Stanford Law School - Notable Alumni

Notable Alumni

Upon graduation, most students join law firms and about a quarter of the class clerks for a judge. Stanford alumni practice in 50 countries and 49 states, and are partners at 94 of the 100 largest law firms in the United States. Despite its small size, Stanford has produced the fourth-most professors of law in the United States, according to a 2009 study and the fourth-most clerks to the U.S. Supreme Court, according to a 2000 finding.

• Michael Arrington (1995), Internet journalist and entrepreneur
• Wayne Edward Alley (1957), Judge of the Western District of Oklahoma
• D. Brook Bartlett (1962), Judge of the Western District of Missouri
• Max Baucus (1967), U.S. Senator
• Carlos Bea (1958), Judge of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals
• Xavier Becerra (1984), U.S. Congressman (1984–present)
• Riley Bechtel (1977), billionaire, Chairman and CEO, Bechtel Corporation
• Jeff Bingaman (1968), U.S. Senator (1983–present)
• Joshua B. Bolten (1980), White House Chief of Staff (2006–2009)
• Raymond Bonner (1967), investigative reporter for the New York Times and the International Herald Tribune
• Craig Platt (1981), high-profile criminal defense attorney
• Brooksley Born (1964), first woman named to the ABA Standing Committee on Federal Judiciary
• Rudi M. Brewster (1960), Judge of the Southern District of California
• Amanda Brown, author of Legally Blonde
• Laurie Smith Camp (1984), Judge of the District of Nebraska
• Paul G. Cassell (1984), Judge of the District of Utah
• Richard Harvey Chambers (1932), Judge of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals
• Deborah K. Chasanow (1974), Judge of the District of Maryland
• Chen Show Mao (1992), Member of Parliament, Singapore
• Dana K. Chipman (1986), Judge Advocate General of the United States Army
• Warren Christopher (1949), 63rd U.S. Secretary of State
• Frank Church (1950), U.S. Senator (1957–1981)
• Robert Cochran (1974), creator of the television shows 24 and La Femme Nikita
• Samuel Conti (1948), Judge of the Northern District of California
• Quentin L. Cook (1966), Member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormon Church)
• Walter Early Craig (1934), Judge of the District of Arizona
• James Crown (1980), President of Henry Crown and Company
• Nelson Cunningham, Cofounder of Kissinger Associates, former Special Advisor to the President for Western Hemisphere affairs
• David C. Drummond (1985), Senior Vice President, Corporate Development and Chief Legal Officer of Google
• Edward C. DuMont (1986), nominated to the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit by President Obama
• Benjamin Cushing Duniway (1931), Judge of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals
• Barbara Durham (1968), Chief Justice of the Washington Supreme Court (1995–1998)
• Fred Dutton (1949), Special Assistant to U.S. President John F. Kennedy, managed Robert F. Kennedy's presidential campaign
• William Donlon Edwards (1939), U.S. Congressman (1963–1995)
• John Ehrlichman (1951), infamous figure in the Watergate scandal
• Sian Elias (JSM 1972), Chief Justice of New Zealand
• Gary Feinerman (1991), Judge of the Northern District of Illinois
• Raymond C. Fisher (1966), Judge of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals
• Ivan K. Fong (1987), General Counsel of the Department of Homeland Security
• Stephen C. Ferruolo (1990), Dean of University of San Diego School of Law
• Ronald M. George (1964), Chief Justice of California (1996–2011)
• Matt Gonzalez (1990), Ralph Nader's 2008 vice presidential running mate, former president of San Francisco Board of Supervisors
• Joan B. Gottschall (1973), Judge of the Northern District of Illinois
• Thomas Poole Griesa (1958), Judge of the Southern District of New York
• Cynthia Holcomb Hall (1954), Judge of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals
• Maya Harris, Vice President for Peace and Social Justice at the Ford Foundation
• Denis Hayes (1985), Founder, Earth Day Network
• Roderick Hills (1955), former Chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (1975–1977) and Cofounder of Munger, Tolles & Olson
• Shirley Hufstedler (1949), first United States Secretary of Education (1979–1981) and Judge of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals (1968–1979)
• Procter R. Hug, Jr. (1958), Judge and former Chief Judge of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals
• Harry Lindley Hupp (1955), Judge of the Central District of California
• Susan Yvonne Illston (1973), Judge of the Northern District of California
• Michael Jacobson (1981), Senior Vice President and General Counsel, eBay Inc.
• Reuben Jeffery III, Under Secretary for Economic, Energy and Agricultural Affairs, U.S. Department of State and former Chairman of the Commodities Futures Trading Commission
• Gilbert H. Jertberg (1922), Judge of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals
• Michael Klarman (1983), Constitutional Law scholar and Harvard Law School professor
• Fred Kunzel (1927), Judge of the Southern District of California
• Charles A. Legge (1954), Judge of the Northern District of California
• David F. Levi (1980), Judge of the Eastern District of California
• John S. W. Lim (1983), Judge of the Hawaii Intermediate Court of Appeals (1999–2006)
• Fred von Lohmann, Senior Copyright Counsel at Google
• Greg Lukianoff, President of the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE)
• Rebecca Love Kourlis (1976), Executive Director at the Institute for the Advancement of the American Legal System
• Dahlia Lithwick (1995), Senior Editor at Slate
• Lawrence Tupper Lydick (1942), Judge of the Central District of California
• David Margolick, Contributing Editor at Condé Nast Portfolio, former Contributing Editor at Vanity Fair
• Cheryl Mills (1990), Chief of Staff to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton
• Carlos R. Moreno (1975), Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of California (2001–present)
• Dick Murphy, 33rd Mayor of San Diego, California
• William Neukom (1967), first General Counsel at Microsoft, president of the American Bar Association
• Ronald Kenneth Noble, Secretary General of Interpol and law professor
• William Albert Norris (1954), Judge of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals
• Sandra Day O'Connor (1952), first female U.S. Supreme Court Justice (1981–2006)
• Mark Oldman, Cofounder of Vault.com and wine critic
• S. James Otero (1976), Judge of the Central District of California
• Halil Suleyman Ozerden (1998), Judge of the Southern District of Mississippi
• Penny Pritzker (1984), billionaire and CEO of Pritzker Realty
• Chuck Reed (1978), Mayor of San Jose, California
• William Rehnquist (1952), Chief Justice of the United States (1986–2005)
• Anthony Romero (1990), Executive Director of the American Civil Liberties Union (2001–present)
• John Roos (1980), United States Ambassador to Japan (2009–present)
• John Rolly Ross (1926), Judge of the District of Nevada
• Marc Rotenberg, President and Executive Director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center
• Pamela Ann Rymer (1964), Judge of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals
• Catherine Sandoval (1990), Professor at Santa Clara University School of Law and first Hispanic commissioner in the California Public Utilities Commission
• James V. Selna (1970), Judge of the Central District of California
• Fern M. Smith (1975), Judge of the Northern District of California
• Christina A. Snyder (1972), Judge of the Central District of California
• Gus Jerome Solomon (1929), Judge of the District of Oregon
• William A. Sutherland (1898), former California State Assemblyman
• Charles M. Teague (1931), former U.S. Representative from California
• Peter Thiel (1992), founder of PayPal
• Bruce Rutherford Thompson (1936), Judge of the District of Nevada
• John D. Trasviña (1983), President of the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund (MALDEF)
• John Van de Kamp (1959), 28th California Attorney General
• Harry Usher, General Manager of the Los Angeles Olympic Organizing Committee
• Vaughn R. Walker (1970), Judge of the Northern District of California
• Bill Walton (never graduated), former NBA basketball player
• James Ware (1972), Judge of the Northern District of California
• Carlos Watson (1995), television host and journalist
• Stanley Alexander Weigel (1928), Judge of the Northern District of California
• W. Richard West, Jr. (1971), Founding Director of the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian
• Katharine Weymouth (1992), Publisher of the Washington Post
• Lance B. Wickman (1972), General Counsel of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormon Church)
• Michael G. Wilson (1966), Producer of James Bond films
• David Keith Winder (1958), Judge of the District of Utah
• Delbert E. Wong (1949), first Chinese-American judge in the continental United States
• Dennis Woodside (1980), Vice President of UK, Benelux and Ireland of Google