Nicholas Bednar is nonresident fellow in the Governance Studies program at the Brookings Institution and an associate professor of law at the University of Minnesota Law School. His research focuses on administrative capacity, bureaucratic politics, and the federal workforce. His publications have appeared in the American Political Science Review, Stanford Law Review, and other political science and legal journals. He teaches courses on administrative law, tort law, and public administration. He also serves as a contributing editor of Lawfare.
Prior to joining the University of Minnesota, he received his Ph.D. in political science from Vanderbilt University and his J.D. from the University of Minnesota Law School. He clerked for Judge John R. Tunheim on the U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota and Judge Tracy M. Smith of the Minnesota Court of Appeals.