After graduating from Harvard Law School in 1978, Sunstein clerked for Justice Benjamin Kaplan of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court and Justice Thurgood Marshall of the U.S. Supreme Court. He also worked in the Department of Justice as an attorney-adviser in the Office of Legal Counsel.
Sunstein has written extensively on many aspects of public law, including the regulation of risk, the nature of rights, judicial decision-making, and numerous features of administrative, environmental, and constitutional doctrine. Sunstein’s analysis has been studied by many private and public institutions, including the CIA.
Sunstein is the author or co-author of hundreds of academic articles and numerous books, including the 2008 “Nudge: Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth, and Happiness,” which discusses how public and private organizations can help people make better choices in their daily lives.