David Freeman Engstrom’s teaching and scholarship focus on the institutional design of litigation and regulatory regimes, as well as topics in administrative law, civil procedure, constitutional law, civil rights, and law and education.  He recently completed the first large-scale empirical investigation of qui tam litigation under the False Claims Act.  Current work includes a book project examining the institutional origins and evolution of American job discrimination law.  His award-winning articles have appeared in Stanford Law Review, Yale Law Journal, and Columbia Law Review, among others, while his expert commentary has appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, CNN, and MSNBC.

Previously, Professor Engstrom, JD ’02, was a law clerk to Chief Judge Diane P. Wood of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit and was a John M. Olin Fellow at Yale Law School.  He also litigated for four years at Kellogg, Huber, Hansen, Todd, Evans & Figel in Washington, D.C., representing clients before the U.S. Supreme Court, U.S. Courts of Appeals, and various trial courts and agencies.  Earlier in his career, he worked on education, early childhood, and civil rights issues at the Edward Zigler Center at Yale University and the Hewlett Foundation and taught high school and coached football in the Mississippi Delta.  He holds a J.D. from Stanford Law School, an M.Sc. from Oxford University, and a Ph.D. from Yale University.