Dr. Daphna Renan

Biography

Daphna Renan is the Peter B. Munroe and Mary J. Munroe Professor of Law at Harvard Law School. Her research focuses on the U.S. presidency and the design of American democracy from the perspective of administrative, structural, and constitutional law. Renan's writings have appeared in prestigious journals like the Columbia Law Review and the Harvard Law Review, addressing themes such as the intertwining of legal, political, and cultural dimensions of presidential power. She explores unwritten norms and informal institutions within the presidency, analyzing how public law shapes the role of the presidency in a democratic republic. Daphna served as a Counsel to the Deputy Attorney General at the U.S. Department of Justice from 2009 to 2012 and was a member of President-Elect Obama’s Justice Department transition team. She clerked for Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg at the U.S. Supreme Court and Judge Harry T. Edwards at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. Renan earned her J.D. from Yale Law School and holds a B.A. in East Asian Studies from Yale College, graduating summa cum laude. In addition to her prominent scholarship, Renan teaches courses at Harvard, including Legislation and Regulation and Public Law Workshop.

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