Professor Richard Briffault is the Joseph P. Chamberlain Professor of Legislation at Columbia Law School. He joined the Columbia Law faculty in 1983. He was law clerk to the Honorable Shirley M. Hufstedler of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, and was Assistant Counsel to New York Governor Hugh L. Carey. In 2014, Professor Briffault was appointed Chair of the Conflicts of Interest Board of the City of New York. He was a member of New York State’s Moreland Act Commission to Investigate Public Corruption (2013-14), and served as a member of or consultant to several New York City and State commissions dealing with state and local governance. He is currently the Reporter for the American Law Institute's project on Principles of Government Ethics. He is also vice-chair of Citizens Union of the City of New York. His research, writing and teaching focus on state and local government law, legislation, the law of the political process, government ethics and property. He is co-author of the textbook State and Local Government Law (7th ed. 2009); principal author of Dollars and Democracy: A Blueprint for Campaign Finance Reform (the Report of the Commission on Campaign Finance Reform of The Association of the Bar of the City of New York 2000); and author of Balancing Acts: The Reality Behind State Balanced Budget Requirements (20th Century Fund Press 1996) as well as more than seventy law review articles.
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