Centers & Programs
Engaged Centers
Our research and programmatic centers bring together faculty, students, alumni, and practitioners, through research, public service, and events. Whether you’re interested in entrepreneurship, immigration reform, racial or social justice, tax, or technology, there’s a center that will connect you with experts in the field and give you an opportunity to explore the leading edge of change.
Research Center & Program News
Annual Reports
2023-2024
2022-2023
Our Research Centers
Center for Business Law
The UC Center for Business Law (CBL) was established with the mission of bringing together leading scholars, business leaders, practitioners, regulators and students to engage in the study, teaching and practice of business law at UC Law SF. The Center aims to be the leading business law venue in San Francisco, one of the world’s great centers of commerce, finance and technology. UC Law SF boasts more than 20,000 alumni, some of whom are already leaders in business and others who are only beginning to make their mark.
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Institute for Criminal Justice
The Institute for Criminal Justice is dedicated to promoting the fair, effective, and ethical administration of criminal justice. An umbrella entity for criminal justice engagement by the UC Law SF community, the Institute pursues these goals through rigorous and engaged scholarship, high-quality pedagogy and educational programs, legal representation, and community outreach.
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Indigenous Law Center
The UC Law SF Indigenous Law Center (ILC) advances the position that UC Law SF, as a public law school, has a responsibility and an opportunity to educate students about how U.S. law impacts Native American Nations and peoples. The charge of the ILC is thus to enhance our curriculum by offering courses, seminars, public lecture series, panels, and an affiliated scholar program.
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International Development Law Center
Established with the explicit objective of collaborating across disciplines and cultures, the International Development Law Center pursues links with other academic and research organizations, increasing the law school’s global footprint while generating international contacts and opportunities for the UC Law SF community.
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Center for East Asian Legal Studies
The UC Law SF Indigenous Law Center (ILC) advances the position that UC Law SF, as a public law school, has a responsibility and an opportunity to educate students about how U.S. law impacts Native American Nations and peoples. The charge of the ILC is thus to enhance our curriculum by offering courses, seminars, public lecture series, panels, and an affiliated scholar program.
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Center for Gender and Refugee Studies
The Center for Gender and Refugee Studies (CGRS) founded in 1999, is the nation’s leading advocacy organization on the issue of women asylum-seekers fleeing gender-related violence. CGRS provides legal expertise and resources to attorneys and coordinates legal and national public policy advocacy efforts. The center integrates students and international scholars into all aspects of its work.
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Center for Innovation
The Center for Innovation (C4i) promotes data-driven law-making and seeks to empower regulators to make informed, evidence-based decisions, particularly at the intersection of law and technology. More than a think tank, C4i is an action tank invested in identifying implementable solutions to today’s problems.
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LexLab
LexLab is a legal tech hub connecting UC Law SF students and alumni to investors, founders, lawyers, engineers and companies building the future of legal services.
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Center for Negotiation and Dispute Resolution
The Center for Negotiation and Dispute Resolution (CNDR). As lawyers turn to negotiation, mediation, and arbitration to settle matters that previously were adjudicated, the need has increased for attorneys to master dispute resolution. CNDR organizes classes, research, and professional programs for the study of alternative ways to settle disputes.
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Center for Litigation and Courts
The nonpartisan Center for Litigation and Courts was established in 2021 to expand the knowledge of civil litigation, alternative dispute resolution, and the courts; to disseminate that knowledge to the bench, bar, legal academy, and lay public; and to supply resources and guidance to members of the UC Law SF community interested in civil litigation.
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Center for Racial and Economic Justice
The Center for Racial and Economic Justice (CREJ) works to advance equity through legal education, scholarship and collaboration, providing the UC Law SF intellectual community with access to nationally renowned thinkers on issues of racial and economic inequality and the space to critically examine how the law reinforces subordination.
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Center for Race, Immigration, Citizenship, and Equality
The Center for Race, Immigration, Citizenship, and Equality (RICE) supports scholarship, education, and public service on the ways that intersectional and marginalized identities produce and reflect structural inequality.
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Center for WorkLife Law
The Center for WorkLife Law is a national advocacy and research organization that advances gender and racial equity by strengthening legal rights for pregnant people and family caregivers. Our work seeks to ensure all people have the freedom to build and maintain economic security through employment and educational opportunities, without having to sacrifice their health or their loved ones’ care.
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Center for Social Justice
The Center for Social Justice provides strategic leadership of social justice activities at the law school and promotes a strong public interest campus culture. The Center’s goal is to help all students find meaningful ways to incorporate justice work into their professional identity and future practice.
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UCSF – UC Law Consortium on Law, Science & Health Policy
UCSF/UC Law Consortium on Law, Science & Health Policy is dedicated to promoting research, education, and service opportunities that bridge the gap between law and science by building multidisciplinary and multi-stakeholder collaborations among faculty and students of UCSF and UC Law SF and the patients, clients, communities, and organizations they serve alongside.
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Center on Tax Law
The UC Law SF Center on Tax Law connects students, faculty, alumni, and friends who study, discuss, practice, and seek to improve tax law. In addition to sponsoring on-campus presentations by both academics and practitioners, members of our tax faculty are frequent contributors to both academic journals and real-time, current events in taxation. The Center also develops relationships between current and former students, potential employers, and the community.
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Equality Action Center
The Equality Action Center at UC Law SF seeks to advance racial, gender, and class equality in the workplace and in politics. Our initiatives address inequality at a structural level with concrete, evidence-based interventions. We lead programs that cultivate leadership and level the playing field for everyone. Our focus is pragmatic: our rigorous research is linked with practical steps to produce social or organizational change within a two- to five-year time frame.
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