By Andrew Cohen
Christopher Edley Jr., Berkeley Law’s dean from 2004 to 2013 and a renowned figure in administrative law, education policy, and civil rights, died unexpectedly on May 10 at age 71.
“As dean, he made an enormous positive difference in every aspect of the law school, from the hiring of many terrific faculty, to his initiative to build the South Addition, to dramatically increasing support for public interest grants for students, to the creation of many research centers,” says Berkeley Law Dean Erwin Chemerinsky. “Chris and I were law school classmates. He has been a dear friend and has provided me invaluable wisdom and support in my years as a dean. I know I speak for all of us in saying how terribly much we will miss him.”
Edley forged a distinguished career in both academia and public service. He spent 23 years as a professor at Harvard Law School, where co-founded the Harvard Civil Rights Project, regularly taught Administrative Law and a Law & Governance seminar, and also taught Environmental Law, National Security Law, Poverty & the Law, Defense Department Procurement Law & Policy, and Taxation.
Born in Boston and raised in Philadelphia and New Rochelle, New York, Edley earned degrees from Swarthmore College, the Harvard School of Public Policy, and Harvard Law School. He served in White House policy and budget positions under Presidents Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton; for Carter, his responsibilities included welfare reform, social security, food and nutrition programs, and several other anti-poverty agencies.
For Clinton, Edley oversaw budgets and legislative initiatives for five cabinet departments — Justice, Commerce, Housing and Urban Development, Transportation, and Treasury — spanning more than 40 independent agencies, with budget responsibility totaling hundreds of billions of dollars. As senior counsel to Clinton, he also directed a government-wide review of affirmative action programs.
“Chris Edley had a brilliant mind and a kind, good heart that he put to use to build a better, fairer, more just America,” Clinton said in a statement. “From his groundbreaking academic career to his service in multiple key roles in my administration, he always believed that law and policy are ultimately about people. He mastered the minute details but never lost sight of the big picture — giving more people the chance to live their best lives. He is gone far too soon, but his legacy will endure.”
A valued voice
Edley held senior positions in five presidential campaigns, including senior policy adviser for Barack Obama, his former student at Harvard Law. He then served on Obama’s Transition Board with responsibility for education, immigration, and health.
As co-chair of the congressionally chartered National Commission on Education Equity and Excellence from 2011 to 2013, Edley led its charge to recommend pathways for reform and steered a nationwide follow-up effort to advance those recommendations.
He also served as interim dean for UC Berkeley’s School of Education — a role he stepped into at the request of Chancellor Carol Christ — from 2021 to 2023. In that position, Edley helped formalize the school’s undergraduate major in education and the school officially became the Berkeley School of Education after having served only graduate students for more than 50 years.
“As our dean, Chris championed initiatives to expand online education, bolster early childhood education, and supported the school’s groundbreaking statewide effort for equity-based school leadership programs,” says current Dean Michelle D. Young. “Chris has left an indelible mark on the nation’s civil rights dialogue, the Berkeley School of Education, and most certainly on our hearts.”
Young’s full statement about his impact describes how he urged colleagues to embrace the mantra, “Educate like democracy depends on it.”
Involved in a wide range of civic endeavors, Edley served on the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, was a board member with several social justice-focused nonprofits, and co-founded The Opportunity Institute, a charitable non-governmental organization that focuses on federal and state policy related to education and social mobility. He also served on the board of The Century Foundation, the Russell Sage Foundation, and the American Council on Germany.
Edley was a fellow of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences, the National Academy of Public Administration, the Gates Foundation’s National Programs Advisory Panel, the Council on Foreign Relations, and the American Law Institute, among other prominent organizations. He also served on many committees for the National Academies of Science’s National Research Council, a committee to evaluate performance standards and design a national system of education equity indicators.
“Chris Edley was a relentless force for good in the world — the good he accomplished directly and the good that he empowered other people to do,” says Molly Van Houweling, a Berkeley Law professor and faculty co-director of the school’s Berkeley Center for Law & Technology. “He set an example of how to make a complicated world better with grit and good cheer. As sad as I am, I can’t help but smile when I think of him.”
A tailor-made role
Chosen as Berkeley Law’s dean from a candidate pool of nearly 200 people, Edley embraced the school’s public mission.
“I have turned aside deanship inquiries in the past, but this opportunity is unique,” Edley said after accepting the job. “The mission of a great public law school is different from that of an elite private school because we must consider not only the excellence of our training and scholarship, but also the access to and inclusiveness of our enterprise. We must also provide intellectual capital and leadership to the state, nation, and world.”
In addition to expanding Berkeley Law’s faculty ranks, summer grants for students working in public interest positions, and research centers, Edley led a major campaign that provided much-needed physical space through renovations and the South Addition — a major project that added 55,000 square feet for new classrooms, a student center, library expansion, and more.
Faculty members recall his willingness to fight through bureaucratic red tape to pursue innovative, ambitious ideas he thought would enrich the school and its learning environment.
“He took on that kind of challenge with an infectious optimism that brought excitement, positivity, and school spirit to Berkeley Law,” Van Houweling says. “We have benefitted so much from the hard but important things he accomplished for the school … and even more so from the lessons he taught us about how to persevere, and how to serve the greater good.”
Relentless tenacity
Professor Daniel Farber, faculty director of the school’s Center for Law, Energy & the Environment, says Berkeley Law was grappling with internal dissension and low faculty morale when Edley was hired.
“Chris re-energized the law school,” Farber says. “Because he believed deeply in the public service mission of law schools, he fostered the growth of new research centers to address issues facing society. All in all, it was one of the most eventful deanships in the history of the law school. He will be greatly missed.”
Edley, whose father Christopher Edley Sr. was a lawyer and longtime leader of the United Negro College Fund, continued as a professor at Berkeley Law after stepping down as dean. This past semester, he taught Truth, Proof, and Evidence: Comparing Courtroom, Politics, News, Lab, and Church, as well as The Struggle for Education Equity and Excellence with Chemerinsky and Edley’s wife, Berkeley Law lecturer Maria Echaveste ’80.
Many colleagues sharing reflections on social media conveyed deep appreciation for Edley’s determination and humanity.
“Chris Edley was a force,” Berkeley Law Professor Kenneth Bamberger tweeted. “He was a committed, curious, and supportive mentor and friend. He transformed Berkeley Law, both physically and programmatically. He devoted himself to the belief that a just society required access to excellent and affordable education.”
Former Berkeley Law professor and interim dean Melissa Murray, now a law professor at New York University, tweeted: “Chris Edley hired me and totally changed my life. He was a beloved mentor and friend who believed completely in the transformative power of education. This is an unimaginable loss — for Berkeley and all of us who loved and admired him.”
Edley is survived by his son Christopher Edley III, Echaveste, their children Zara and Elias, a grandson, and his sister Judith Edley.
Watch the video of Christopher Edley Jr.’s memorial service below.
Dean Edley was deeply passionate about supporting students who pursue public interest work during the summers before their second and third years of law school. These fellowships, affectionately named Edley Grants, reflect his commitment. Please consider contributing to the Summer Public Interest Fellowship Fund in his memory.