LL.M. Law & Technology Certificate

The UC Berkeley Center for Law & Technology (BCLT) offers a specialized certificate program for LL.M. Traditional Track students that recognizes successful completion of a course of study focused on technology law.

Submission Process 📩

The application for the 2026 LL.M. Law & Technology Certificate program is now available.

Deadlines & Announcements 📢

To be noted in the BCLT and Berkeley Law graduation programs as having received the certificate, students must apply by 11:59 PM on April 1, 2026.

To complete the 2026 LL.M. Law & Technology Certificate Program, students must choose either Option 1 or Option 2 to satisfy the certificate requirements. Option 1 follows the original course-based model, while Option 2 is based on the total number of units earned. This change was implemented to accommodate courses that are not offered every academic year. This update is effective as of December 22, 2025.

BCLT understands that the paper you intend to use to fulfill the writing requirement may not be due for class until after April 1, 2026. If this is the case, please submit a draft of the paper with your application by April 1, so that BCLT can provide preliminary approval of your application.

The final deadline for applying is 11:59 PM on July 1, 2026.

Program Requirements

3. A writing component, fulfilled by researching and writing a 15 to 20-page research memorandum addressing a compelling issue in law and technology. To meet this requirement, students may submit a paper written for any course at Berkeley Law, including a LAW 299 individual research-and-writing project. This paper must be solo-authored; exceptions to the number of authors for the paper will be considered in limited circumstances.

Papers written in the Legal Research & Writing course are accepted, as long as the paper is focused on a compelling issue in technology law.

4. An activity component, fulfilled by substantial participation in at least one approved activity for two semesters, or two approved activities for one semester. This requirement is designed to encourage students to develop collaborative working skills and to complement the substantive knowledge derived from course-related work.

Students do not need to be a board member of any of these organizations to complete this activity requirement. Active participation in the following organizations/activities satisfies the activity component:

Students may request to have another law and technology-related activity approved, such as a moot court competition relating to intellectual property.

Variance Process

There is some flexibility in the application of the certificate requirements, allowing students to substitute other curricular and extracurricular activities for a shortfall in the formal requirements. Students who are close to meeting the LL.M. Law & Technology Certificate requirements may submit a certificate application along with a brief (one-paragraph) request for a variance. Among the types of requests that will be favorably reviewed are:

  • “I have only taken 10 units from the IP & Tech Law course catalog, but took a course in Business Law that covered substantial material related to tech and IP.”
  • “I have some other basis for claiming functional equivalence of a core or elective course (e.g., RA work, externship, extensive clinical work, other writing projects).”

Questions

For questions regarding the LL.M. Law & Technology Certificate, contact Abril Delgado (abrildelgado@berkeley.edu).