By Andrew Cohen
Reviving UC Berkeley Law’s annual Celebration of Faculty Books revealed their seismic influence on core legal subjects. Highlighting just a sampling of books published by faculty members since 2022, the event offered a glimpse into their collective importance and impact.
Rather than the authors talking about their own work, a different faculty colleague weighed in on each book — and why it resonated so strongly. Seven were discussed in all, just a sampling of the full list of faculty books published since 2022.
“In the Law Library, we deeply appreciate the scholarly work of the Berkeley Law faculty,” said Jessica Whytock, associate dean of the UC Berkeley Law Library. “The Celebration of Faculty Books was an opportunity for us to recognize the depth, creativity, and impact of that work.”
She added that, “Books play a central role in legal scholarship. They shape how we think about the law, inform public debate, and support the education of future lawyers and scholars. They also challenge us to confront some of society’s most pressing and complex issues, often in ways other forms of scholarship cannot.”
The patent deep dive
In American Patent Law: A Business and Economic History, Professor Robert P. Merges — one of the nation’s most cited scholars in the law and technology field — supplies the first comprehensive look at the United States’ patent system and patent doctrine since its inception in 1790. UC Berkeley Law lecturer Talha Syed called the book a unique and seminal publication that deftly describes how people have used patents throughout American history.
“In the field of patent scholarship, Rob is simply unrivaled in terms of both his significance and his influence — two traits that don’t always go together,” Syed said. “He delivers extremely careful analysis of doctrinal subtleties, and he developed and pioneered ways of economic analysis to show larger policy implications.”
Syed explained that the scope of Merges’ book — offering an integrated account of patent law and policy from its founding to the present — is unprecedented. He noted that Merges struck an effective balance of amplifying the relationship between patent doctrines and law on one hand with the changing character of business enterprises on the other.
“Rob bucks two recent trends by elaborating a forthright, clear, explanatory account of law being shaped by economic growth and technological development,” Syed said. “He also explains how patent law took place within a larger social context. Rob departs from a strictly straight-ahead chronicle, marking distinct eras and offering a wealth of empirical detail. That’s the work of any honest historian — they don’t cook the books for the sake of their story.”
Less is more
Professor Emeritus Melvin Eisenberg produced a fittingly succinct title for his powerful book, Legal Reasoning, which explains and analyzes how courts go about making and applying common law rules. One of the nation’s leading authorities on contract law and corporate law, Eisenberg illuminates reasoning from binding case precedents, authoritative but not binding sources such as leading treatises, analogy, moral and policy propositions, and more.
Professor Christopher Kutz — who called Eisenberg “an absolute giant, a mentor to so many, and one of my most interesting conversationalists” — described the ways his book astutely examines how logic, deduction, and judgment factor into legal reasoning.
“It’s a deep well of learning,” Kutz said. “Mel has a very distinctive view of legal reasoning; he thinks analogical reasoning is overstated and that it’s more rule-based and not deductive. He also has a strong understanding of legal realism, that law is something not wholly separate from politics and society.”
Describing the book as “one you can read quickly but will think about for a long time,” Kutz complimented the concise and clear nature of Eisenberg’s prose. “It’s a treasure,” he said.
Variety pack
In Open Hand, Closed Fist: Practices of Undocumented Organizing in Hostile State, Professor Kathryn Abrams tracks how undocumented activists in Arizona registered thousands of new Latine voters and joined a national movement to advance justice for immigrants. Professor Calvin Morrill said her book “shows how collective agency can not only change political and social institutions, but also enable agency in the individual.”
In No Democracy Lasts Forever: How the Constitution Threatens the United States, Dean Erwin Chemerinsky argues that the Constitution’s inherent flaws and faulty application have put American democracy in jeopardy. Professor Daniel A. Farber said, “This is not just another academic book, it’s an alarming book … It was written well before the election, and now the wolf is at the door.”
In Graphic: Trauma and Meaning in Our Online Lives, Professor Alexa Koenig and Andrea Lampros discuss growing exposure to distressing digital imagery and provide science-based ways to minimize harm from investigating human rights abuses online. Professor Laurel E. Fletcher said their book “offers rich guidance so that we can understand the warning signs” and that “there’s now a teaching responsibility to equip our students with this knowledge.”
In Before the Movement: The Hidden History of Black Civil Rights, Professor Dylan C. Penningroth shows how Black people actively used law in their everyday lives long before the civil rights movement. Professor José Argeuta Funes said, “It’s a tribute to Dylan’s ability as a writer and a historian that his book feels like a friend walking you through a puzzle.”
In Belonging Without Othering: How We Save Ourselves and the World, Professor john a. powell and Stephen Menendian describe the harmful rise in denigrating people and groups and urge expanding a paradigm of belonging. Thelton E. Henderson for Social Justice Executive Director Savala Nolan ’11 said the book provides “actionable, affirmative steps we can take as individuals and communities to bridge and connect through our complexities.”
“The Celebration of Faculty Books allowed us the opportunity to honor these accomplishments as a community,” Whytock said. “It is essential to recognize the effort and commitment required to produce a book. The Law Library is proud to support that work at every stage, and we appreciate the dedication and contributions of our faculty.”