002)

Towards a Practice of Deliberative Democracy: A Proposal for a Popular Branch, 33 RUTGERS L.J. 359 (2002)

On the Sorites: Toward a Better Understanding of Chrysippus, 21 ANCIENT PHIL. 147 (2001) (peer-reviewed)

Chapters in Books

Good Faith in U.S. Constitutional Law, in Gleams of Good Faith in Constitutional Law (Jan Podkowik ed., forthcoming 2025)

(Tractate) Shabbat in Quarantine, in Torah in a Time of Plague 225 (Erin Leib Smokler ed., 2021) (winner of a 2021 Jewish Book Award)

Fiduciary Principles and Public Office, in THE OXFORD HANDBOOK OF FIDUCIARY LAW (Evan Criddle, Paul Miller & Robert Sitkoff eds., forthcoming 2019) (with Stephen R. Galoob)

Fiduciary Political Theory and Legitimacy, in FIDUCIARY GOVERNMENT 163 (Evan Criddle, Evan Fox-Decent, Andrew Gold, Sung Hui Kim, & Paul Miller eds., 2018) (with Stephen R. Galoob)

The Core of Fiduciary Political Theory, in RESEARCH HANDBOOK ON FIDUCIARY LAW 401 (D. Gordon Smith & Andrew Gold eds., 2018) (with Stephen R. Galoob)

Deliberative Law, in THE OXFORD HANDBOOK OF DELIBERATIVE DEMOCRACY 612 (André Bächtiger, Jane Mansbridge, Mark Warren & John Dryzek eds., 2018) (with David L. Ponet)

Mapping Public Fiduciary Relationships, in THE PHILOSOPHICAL FOUNDATIONS OF FIDUCIARY LAW 388 (Andrew Gold & Paul Miller eds., 2014) (with David L. Ponet & Michael Serota)

What is the Relational Theory of Consumer Form Contract?, in REVISITING THE CONTRACTS SCHOLARSHIP OF STEWART MACAULAY: ON THE EMPIRICAL AND THE LYRICAL 259 (Jean Braucher, John Kidwell & William Whitford eds., 2013)

Citizen Representation and the American Jury, in IMPERFECT DEMOCRACIES: THE DEMOCRATIC DEFICIT IN CANADA AND THE UNITED STATES 269 (Patti Lenard & Richard Simeon eds., 2012) (with David L. Ponet)

Pragmatism in Designing Popular Deliberative Institutions in the United States and China, in THE SEARCH FOR DELIBERATIVE DEMOCRACY IN CHINA 113 (Ethan J. Leib & Baogang He eds., 2006), translated into Chinese in DEVELOPMENT OF DELIBERATIVE DEMOCRACY: A COLLECTION OF ESSAYS ABOUT CHINESE LOCAL AND DELIBERATIVE INSTITUTIONS 161 (Chen Shengyong & Baogang He eds., 2006)