Christopher Whytock is Professor of Law and Political Science at the University of California, Irvine, and a Visiting Professor of Law at UC Berkeley School of Law (Fall 2025). Previously, he was Visiting Professor of Law at NYU School of Law, Visiting Professor of Law at the University of Zurich Law School, Director of Studies at the Hague Academy of International Law, and a Visiting Researcher at the Institut suisse de droit comparé, as well as the Vice Dean of UC Irvine School of Law.
In 2013, the American Law Institute appointed Professor Whytock to serve as an adviser on the new Restatement (Fourth) of the Foreign Relations Law of the United States, and in 2014 the ALI appointed him to serve as an associate reporter for the new Restatement (Third) of Conflict of Laws. He also serves as a member of the U.S. State Department Advisory Committee on Private International Law, a member of the U.S. Delegation to the Hague Conference on Private International Law’s Working Group on a Convention on Jurisdiction in Transnational Civil or Commercial Litigation, and an ALI adviser for the Uniform Law Commission’s Conflict of Laws in Trusts and Estates Act.
Professor Whytock’s research focuses on conflict of laws, transnational litigation, civil procedure, and international law. His scholarship has appeared in law journals including Columbia Law Review, Cornell Law Review, Duke Law Journal, New York University Law Review, and University of Pennsylvania Law Review, and leading peer-reviewed journals including Journal of Empirical Legal Studies, Theoretical Inquiries in Law, and International Security. His books include Conflict of Laws (Sixth Edition) (with Peter Hay, Patrick J. Borchers & Symeon C. Symeonides), Research Handbook on the Politics of International Law (co-edited with Wayne Sandholtz), Transnational Law and Practice (First and Second Editions) (with Donald E. Childress III and Michael D. Ramsey) and Understanding Conflict of Laws (Fourth Edition) (with William M. Richman & William L. Reynolds).
Professor Whytock has taught courses on civil procedure, conflict of laws, international law, foreign relations law, and international relations theory.
Professor Whytock previously taught at the University of Utah College of Law and practiced law as an associate at O’Melveny & Myers LLP and Paul, Hastings, Janofsky & Walker LLP. He received his Ph.D. in political science from Duke University; his J.D. and M.S. in Foreign Service from Georgetown University, where he was a Ford Foundation Fellow in Public International Law; and his B.A. in political science from UCLA.
Education
J.D. Georgetown University
M.S.F.S. Georgetown University
Ph.D. Duke University
B.A. UCLA