Adam Benforado

Adam Benforado is a professor, writer, and lawyer.

As a legal scholar, his principal interest is in applying insights from the mind sciences—most notably cognitive psychology—to law and legal theory. He is particularly focused on issues arising in criminal law and corporate law.

Conducting novel experiments and developing existing findings, Professor Benforado's research is dedicated to uncovering how our legal system may reflect unappreciated aspects of our cognitive frameworks and processes, and, as a consequence, how the law may fail to align with our purported values and fall short of meeting our needs. He is currently a co-principal investigator on several experimental projects in progress with psychologist collaborators .

As an undergraduate, Professor Benforado studied at Yale University and Oxford University. He received his J.D. from Harvard Law School and was a Frank Knox Fellow and Visiting Scholar with the Cambridge University Faculty of Law. He clerked for Judge Judith Rogers on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. Professor Benforado also worked at Jenner & Block, LLP in Washington, D.C., where he handled trial and appellate litigation matters. He joined the Drexel University School of Law as an assistant professor in 2008 and was granted tenure in 2013. He was a visiting professor at Brooklyn Law School in Spring 2013.

His recent scholarly work includes three chapters in Ideology, Psychology, and Law (Oxford University Press) and articles in the Emory Law Journal (four articles), Maryland Law Review, Indiana Law Journal, Cardozo Law Review, Oregon Law Review, Florida State University Law Review, St. Louis University Law Journal, Entrepreneurial Business Law Journal, Topics in Cognitive Science, and Cognitive Science.

His first book, Unfair: The New Science of Criminal Injustice, was published by Crown in June 2015.

Professor Benforado's op-eds, essays, and letters have appeared in a variety of publications including The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Philadelphia Inquirer, The Providence Journal, The Baltimore Sun, The Houston Chronicle, The Seattle Post-Intelligencer, The Legal Times, and Boston Review. He is also a contributor to The Situationist, the blog of the Project on Law and Mind Sciences at Harvard Law School, and has been a guest blogger at Concurring Opinions, The Faculty Lounge, and PrawfsBlawg.

As an emerging leader in the field of law and mind sciences, Professor Benforado has been invited to speak at a diverse array of public venues and schools around the country including Harvard, Columbia, Ohio State, Vanderbilt, Temple, Wake Forest, Tulsa, Florida State, and the University of Pennsylvania. Although he no longer takes cases, he remains a member of the Washington, D.C. and New York bars.