Events & News

Click on a headline to read more about specific news and events.


 

  • Upcoming: 2024 Robbins Lecture in Jewish Law, Thought, and Identity

    Our Golden Age: American Judaism, In Transition Join the Robbins Collection and Research Center and the Helen Diller Institute for Jewish Law and Israel Studies on Wednesday, April 3 in Room 110 at the Berkeley Law Building for the 2024 Robbins Lecture in Jewish Law, Thought, and Identity. The event will begin at 6:00pm with […]
  • Robbins Visiting Professor: Hannah Buxbaum

    The Robbins Collection and Berkeley Law welcomed Hannah Buxbaum as a Robbins Distinguished Visiting Professor in Spring 2024, where she taught an insightful course on Comparative Civil Litigation. “We focused on group litigation, and on the mechanisms (including the U.S.-style class action) that are used in different legal systems to achieve access to justice in […]
  • Robbins Visiting Professor: Lena Salaymeh

    Former Robbins Postdoctoral and Associate Research Fellow Lena Salaymeh returned to UC Berkeley Law as a Robbins Visiting Professor for the Spring 2024 semester where she taught a popular course on Islamic Law. Speaking on her experience with the course, Salaymeh said “We began with introductory sessions on Islamic legal history and orthodox Islamic jurisprudence, […]
  • New Robbins Publication, Current Legal Issues in American and Taiwanese Law, Now Available

    The newest book from the Robbins Collection, Current Legal Issues in American and Taiwanese Law, is now available for purchase. This book marks the culmination of a series of conferences jointly hosted by Berkeley Law and the College of Law, National Taiwan University. The conferences, held over a period of four years, brought together legal […]
  • Robbins Fellow Spotlight: Laura Velázquez Arroyo

    The Robbins Collection welcomed Dr. Laura Velázquez Arroyo in October 2022 for her research fellowship. Dr. Velázquez Arroyo is a researcher in Roman Law, Civil Law, and the Law of Antiquity and Philosophy at Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM) in Mexico City. She is also the coordinator of the research areas of Roman law, […]
  • Upcoming: 2023 Robbins Lecture in Jewish Law, Thought, and Identity

    The Executioner’s Prayer: What Evolutionary Neuroscience and Talmudic Tradition Teach Us About the Roles of Punishment in Society Join the Robbins Collection and the Helen Diller Institute for Jewish Law and Israel Studies on Thursday, April 20 at the Bancroft Hotel for the 2023 Robbins Lecture in Jewish Law, Thought, and Identity. The event will […]
  • Upcoming Conference, Courts and Social Changes: Comparative Perspectives in Ibero-American and Asian Legal Systems

    The Robbins Collection & Research Center is proud to announce our upcoming conference, Courts and Social Changes: Comparative Perspectives in Ibero-American and Asian Legal Systems. The conference will be held at Berkeley Law on November 4 and 5. With the turn of the third millennium, modern states face new challenges to their democratic traditions. The […]
  • Robbins Fellow Spotlight: David De Concilio

    Among the innumerable disruptions of recent years the COVID-19 pandemic upended David De Concilio’s initial plan to use his Robbins Collection Fellowship to complete his thesis. Instead, De Concilio was awarded his joint PhD through the University of St. Andrews, Scotland and the Università degli Studi Roma Tre, Italy before his visit to UC Berkeley. […]
  • The Statutes of Bologna’s Law School Exhibition Now Available

    Our new exhibition, The Statutes of the University of Bologna, is now available online. It is based on a translation of the statutes by Robbins Collection Senior Reference Librarian Jennifer K. Nelson, as well as on material included in our earlier exhibition, The Medieval Law School. The Robbins Collection houses the Statuta universitatis bononiensis (Robbins […]
  • Robbins Fellow Spotlight: Dimitris Stamatopoulos

    Senior Robbins Research Fellow Dimitris Stamatopoulos arrived at Berkeley Law in April 2022  to begin his fellowship. Stamatopoulos is a Professor of Balkan and Late Ottoman History at the University of Macedonia in Thessaloniki, Greece. He will focus his time at the Robbins Collection on his monograph elucidating the powerful position of national Orthodox Churches […]
  • Interview: Away Field Placement Program, Spring 2022

    Berkeley Law’s Away Field Placement Program grants J.D. students academic credit for legal work performed for a non-profit or government agency outside the Bay Area. The Robbins Collection provides financial support for students working in a country, region, or city outside the U.S. that is characterized by civil or religious law traditions and institutions. In Spring 22022 […]
  • Robbins Collection Co-hosts “Gendered Islamophobia” Event

    The Robbins Collection and Research Center and the Henderson Center for Social Justice co-hosted “Gendered Islamophobia: Exploring and Uprooting an Imperial Narrative’’ organized by the Berkeley Law Muslim Student Association (BLMSA) on Tuesday, March 8, 2022. The symposium featured Professor Khaled Beydoun of Wayne State University Law School and Professor Nura Sediqe of Princeton University’s […]
  • Amanda Beckenstein Mbuvi Presents 2022 Robbins Collection Lecture in Jewish Law

    Amanda Beckenstein Mbuvi, the Vice President for Academic Affairs at the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College presented this year’s Robbins Collection Lecture in Jewish Law, Thought, and Identity. Her lecture, “Reimagining Diversity and Jewish Belonging: A Journey Through Genesis,” explored how, in the U.S. context, the dominant conception of Jewish identity does not fully reckon with the […]
  • “Reimagining Diversity and Jewish Belonging,” the 2022 Robbins Collection Lecture in Jewish Law, Thought, and Identity

    The Robbins Collection and Research Center is proud to present this year’s annual Lecture in Jewish Law, Thought, and Identity with the Helen Diller Institute for Jewish Law & Israel Studies. The lecture, “Reimagining Diversity and Jewish Belonging: A Journey Through Genesis” will be given by Amanda Beckenstein Mbuvi, the Vice President for Academic Affairs […]
  • J.S.D. Students Receive Robbins Fellowship

    Over the past two years, ten new members of Berkeley Law’s J.S.D. program have received the Robbins Collection Fellowship, which provides partial to full tuition waivers. The J.S.D. is a three year degree program during which students must conduct independent research and write a dissertation. As a condition of the Robbins Fellowship, recipients must also […]
  • Robbins Fellow Corinne Leveleux-Teixeira Elected to Distinguished Chair

    The Robbins Collection and Research Center is proud to announce that former Robbins Research Fellow Corinne Leveleux-Teixeira has been elected to the Legal Doctrines and Canonical Traditions chair at the École pratique des hautes études, one of France’s most prestigious educational institutions. She will take the chair beginning in the autumn semester, in August 2021. […]
  • “Jewish Law for the Digital Age” Lecture Re-imagines Privacy Rights

    This years’ Robbins Collection Lecture in Jewish Law, Thought, and Identity, “Jewish Law for the Digital Age,” marked 12 years of collaboration between the Robbins Collection and the Helen Diller Institute for Jewish Law and Israel Studies (formerly the Berkeley Institute for Jewish Law and Israel Studies) and the 10 year anniversary of the Institute.   […]
  • Upcoming Robbins Collection Lecture in Jewish Law, Thought, and Identity

    We are proud to announce the upcoming Robbins Collection Lecture in Jewish Law, Thought, and Identity, hosted with The Helen Diller Institute for Jewish Law & Israel Studies. This year’s lecture, “Jewish Law for the Digital Age,” will be held virtually on Wednesday, March 10 at 5:30pm PST (UTC-08:00). Featured speakers at the event include […]
  • Robbins Fellow Lena Salaymeh Elected to Prestigious Chair

    The Robbins Collection and Research Center is proud to announce that former Robbins Postdoctoral Fellow and Associate Research Fellow Lena Salaymeh was recently elected to the prestigious chair in Sunni Islam at the École pratique des hautes études, section des Sciences religieuses, in Paris. The École pratique des hautes études is counted among France’s most […]
  • Robbins Fellow Spotlight: Mahwish Moazzam

    Undertaking a Robbins Fellowship during the COVID-19 pandemic comes with a unique set of travails but Mahwish Moazzam is no stranger to contending with challenges. “I am used to adversity in my academic pursuits” explained the Robbins Collection and Research Center’s most recent fellow. Mahwish received her JD from the Punjab University Law College, graduating […]
  • From Sinai to Ethiopia, and Back to Israel

    Marking the ten-year anniversary of collaboration between the Robbins Collection and the Institute for Jewish Law and Israel Studies, the 2020 Robbins Collection Annual Lecture on Jewish Thought was given by Professor Rabbi Sharon Shalom. Don Seeman, an Anthropologist from Emory University, and Rabbi Shalom discussed the history, customs, and laws of Ethiopian Jews, the […]
  • POSTPONED: 60 Years of Chinese Legal Reform: A Berkeley Perspective

        Due to travel concerns because of the coronavirus situation, this event is being postponed. We will communicate a new date and other updates as soon as logistics have been finalized. Thanks   The Robbins Collection is co-hosting an upcoming symposium, “60 Years of Chinese Legal Reform: A Berkeley Perspective,” with the Berkeley Center […]
  • New Volume in Collected Works of David Daube, Roman Law and Language, Now Available

    Roman Law and Language, the long-awaited sixth volume in the Collected Works of David Daube series, is now available for purchase. Previous volumes gathered Daube’s writings on Talmudic law, Biblical law and literature, ethics, and New Testament Judaism. This new volume includes  some of his work on language in Roman law. Calum Carmichael, co-editor of […]
  • Upcoming Robbins Collection Annual Lecture: From Sinai to Ethiopia, and Back to Israel

    Join us for this year’s Robbins Collection Annual Lecture in Jewish Law, Thought and Identity on Tuesday, February 4, from 5:30 to 7:30pm. Rabbi Shalom delves into the history, customs, and law of the Beta Israel, codifying the ancient cultural heritage of Ethiopian Jewry for the first time and contrasting it with Orthodox rabbinic law. […]
  • Symposium Explores Legacy of Judge John T. Noonan

    At a time when stark lines are drawn around political and moral questions, the scholarship and judicial opinions of the late Judge John T. Noonan Jr. defy categorization. An enlightened reader of our legal traditions’ fundamental texts, Judge Noonan could not understand why scholars might ask abstractly, “What is Law? How can that question be […]
  • Robbins Collection Fellowship Paves More Affordable Path for J.S.D. Students

    This article is being re-published by the Robbins Collection, the original can be found here. By Gwyneth K. Shaw Five new members of Berkeley Law’s Doctor of Juridical Science (J.S.D.) program have received a new fellowship, thanks to a grant from the school’s Robbins Collection and Research Center. Zehra Betul Ayranci, Jiahui Duan, Nicolas Lezaca, […]
  • Judge and Scholar: Perspectives on the Intellectual Legacy of John T. Noonan

    Judge John Noonan’s commitment to justice and the rule of law shaped his life as a judge and a legal scholar. His scholarship and judicial decisions span more than six decades and cover an amazing range of ethical and legal issues that defined in his view the Western legal tradition.  This event will bring together judges, […]
  • Interviews: Away Field Placement Program, Spring 2019

    Berkeley Law’s Away Field Placement Program grants J.D. students academic credit for legal work performed for a non-profit or government agency outside the Bay Area. The Robbins Collection provides financial support for students working in a country, region, or city outside the U.S. that is characterized by civil or religious law traditions and institutions. In Spring […]
  • The Robbins Collection 2019 Digest

    Read about our recent and future events, research, Robbins Fellows, and more in the Robbins Collection 2019 Digest. Our annual Digest provides broad overviews of our work as well as some in-depth coverage of the Robbins Collection and our affiliated scholars. If you would like to submit information to be shared in the next annual […]
  • ACRL Member of the Week: Jennifer K. Nelson

    This interview is being reprinted with the permission of ARCL Insider. Jennifer K. Nelson is a reference librarian at The Robbins Collection, University of California Berkeley School of Law . Jennifer has been a member of ACRL for 14 years and is your ACRL member of the week for June 17, 2019. Describe yourself in […]
  • New and Returning Robbins Fellows

    The Robbins Collection has three returning Fellows joining us in the summer and fall of 2019. Senior Fellow, Dr. David Johnston, will continue the research he began in spring 2019. Dr. Agnès Desmazières will also be returning to continue her research on the Catholic Church and canon law. To read more about Dr. Desmazières’s research […]
  • Jessie Sherwood, Robbins Collection Associate Librarian

    Jessie Sherwood has joined the Robbins Collection as the Associate Librarian, where she will oversee the complex copy cataloging of the Robbins Collections holdings. She will also update our online resources for manuscript research and contribute to research projects, exhibitions, and trainings. Previously, Jessie was the Manuscript Cataloger at the Robbins Collection, where she processed […]
  • Judicial Independence and Accountability in Latin America Response Papers

    In 2017, Pablo Echeverri, Assistant Professor of Law at Duquesne University School of Law, and Laurent Mayali co-hosted a symposium a the Robbins Collection, “Judicial Independence and Accountability in Latin America.” Participants in the conference were asked to write response papers, which we are publishing here as a collection of essays. The essays begin with an […]
  • Lecture: Discretionary Referendums in Constitutional Amendment

    On March 14, Professor Richard Albert, the William Stamps Farish Professor of Law at the University of Texas at Austin, spoke on comparative referendums. His event, “Discretionary Referendums in Constitutional Amendment: A Comparative Perspective,” was hosted by the Robbins Collection. The timing for Professor Albert’s talk was fortuitous, as the U.K. Parliament was in the […]
  • Lecture: Jewish Law and the #MeToo Movement

    In October 2017 the #MeToo movement became an internationally viral phenomenon, due to the sexual abuse allegations against Harvey Weinstein and other men in media. The movement encouraged women to share their experiences of sexual assault and harassment, to draw attention to the fact that many women face these experiences at some point in their […]
  • Jennifer Nelson Receives ACRL Grant

    Jennifer Nelson, reference librarian for the Robbins Collection, has won the prestigious Association of College and Research Libraries European Studies Section De Gruyter European Librarianship Study Grant for 2019. Her winning project, “lucundum mihi est reperiri typographum: A Case Study of an Early Modern Publishing Success Story,” is an archival study of the letters by […]
  • Discretionary Referendums in Constitutional Amendment: A Comparative Perspective

    The Robbins Collection is pleased to host Professor Richard Albert, William Stamps Farish Professor of Law at the University of Texas at Austin to Berkeley Law, for his talk, “Discretionary Referendums in Constitutional Amendment: A Comparative Perspective.” Professor Albert focuses his research on constitutional amendment from comparative, doctrinal, historical and theoretical perspectives. The talk will be in R230 in […]
  • The 2019 Robbins Collection Lecture on Canon Law

    In 2013, Dr. Jennifer Haselberger made national news when she publicly resigned as the top canon lawyer for the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis and exposed their mishandling of sexual abuse. On February 25, 2019, Dr. Haselberger gave the 2019 Robbins Collection Lecture on Canon Law, “How the Church Can Overcome the Sexual Abuse […]
  • Leo Wiener Dow wins the Jewish Book Award

    Leon Wiener Dow has won the Jewish Book Council’s 2018 National Jewish Book Award for his book The Going, A Meditation on Jewish Law, published in 2017 by Palgrave Macmillan. The Going offers a learned discourse that elucidates the telos of Jewish law and the philosophical-theological commitments that animate it.  Dow largely wrote the book during his time […]
  • Lecture: How the Church Can Overcome the Sexual Abuse Crisis

    The 2019 Robbins Collection Lecture on Canon Law, titled “How the Catholic Church can Overcome the Sexual Abuse Crisis,” will be delivered by Dr. Jennifer Haselberger on February 25th. In 2013, Dr. Haselberger made national news when she resigned as the top canon lawyer for the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis and publicly exposed […]
  • Robbins Collection Annual Lecture in Jewish Law, Thought, and Identity

    The Robbins Collection and the Berkeley Institute for Jewish Law and Israel Studies will be co-hosting the Annual Lecture in Jewish Law, Thought, and Identity on Thursday, February 21st. Rachel Adler, the David Ellenson Professor of Modern Jewish Thought at Hebrew Union College, will be discussing Jewish Law and the #MeToo movement, through a feminist […]
  • Lena Salaymeh wins an AAR Book Award

    Lena Salaymeh was awarded the American Academy of Religion Award for Excellence in the Study of Religion in Textual Studies for her 2016 book, The Beginnings of Islamic Law: Late Antique Islamicate Legal Traditions, published by Cambridge University Press.  The Beginnings of Islamic Law is a major and innovative contribution to the understanding of the historical unfolding of […]
  • “Reconciling Islamic & European Civil Laws” Conference Participants Published

    In December 2017, the Robbins Collection hosted a symposium entitled, Judicial Independence and Accountability in Latin America. Participants were asked to write brief response papers to the topics and ideas discussed.
  • Conference: Habeas Corpus and the Constitution in Wartime

    The codification of habeas corpus can be traced to the 17th century in England, when Parliament passed the English Habeas Corpus Act of 1679. The English Parliament is also responsible for inventing the concept of habeas suspension during wartime. This conception of habeas and its suspension were highly influential on American habeas law in the […]
  • Conference: Comparative Legal Issues in Taiwan and the United States

    On Friday, October 12, the Robbins Collection and Research Center hosted its third joint symposium with National Taiwan University. The symposium, “Comparative Legal Issues: Taiwan & the United States,” was held at Berkeley Law. Participants in the symposium discussed capital punishment, bank ownership and legal enforcement, and technological innovation and regulatory challenges; all topics that […]
  • Current Legal Issues in Taiwan and the United States

    The Robbins Collection hosted a conference in October, entitled, Current Legal Issues in Taiwan and the United States. This was the 3rd annual meeting between Berkeley Law and National Taiwan University.
  • Habeas Corpus in Wartime

    A Robbins Collection Event Co-hosted by Amanda Tyler and Laurent Mayali Habeas Corpus in Wartime: From the Tower of London to Guantanamo Bay by Amanda Tyler unearths and presents a comprehensive account of the legal and political history of habeas corpus in wartime in the Anglo-American legal tradition. The book begins by tracing the origins of the habeas privilege in English law, giving special attention to the English Habeas Corpus Act of 1679, which limited the scope of executive detention and used the machinery of the English courts to enforce its terms. It also explores the circumstances that led Parliament to invent the concept of suspension as a tool for setting aside the protections of the Habeas Corpus Act in wartime.
  • Interviews: Away Field Placement Program

    Berkeley Law’s Away Field Placement Program grants J.D. students academic credit for legal work performed for a non-profit or government agency outside the Bay Area. The Robbins Collection provides financial support for students working in a country, region, or city outside the U.S. that is characterized by civil or religious law traditions and institutions.  In 2017, the […]
  • Robbins Collection Digest, Spring 2018 Issue Now Available

    The Robbins Collection invites you to read about the latest events, scholars, acquisitions, and more in our new Digest issue. 
  • Catalogue: Manuscript 232, Réquisitoires autographes

    Robbins Ms. 232 contains a collection of thirty-eight requisitions, or prosecutorial addresses, written by Merlin between 1801 and 1804, while he was commissaire for the government at the Tribunal de cassation.
  • Conference: Reconciling Islamic and European Civil Laws

    Avenues and Obstacles to the Integration of European Muslim Immigrants   The influx of Muslim immigrants to European countries like France and Germany over the past several decades continues to influence the pluralism of the population’s cultural and religious identities. The Muslim population i­n Europe reached an estimated 4.9% in 2016—an estimation that is projected […]
  • Symposium: Judicial Independence and Accountability in Latin America

    “But who will guard the guardians?”  On Saturday, December 9th, 2017, the Robbins Collection hosted a symposium at Berkeley Law entitled, “Judicial Independence and Accountability in Latin America.” The one-day event held in the Robbins Reading Room addressed the possibility that judicial accountability—when properly conceived—can enhance independence by bolstering judicial legitimacy in Western democracies. Moderated […]
  • Judicial Independence and Accountability in Latin America

    On Saturday, December 9th, 2017, the Robbins Collection hosted a symposium at Berkeley Law entitled, Judicial Independence and Accountability in Latin America. The one-day event held in the Robbins Reading Room addressed the possibility that judicial accountability—when properly conceived—can enhance independence by bolstering judicial legitimacy in Western democracies.
  • Legal-Net Colloquium with Prof. Amnon Reichman

    The Use and Misuse of Technology in the Regulation of Judges in Israel   Berkeley Law and the Robbins Collection are proud to welcome Amnon Reichman, Associate Professor of Law at Israel’s University of Haifa, to Boalt Hall as the Robbins Collection Visiting Professor in Comparative Law. Professor Reichman, who taught at Berkeley Law over […]
  • Conference: Current Legal Issues in Taiwan and the United States

    Civil Law and Common Law Perspectives   On October 20th several Berkeley Law professors participated in, Current Legal Issues in Taiwan and the United States, a join conference held at National Taiwan University’s College of Law in Taipei. The conference brought together legal scholars from NTU, National Central University, and Berkeley Law, as well as […]
  • Published: Robbins Fellow, Pablo Echeverri

    Pablo Echeverri, a Robbins Post-Doctoral Fellow since 2015, was recently published in the Chicago-Kent Journal of International and Comparative Law. His paper, “The 2015 Power-Balancing Reform in Colombia: a missed opportunity to disrupt the ecosystem of structural clientelism in the halls of justice,” examines the reform’s failure to achieve a meaningful restructuring of Colombia’s judiciary. […]
  • Workshop: Customary Law Today

    The Robbins Collection and the Institut des Usages (IDU) organized a workshop held in Montpellier, France on May 18 and 19. The co-sponsored workshop was moderated by Lloyd M. Robbins Professor of Law Laurent Mayali and University of Montpellier Professor Pierre Mousseron.  The workshop focused on topics such as private law, constitutional law, philosophy of […]
  • Reconciling Islamic and European Civil Laws

    Avenues and Obstacles to the Integration of European Muslim Immigrants   The influx of Muslim immigrants to European countries like France and Germany over the past several decades continues to influence the pluralism of the population’s cultural and religious identities. The Muslim population i­n Europe reached an estimated 4.9% in 2016—an estimation that is projected […]
  • Texts and Contexts in Legal History: Essays in Honor of Charles Donahue

    The Robbins Collection is pleased to announce that our latest publication, Texts and Contexts in Legal History, will be available beginning January 2017.  Renowned legal historian, Charles Donahue, serves as the inspiration for this volume of essays covering a range of topics of interest to legal historians, legal scholars, and others. Inspired by Donahue’s insights […]