Biography
Ed Cheng's research focuses on evidence (especially expert evidence), law and statistics, and remedies. Professor Cheng is a co-author of the five-volume treatise Modern Scientific Evidence, is the host of Excited Utterance, a long-running podcast focusing on scholarship in evidence and proof, and has hosted the Evidence Summer Workshop annually at Vanderbilt since 2019. His articles have been published in the Journal of Legal Studies, Yale Law Journal and Stanford Law Review, among other prestigious law journals. Cheng is a nine-time winner of the Hall-Hartman Outstanding Professor Award for excellence in teaching, and was selected by the graduating classes of 2013, 2017, and 2022 to be their commencement speaker. He teaches Evidence I, Evidence II, and Torts.
Professor Cheng has taught as a visiting professor at Harvard Law School and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He recently serves on the Committee on Advancing the Field of Forensic Pathology for the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering & Medicine. Cheng holds a J.D. from Harvard Law School, and a Ph.D. in statistics from Columbia University.
Programs
Education
Ph.D., Columbia University
J.D., Harvard Law School
M. Sc., London School of Economics and Political Science
B.S.E., Princeton University
Related Resources
Publications
Modern Scientific Evidence: The Law and Science of Expert Testimony
Modern Scientific Evidence: The Law and Science of Expert Testimony, Thomson West (5 volumes, 2021-22 edition) (with David Faigman, Jennifer Mnookin, Erin Murphy, Joseph Sanders, and Christopher Slobogin)
FULL TEXT: | WWWCases and Materials on Evidence
CASES AND MATERIALS ON EVIDENCE (2024) (open source).
Bending the Rules of Evidence
Bending the Rules of Evidence, 118 NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY LAW REVIEW 295 (2023) (with Alex Nunn and Julia Simon-Kerr).
Sequencing in Damages
"Sequencing in Damages," 74 Stanford Law Review 353 (2022) (with Ehud Guttel and Yuval Procaccia)
FULL TEXT: SSRNThe Consensus Rule: A New Approach to Scientific Evidence
"The Consensus Rule: A New Approach to Scientific Evidence," 75 Vanderbilt Law Review 407 (2022)
Distributing Attorneys’ Fees in Mass Litigation
"Distributing Attorneys’ Fees in Mass Litigation," 12 Journal of Legal Analysis 558 (2021) (with Paul Edelman and Brian Fitzpatrick)
FULL TEXT: SSRNBeyond the Witness: Bringing a Process Perspective to Modern Evidence Law
"Beyond the Witness: Bringing a Process Perspective to Modern Evidence Law," 97 Texas Law Review 1077 (2019) (with Alex Nunn)
FULL TEXT: SSRNDetection and Correction of Case Publication Bias
"Detection and Correction of Case Publication Bias," 47 Journal of Legal Studies 151 (2018)
FULL TEXT: SSRNReconceptualizing the Burden of Proof
When 10 Trials Are Better Than 1000: An Evidentiary Perspective on Trial Sampling
A Practical Solution to the Reference Class Problem
Does Frye or Daubert Matter?: A Study of Scientific Admissibility Standards
"Does Frye or Daubert Matter?: A Study of Scientific Admissibility Standards," 91 Virginia Law Review 471 (2005) (with Albert Yoon)
FULL TEXT: SSRN