Adam Zimmerman

Adam Zimmerman serves as the Robert Kingsley Professor of Law at the University of Southern California Gould School of Law, teaching Tort Law, Civil Procedure, Administrative Law, and Mass Tort Law. His scholarship critically examines how class action attorneys, regulatory agencies, and criminal prosecutors deliver justice to large groups through interconnected systems of tort, administrative, and procedural law, with significant influence on federal policy regarding agency class actions.

Zimmerman earned his J.D. magna cum laude from Georgetown University Law Center, where he served as associate editor of the Georgetown Law Journal and co-founded the nation's first student chapter of the American Constitutional Society. His professional trajectory includes clerking for Judge Jack B. Weinstein (Eastern District of New York), advising Special Master Kenneth R. Feinberg on the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund, and practicing complex commercial litigation at Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP.

His research centers on aggregate litigation mechanisms, particularly class actions within administrative and federal systems. Key contributions include analyzing federal agencies' role in drafting state legislation (Ghostwriting Federalism) and developing frameworks for agency class actions that transformed regulatory practice. His work consistently bridges theoretical legal scholarship with real-world justice delivery for mass claims.

Zimmerman's publications span the Yale Law Journal, Columbia Law Review, and Texas Law Review, revealing evolving trends toward interdisciplinary analysis of federalism, procedural justice, and regulatory innovation in group litigation contexts. Recent scholarship increasingly examines diversity in multidistrict litigation leadership and systemic tensions between public values and settlement finality.

His teaching excellence has been recognized through:

• Best New Law Professor (2011)
• Professor of the Year (2013)
• Professor of the Year (2022)

As an active scholar-practitioner, Zimmerman mentors law students while shaping legal doctrine through influential amicus briefs and government-advised reforms. His career demonstrates continuous engagement with both theoretical frameworks and practical implementation challenges in mass justice systems.

Though no formal research labs are documented, Zimmerman collaborates extensively with scholars like M. Sant’ambrogio and D. Noll, contributing to national discourse on administrative justice through the Oxford Handbook of Administrative Justice and policy-shaping scholarship.