About Us
The Berkeley Center for Law, Business and the Economy (BCLBE) is Berkeley Law’s hub for rigorous, relevant, empirically based research and education on the interrelationships of law, business, and the economy. BCLBE informs students, policymakers and the public of the implications of this innovative work to promote positive outcomes on business operations, economic growth, and market efficiency. BCLBE’s interdisciplinary approach to basic research, timely policy research, curriculum innovation, and public education empowers current and future leaders in business, law and policy to tackle the most pressing problems of today and tomorrow.
BCLBE INITIATIVES
INFORMING BUSINESS LEADERS, POLICYMAKERS AND SCHOLARS:
BCLBE pursues policy-oriented initiatives that promote dialog among business leaders, scholars and government officials, and explore issues important to the future of the California, national and international economies and to the businesses and people that work within them. These initiatives include:
- Financial Market Innovation and Stability: BCLBE brings together academic resources from across UC Berkeley with insights from the professional, business and policy worlds to develop evidence-based recommendations for stabilizing and prudently regulating capital markets and financial institutions. Research projects have addressed restructuring defaulting mortgages in securitization pools, the US Treasury’s bank stress tests, analysis of the Mortgage Electronic Registration System, and improving bank transparency while protecting proprietary information.
- Technology Innovation and Commercialization: BCLBE has set up teams of experts in innovation finance and policy, patent law, and technology to illuminate the scientific and commercial development of biomedical inventions and clean technologies. The projects aim to lower barriers to financing sources and implementing commercialization of innovations.
- Business Document Analyses: BCLBE faculty, working with a network of electronic text analysis and law practice experts, are developing computerized tools to perform quantitative textual analyses on large databases to explore and describe the documentation of business and finance activities. The project outputs will provide insights into the evolution of business documents that will enhance the ability of market participants.
INNOVATIVE, RELEVANT, MULTI-DISCIPLINARY TRAINING:
BCLBE creates an environment in which students gain a deeper understanding of the legal rules and economic principles that affect economies and businesses operating within them. BCLBE helps students grasp the context in which business and legal strategies are developed, and decisions are made.
- The Business@BerkeleyLaw courses instruct law students in the fundamentals of business finance, management and strategy. These courses concentrate on the economic and legal circumstances confronting businesses and entrepreneurs from the initial stages of a company’s conception through its growth and maturation, and provide students the skills to solve real business problems.
- The Business Law Certificate recognizes those students who have successfully pursued a rigorous course of study to prepare for professional practice as legal advisors to businesses, NGOs and government entities. Students completing the program have breadth, expertise and preparation for future growth. Students may elect to focus on either the transactional, tax or litigation aspects of the business law field.
EMPIRICAL RESEARCH TO SUPPORT EVIDENCE BASED EDUCATION AND DECISION MAKING:
Building on the fruits of projects such as the following, BCLBE provides to students an evidence based education and to professionals, business leaders and policymakers data based advice on decision making and policy initiatives. Empirical research projects include:
- Securitized Subprime Mortgages: Understanding Contract Rules and Incentives
- Collateralized Debt Obligations: Disclosures and Default
- Transaction and Governance Document Analysis and Database Project
- Patenting and Commercializing Biotech Innovations
- Social Psychological Investigation of Non-Readership of Click-Through Agreements
PRINCIPAL PERSONNEL
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Ken Taymor, Executive Director |
Eric Talley, Faculty Co-Director etalley@law.berkeley.edu 510-642-7875 Homepage/ CV |
Nancy Wallace, Faculty Co-Director wallace@haas.berkeley.edu 510-642-4732 Homepage / CV |
FACULTY AND STAFF AFFILIATED FACULTY
ADVISORY BOARD ADJUNCT FACULTY
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