Richard Frankel studies the intersection of civil rights, civil procedure and federal courts. He is the founder of the law school's Appellate Litigation Clinic. Professor Frankel previously served as a teaching fellow and supervising attorney for the Georgetown University Law Center’s Appellate Litigation Program. While there, he supervised students litigating before the U.S. Courts of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, the Fourth Circuit and the Ninth Circuit as well as the Board of Immigration Appeals. His clinical interests include consumer law, appellate advocacy, landlord-tenant law, immigration law, public benefits, civil rights and prisoners’ rights. Previously, he was the Goldberg-Deitzler Fellow for Trial Lawyers for Public Justice in Washington, D.C., where he litigated class-action consumer protection and civil rights cases. Professor Frankel’s publications include “Regulating Privatized Government through Section 1983” in the University of Chicago Law Review, “The Failure of Analogy in Conceptualizing Private Entity Liability Under Section 1983,” (forthcoming) in University of Missouri-Kansas City Law Review, “Undue Deference,” in Trial, “Proposition 209: A Stronger Civil Rights Act?” in Yale Law & Policy Review and “Illusory Arbitration Clauses,” (co-author) in The Employee Advocate. A graduate of Yale Law School, he was senior editor of the Yale Law Journal, articles editor of Yale Law & Policy Review and student director of the Community Legal Services Clinic. He clerked for Judge William C. Canby Jr. of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and for Judge Henry H. Kennedy Jr. of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.
Articles
Illegal Emigration: The Continuing Life of Invalid Deportation Orders, SMU Law Journal (2012)
Federal appeals courts overturn more than one thousand deportation orders every year. A significant number...
The Disappearing Opt-Out Right in Punitive Damages Class Actions, Wisconsin Law Review (forthcoming 2011) (2011)
One of the most pressing issues in punitive damages law today is how to protect...
The Failure of Analogy in Conceptualizing Private Entity Liability Under Section 1983, UMKC Law Review (2010)
This paper examines the liability rules that apply to the growing number of private entities...
Regulating Privatized Government Through Section 1983, University of Chicago Law Review (2009)
As governments increasingly delegate traditional public functions to private, for-profit entities, the federal civil rights...
Books
Consumer Arbitration Agreements: Enforcability and Other Topics (with F. Paul Bland, Jr.; Michael J. Quirk; Leslie A. Bailey; and Jonathan Sheldon) (2007)
Working Papers
The Arbitration Clause as Super Contract, Drexel University Earle Mack School of Law Working Paper Series (2012)
It is widely acknowledged that the purpose of the Federal Arbitration Act was to place...