Brian D. Feinstein

Brian D. Feinstein
  • Assistant Professor of Legal Studies & Business Ethics

Contact Information

  • office Address:

    660 Jon M. Huntsman Hall

Research Interests: financial regulation, administrative law, agency design, empirical legal studies

Links: CV, SSRN page

Overview

Brian D. Feinstein examines the structure and function of regulatory agencies and the interplay between these agencies and other institutions. His articles have charted the connections between mortgage finance regulation and state foreclosure law, considered the impact of partisan polarization on regulatory agencies, and shed light on Congress’s use of oversight hearings as a means of influencing agency behavior. A political scientist and lawyer by training, Feinstein’s research incorporates insights from the social sciences and law. His articles have appeared in the Columbia Law Review, Journal of Empirical Legal Studies, and Journal of Politics, among other journals.

Before joining Wharton in 2018, Feinstein was a Bigelow Fellow & Lecturer in Law at the University of Chicago Law School. Prior to entering academia, he practiced law at Arnold & Porter LLP, where he served as outside counsel to the Federal Housing Finance Agency, and clerked for the Honorable John Daniel Tinder of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit.

Feinstein received a J.D. from Harvard Law School and a Ph.D. in government from Harvard University. He also earned a B.A. in economics and political science from Brown University.

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Research

Divided Agencies, Southern California Law Review, forthcoming (with Abby Wood)

Identity-Conscious Administrative Law, George Washington Law Review, forthcoming

The Contingent Origins of Financial Regulation, Washington University Law Review, forthcoming (with Peter Conti-Brown)

The Impact of Cryptocurrency Regulation on Trading Markets, 7 Journal of Financial Regulation 48 (2021) (with Kevin Werbach)

Congress’s Commissioners, 38 Yale Journal on Regulation 175 (2021) (with Todd Henderson)

Outside Advisers Inside Agencies, 108 Georgetown Law Journal 1139 (forthcoming, 2020) (with Daniel Hemel)

Judging Judicial Foreclosure 15 Journal of Empirical Legal Studies 406 (2018)

Partisan Balance with Bite, 118 Columbia Law Review 9 (2018) (with Daniel Hemel)

Congress in the Administrative State, 95 Washington University Law Revier 1189 (2018)

Designing Executive Agencies for Congressional Control, 69 Administrative Law Review 259 (2017)

Congressional Government Rebooted: Randomized Committee Assignments & Legislative Capacity, 7 Harvard Law & Policy Rev. 601 (2013)

Avoiding Oversight: Legislator Preferences & Congressional Monitoring of the Administrative State, 8 Journal of Law, Economics & Policy 23 (2011)

Community Benefits Agreements with Transit Agencies: A Legal Strategy for Addressing Gentrification, 38 Transportation Law Journal 85 (2011) (with Ashley Allen)

The Dynasty Advantage: Family Ties in Congressional Elections, 35 Legislative Studies Quarterly 571 (2010)

Congressional Parties and Civil Rights Politics, 72 Journal of Politics 672 (2010) (with Eric Schickler and Kathryn Pearson)

Platforms and Partners: The Civil Rights Realignment Reconsidered, 22 Studies in American Political Development 1 (2008) (with Eric Schickler)

Awards and Honors

  • Holmes-Cardozo Outstanding Research Award, Academy of Legal Studies in Business Annual Conference, 2019
  • Mack Institute Research Fellowship (joint with Kevin Werbach), 2019

In the News

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In the News

Why Regulation Won’t Harm Cryptocurrencies

Measures that protect investors and weed out bad actors will boost confidence in cryptocurrencies and help the industry to grow, according to Wharton’s Brian Feinstein and Kevin Werbach.

Knowledge @ Wharton - 4/27/2021
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