Matthew Steilen is Professor of Law and an Affiliated Faculty Member in the Department of Philosophy, College of Arts and Sciences. He holds a J.D. from Stanford Law School and a Ph.D. in Philosophy from Northwestern University, where he wrote a dissertation in contemporary metaphysics under Charles Travis, and was a University Fellow and a Searle Center Teaching Fellow. After graduating from Stanford, Steilen served as a law clerk to the Honorable Kermit V. Lipez of the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit. He was a member of the California Bar and was associated with the law firm of Covington & Burling LLP, where he practiced in civil litigation and did substantial pro bono work in the area of constitutional rights.