David A. Dana
Northwestern University · Pritzker School of Law
Active 1957–2026
About
David A. Dana is a leading scholar in the fields of environmental law, property, land use, and professional responsibility. He holds the position of Kirkland & Ellis Professor of Law and is also a Professor of Real Estate at the Kellogg School of Management (Courtesy). He serves as the Director of the Program on Sustainability and Food and Animal Law. Before joining Northwestern, he was a litigator in both the private sector at Wilmer, Cutler & Pickering, and in the public sector at the U.S. Department of Justice. Dana has taught at Boston University and has been a visiting professor at Harvard, Virginia, and several foreign universities. His work on the Takings Clause has been widely cited, as has his writing on the ethics of aggregate legal representation. His current scholarly work focuses on environmental and health risks posed by emerging technologies, climate change adaptation, the foreclosure crisis, and attorney fees and fee alternatives.
Research topics
- Political Science
- Law
- Law and economics
- Sociology
- Philosophy
- Epistemology
- Geology
- Environmental ethics
- Economics
- Oceanography
- Environmental science
- Business
Selected publications
SSRN Electronic Journal · 2026-01-01
articleOpen access1st authorCorrespondingCoral species from another ocean may be the only way to save Caribbean reefs
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · 2026-01-22 · 1 citations
articleOpen accessSSRN Electronic Journal · 2025-01-01
preprintOpen accessClimate Exceptionalism in Court
SSRN Electronic Journal · 2025-01-01
articleOpen accessSenior authorCorporate Liability for Climate Change Adaptation Costs: A Market Share/Several Liability Approach
SSRN Electronic Journal · 2024-01-01
preprintOpen access1st authorCorrespondingThe Public Claim on Private Property
SSRN Electronic Journal · 2023-01-01
articleOpen access1st authorCorrespondingCooling Infrastructure, Cooling Security, and a Warming World
SSRN Electronic Journal · 2023-01-01
articleOpen access1st authorCorrespondingThe Major Questions Doctrine's Upside for Combatting Climate Change
SSRN Electronic Journal · 2023-01-01
articleOpen access1st authorCorrespondingClimate Change Adaptation Through the Prism of Individual Rights
Palgrave studies in classical liberalism · 2023-01-01
book-chapter1st authorCorrespondingIndividual autonomy and takings in a liberal theory of property
International Journal of Law in Context · 2022 · 1 citations
1st authorCorresponding- Sociology
- Political Science
- Sociology
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Frequent coauthors
- 12 shared
Michael Barsa
Northwestern University
- 6 shared
Yitzhak Mastai
Bar-Ilan University
- 6 shared
Susan P. Koniak
- 4 shared
Janice Nadler
- 3 shared
Michael P. Vandenbergh
Vanderbilt University
- 3 shared
Hannah Jacobs Wiseman
Pennsylvania State University
- 3 shared
Wil Burns
Northwestern University
- 3 shared
George M. Cohen
University of Virginia
Labs
Center on Law, Business, and EconomicsPI
Education
- 1980
Ph.D., Law
University of Chicago
- 1977
Other, Law
University of Chicago
- 1974
B.A., Political Science
University of Chicago
Awards & honors
- Kirkland & Ellis Professor of Law
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