Rachel Bayefsky

Rachel Bayefsky writes about constitutional law, federal courts, civil procedure and legal theory. Her work addresses both the practical workings of legal institutions and underlying philosophical ideas such as dignity and equality. One of her areas of focus is the way legal institutions approach forms of harm less tangible than physical or economic damage, especially the harms of stigma and disrespect.

Prior to joining the faculty, Bayefsky clerked for Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg of the U.S. Supreme Court, Chief Judge Robert A. Katzmann of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit and Judge Jed S. Rakoff of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. Bayefsky also taught at Harvard Law School as a Climenko Fellow and Lecturer on Law, and worked as a litigator at Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld in Washington, D.C. She earned her J.D. from Yale Law School, where she was editor-in-chief of the Yale Law Journal, and her D.Phil. from the University of Oxford, where she studied as a Rhodes Scholar.