Michael Wald

Michael S. Wald is the Jackson Eli Reynolds Professor of Law Emeritus at Stanford Law School. He is a graduate of Cornell University, Yale Law School, and Yale Graduate School (MA Political Science). He has a special interest in applying child development research to legal and public policies and issues related to implementation of public policies. In addition to teaching and research, Professor Wald has drafted major federal and state legislation regarding child welfare, including the Adoption Assistance and Child Welfare Act of 1980, and has served in a variety of government positions. In 1996-97, he was Executive Director of the San Francisco Department of Human Services. From 1993 through 1995, he was Deputy General Counsel of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, working in particular on issues of welfare reform and child welfare. Wald has been a member of the U.S. Advisory Board on Child Abuse and chaired the California State Advisory Committee on Child Abuse and Neglect. He was a member of the Carnegie Corporation Task Force on Meeting the Needs of Children 0-3, served on several panels of the National Academy of Sciences, and Chaired the San Francisco Mayoral Task Force on Transitional Youth. He also served as a member and chair of WT Grant Faculty Scholars Selection Committee, on the board of directors of the Chapin Hall Children’s Center at the University of Chicago and of Legal Services for Children in San Francisco.