Brian Fitzpatrick, professor of law, has been elected a member of the American Law Institute.
Professor Fitzpatrick’s election was announced by ALI in October 2015. He is one of 73 new members, who include judges, lawyers and law professors from 22 states, the District of Columbia and three foreign countries, elected this year.
His research at Vanderbilt focuses on class action litigation, federal courts, judicial selection and constitutional law.
The American Law Institute is an independent, U.S.-based organization that produces scholarly work to clarify, modernize and improve the law. ALI drafts, discusses and publishes Restatements of the Law, Model Codes and Principles of Law that are influential in the courts and legislatures as well as in legal scholarship and education. By participating in the Institute’s work, members have an opportunity to work with other academics, judges and lawyers to influence the development of the law in existing and emerging areas.
Professor Fitzpatrick joined Vanderbilt’s law faculty in 2007 after serving as the John M. Olin Fellow at New York University School of Law. He graduated first in his class from Harvard Law School and served as a law clerk for Judge Diarmuid O’Scannlain on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and Justice Antonin Scalia on the U.S. Supreme Court.
After his clerkships, Professor Fitzpatrick practiced commercial and appellate litigation for several years at Sidley Austin in Washington, D.C., and served as Special Counsel for Supreme Court Nominations to U.S. Senator John Cornyn.
Before earning his law degree, Professor Fitzpatrick graduated summa cum laude with a bachelor’s of science in chemical engineering from the University of Notre Dame. He has received the Hall-Hartman Outstanding Professor Award, which recognizes excellence in classroom teaching, for his Civil Procedure course.
