Stephen Ferruolo

Stephen Ferruolo
Office: Warren Hall 210A
Assistant:

Tatiana Quiapo
tquiapo@SanDiego.edu

Professor of Law
Director, Center for Corporate and Securities Law

  • JD, Stanford University
  • PhD, Princeton University
  • MA, Princeton University
  • MPhil, Oxford University
  • AB, Wesleyan University

Areas of Expertise

Business and Corporate Law, Contracts, Securities Regulation

Professional Experience

Ferruolo served as dean for USD School of Law from 2011-2020. From 1979 to 1987, he taught history as an assistant professor at Stanford University. Ferruolo's publications include The Origins of the University: The Schools of Paris and Their Critics (Stanford University Press, 1985).

Ferruolo clerked for the Honorable Bruce M. Selya of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit. From 2007 to 2011, he served as the founding partner and chair of the San Diego office of Goodwin Procter LLP. Prior to 2007, Ferruolo was a partner and co-chair of the Corporate/VLG Practice Group at Heller Ehrman LLP in its Palo Alto and San Diego offices. From 2003 to 2011, he served as vice president and general counsel of BIOCOM, the world’s largest regional life sciences association, and then as its vice-chairman from 2011 to 2014. 

Ferruolo specializes in the areas of business, corporate and biotech law. He advises USD's National Transactional LawMeet® team and co-teaches in-house corporate counseling and the spring semester of the experiential advocacy practicum.

Honors and Affiliations

Ferruolo graduated magna cum laude with high honors from Wesleyan University and was a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford University. He earned his PhD in History at Princeton University and his JD at Stanford University, where he graduated with honors. He is a member of the Order of the Coif. In 2006, BIOCOM awarded him with the William W. Otterson Service Award, presented for outstanding support of the life sciences industry in San Diego. In 2011, the Daily Journal listed him as one of the "Top 25 Biotech Lawyers in California." He was also selected for inclusion in the Corporate Law, Leveraged Buyouts and Private Equity Law, and Venture Capital Law categories of The Best Lawyers in San Diego. Ferruolo is listed in Chambers USA: America’s Leading Lawyers for Business in the Life Sciences category and in the biotechnology law category of The Best Lawyers in America. In October 2014, the Law Library Justice Foundation honored Ferruolo with the 2014 Bernard E. Witkin Award for Excellence in Teaching of the Law. He was a recipient of the Convivio Communitas Award for Leadership in May 2017.

 

Scholarly Work