Anthony Sebok

Class of Spring 1999

Professor of Law

Yeshiva University

New York

Punitive Damages - A Comparative Study of German and American Tort Law

During his stay in Berlin, Sebok examined German tort law and Germany’s near rejection of punitive damages remedies, and compared that approach with the American experience. His aim was to shed light not only on the role of punitive damages in both systems, but also on the more fundamental theoretical differences between American and German notions of “retribution, efficiency, and corrective justice in private law.” Sebok worked closely with the law faculty of Humboldt University, especially Bernhard Schlink and Christoph Paulus.

Anthony Sebok is an expert on mass torts, litigation finance, comparative tort law, and legal philosophy. He was the Centennial Professor of Law and the Associate Dean for Research at Brooklyn Law School, where he taught for 15 years. He was a Fellow in the Program in Law and Public Affairs at Princeton University from 2005-06, and in 1999, he was a Fellow at the American Academy in Berlin. Following law school, Sebok clerked for Chief Judge Edward N. Cahn of the US District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.

Sebok has authored numerous articles about litigation finance and mass restitution litigation involving tobacco, handguns, and slavery reparations. He is the author of Legal Positivism in American Jurisprudence, articles and essays on jurisprudence, and is the coeditor of The Philosophy of Law: A Collection of Essays. His casebook, Tort Law: Responsibilities and Redress, which he coauthored with John Goldberg and Benjamin Zipursky, is used at several leading law schools. Sebok is frequently quoted in the national media on timely legal issues, such as the September 11 Victim Compensation Fund.