Research Programs
Empirical Legal Studies Program – Empirical Legal Studies (ELS) is receiving increasing attention in the legal academy. The Journal of Empirical Legal Studies began publishing in March 2004; the First Annual Conference on Empirical Legal Studies took place at the University of Texas October 27-28, 2006.
The Center for the Study of Law and Society has created a new Berkeley Empirical Legal Studies Program (BELS). The Program will provide experienced, professional assistance to Boalt faculty, Center affiliates, visiting scholars, and graduate students in securing and managing competitive research grants for empirical legal scholarship. The Center has plans to develop a research report to disseminate this research. As funding permits, the Center will organize conferences and workshops on empirical legal studies. Please visit the BELS webpage . Applications for the new BELS Graduate Fellowship Program will begin in the Fall of 2009. For information, click here (under construction).
Litigation, Courts, and Criminal Justice - The study of litigation, courts, and criminal justice processes has long been central to the work of CSLS. Affiliated scholars conduct research on: comparative judicial behavior; the development of European Union law; penal policy and patterns of incarceration; the privatization of corrections; litigation concerning prison conditions; historical and contemporary police and criminal justice system processes; the Awar on drugs, @ control of gangs, and regulation of vice. Affiliated faculty working in these areas include: Malcolm Feeley (a former director of the Cener), Martin Shapiro, Jonathan Simon, Robert MacCoun, Franklin Zimring, David Sklanksy, Gordon Silverstein and Laura Nader.
Law and Organizations – Research on law and organizations, already a major focus of scholarship at CSLS, has been further strengthened since CSLS director Calvin Morrill joined the faculty in 2009. Affiliated scholars conduct research on the role of organizational institutions in judicial construction of civil rights law, the legal consciousness of employees and employers, the role of public interest law firms, the psychology of discrimination, and legal consciousness in schools. CSLS and the Institute for Industrial Relations jointly sponsor a research program on Law and the Workplace, co-directed by former CSLS Director Lauren Edelman and Center affiliate Linda Kreiger. Center affiliate Catherine Albiston’s work further strengthens the law and organizations research program.
Law and Economics – The John M. Olin Program on Law and Economics, administered through the Center for the Study of Law and Society, has helped to make UC Berkeley one of the world's foremost academic centers for the study of law, economics, and institutions. The Olin program has provided support for graduate students and helped support editing of The International Review of Law and Economics. It has sponsored national and international conferences, as well as a speakers' series featuring law and economics scholars from the United States and abroad. Center affiliates Daniel Rubinfeld and Robert Cooter are leaders in the field.
Regulatory Studies – In recent years the Center has actively supported and encouraged research and scholarly interaction concerning the politics and implementation of regulatory and administrative regimes. Recent areas of study include: globalization and regulation; ocean law and policy; corporate compliance and organization theory. Externally funded research projects have included major studies of comparative regulatory methods, comparative environmental regulation and corporate environmental performance, the dissemination of and response to strong legal penalties in U.S. environmental law. Major contributions in this area have been made by former Center director Robert Kagan as well as David Vogel and more recent affiliates David Winickoff, Dorothy Thornton and Larry Ruth.
Gender, Social Policy, and the Law – Center affiliate Kristin Luker has long been a leading scholar in this area, and CSLS has administered several externally funded projects on law, teenage pregnancy, and sex education policy. The program was enhanced by the addition of Catherine Albiston to the faculty in 2003. Affiliated faculty are examining sexual discrimination and civil rights in the workplace (Edelman, Krieger and Albiston), as well continuing historical research on women in crime (Feeley).
Legal History – CSLS has had a rich tradition of supporting historical studies, working with UC Berkeley's distinguished group of scholars who specialize in the history of law, courts, and legal processes. Areas of research include economic history and the history of federalism, civil liberties and the welfare state, as well as Asian-Americans' encounters with the American legal system. Longtime Center affiliates Harry Scheiber (former acting director of the Center) and Charles McClain continue to work in this program as do recent affiliates Mark Brilliant (History and American Studies) and Sean Fahrang (Public Policy).
Jurisprudential Studies – In recent years, the intellectual life of CSLS has been enriched by a reinvigorated commitment to interaction among legal philosophers and empirically-oriented socio-legal scholars. In this respect, the Center is advancing the intellectual agenda of Professor Emeritus Philip Selznick, its "founding father," who has promoted a normatively and philosophically-inspired vision of socio-legal studies. This combined emphasis remains one of the striking features of Berkeley's CSLS. Center affiliates in this program are David Lieberman, Christopher Kutz, Samuel Scheffler, Philippe Nonet and newly affiliated, Professor Marianne Constable (Rhetoric).
