Christopher Edley Jr. was Berkeley Law’s dean from 2004 to 2013 and a renowned figure in administrative law, education policy, and civil rights. He spent 23 years as a professor at Harvard before his move to Berkeley, where he had a transformative effect on the law school. In particular, he stressed that law schools should not only be places of scholarly inquiry and great teaching, but also places committed to advancing the public interest.
Dean Edley was not merely someone who studied government and the democratic process; he was an active participant. 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 — including 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.
Edley was a member of the National Commission on Federal Election Reform, headed by Presidents Carter and Ford in response to the 2000 presidential election. This bi-partisan commission led to the enactment of the Help America Vote Act which included a significant number of recommendations of the Commission and signed into law by President George W. Bush in 2002. He also held senior positions in five presidential campaigns, including senior policy adviser for Barack Obama, his former student at Harvard Law. He then served on the Obama-Biden Transition Project 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.
We are honored to operate under the Edley name. Our goal is to live up to his considerable legacy.