John Farmer is a University Professor (Law) and Director of the Miller Center on Policing and Community Resilience at Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey.

After graduating from Georgetown University (BA 1979) and Georgetown University Law Center (JD 1986), Farmer began his career as a law clerk to Associate Justice Alan B. Handler of the New Jersey Supreme Court. He worked as an associate at Riker, Danzig, Scherer, Hyland & Perretti LLP before joining the Office of the U.S. Attorney in Newark, where he received the U.S. Attorney General’s Special Achievement Award for Sustained Superior Performance in 1993.

Farmer joined the administration of New Jersey Governor Christine Todd Whitman in 1994, serving as assistant counsel, deputy chief counsel, and then chief counsel. From 1999-2002 he was New Jersey’s Attorney General.

From 2003-2004, as senior counsel and team leader for the 9/11 Commission, Farmer led the investigation of the country’s preparedness for and response to the terrorist attacks and was a principal author of the Commission’s final report. His team was charged with recreating the comprehensive timeline of the events on 9/11 itself at every level of government.

His book, The Ground Truth: The Story Behind America’s Defense on 9/11, was named a New York Times notable book. His article on the Patriot Act, “At freedom’s Edge,” was part of a series that was awarded the ABA Silver Gavel Award for outstanding legal journalism. He has published numerous opinion pieces in the New York Times, The Washington Post, The Star Ledger, The Jerusalem Post, The Boston Globe, The Hill, Psychology Today, The Messenger, and the Harvard Crimson. His book, Way Too Fast: An American Reckoning (2022), was named a notable book by Shelf Unbound.

Following the 9/11 Commission, Farmer was a partner at K&L Gates and in 2007 became a founding partner of the law firm Arseneault, Whipple, Farmer, Fassett and Azzarello, LLP.

In addition to his law practice, in 2008 he served as senior advisor to General James Jones, Special Envoy for Middle East Regional Security, on development of the rule of law in the Palestinian Authority territory, and was invited by the U.S. Embassy in Armenia to assist that nation’s legislative commission in investigating widespread violence and unrest following its elections. He also served on the commission formed to investigate the arrest of Professor Henry Louis Gates, Jr.

He was recruited to become Dean of Rutgers School of Law—Newark in 2009, and served in that capacity until April 2013, when he was asked to complete his Deanship contract by serving as Senior Vice President and General Counsel of Rutgers University. He was named General Counsel of the Year for 2013 by the publication New Jersey Biz.

In 2011 he served as counsel to the commission that redrew New Jersey’s legislative districts and, later that year, was appointed the independent, tie-breaking member of the commission charged with developing a new map of New Jersey’s Congressional districts.

In 2012, he received the Justice William J. Brennan, Jr. Award from the Association of the Federal Bar of New Jersey and the Distinguished Public Service Award from Leadership New Jersey.

In 2014, he received the Thurgood Marshall Award from the Thurgood Marshall College Fund.

In 2015, he received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the New Jersey Law Journal.

Farmer served as a member of the New Jersey State Ethics Commission from 2002-2008, on New Jersey’s Advisory Committee on Judicial Conduct from 2007-2014, and as the Compliance Monitor, from 2008-2014, of a National Security Agreement entered into with the federal government by Alcatel and Lucent Technologies upon their merger.

Most recently, from 2019-2023, he served as Director of the Eagleton Institute of Politics at Rutgers University. He is currently enjoying a one-year research leave.