The Center for Immigration Law and Policy supports UCLA Law’s nationally renowned immigration scholars and enhances the school’s existing and wide-ranging immigration programs, which include the Immigrant Family Legal Clinic at the Robert F. Kennedy Community Schools in Los Angeles; service-learning trips to Tijuana, Mexico and the border region of Texas; and the Immigrants’ Rights Policy Clinic. The center publishes briefings and reports on immigration policy, hosts conferences and symposia featuring top national scholars, and collaborates with Southern California organizations working in the field.
The mission of the Center for Law and Economics is to foster academic scholarship exploring how economics can help us better understand and improve our laws. UCLA has one of the richest law and economics traditions in the world, and many of the founders of law and economics have made UCLA their academic home. The center, along with the Anderson Graduate School of Management and School of Law Lowell Milken Institute for Business Law and Policy, sponsors the UCLA Law, Economics, and Organization Workshop, where speakers present their latest works-in-progress in the broad area of law and economics as it relates to business organizations.
The Criminal Justice Program addresses a wide spectrum of issues in criminal law with a vigorous program of education, policy work, and research. Areas of focus include police and digital surveillance, the relationship between criminal law and immigration enforcement, trial and appellate advocacy, criminal defense, expert witnesses and wrongful convictions, sentencing, the death penalty, fines, prison law, collateral consequences of criminal convictions and prisoner reentry, juvenile justice, international and transnational crimes, criminal justice reform in the U.S. and abroad, and critical race studies.
Throughout American history, race has profoundly affected the lives of individuals, growth of social institutions, substance of culture, and workings of our political economy. Not surprisingly, this impact has been substantially mediated through the law and legal institutions. To understand the deep interconnections between race and law and, particularly the ways in which race and law are mutually constitutive, is an extraordinary intellectual challenge with substantial practical implications. In a nation that is becoming more racially diverse and finds global issues at the forefront of political debate, these issues promise to remain central to the work of law practitioners and the research of legal scholars. The only one of its kind in the U.S., the Critical Race Studies Program is proud that some of the original architects of critical race theory are faculty members. Established in 2000, the program is a training ground for a new generation of practitioners, scholars, and advocates committed to racial justice theory and practice; and is a multifaceted program that augments a rigorous course of study with research colloquia, symposia, interdisciplinary collaborations, and community partnerships in order to integrate theory and practice.
The school’s highly selective David J. Epstein Program in Public Interest Law and Policy was established in 1997 in response to the need to better train public-interest lawyers. It quickly became one of the nation’s most innovative and successful law school public-interest programs, engaging students in an array of social justice issues. The program strives to ensure that its students pursue an innovative and intellectually ambitious curriculum, and extracurricular involvement that best prepares them to engage in sophisticated representation of traditionally underserved clients and interests. Beyond the formal coursework, the program offers an array of opportunities for students to hear from leading public-interest practitioners and scholars, work on current policy problems, and become involved in public-interest activities within and outside the School of Law. The program also sponsors a series of forums, symposia, and activities that focus on social justice issues in which all students, faculty, alumni, and the broader community participate.
The Emmett Institute on Climate Change and the Environment is the leading law-school center focused on climate change and other critical environmental issues. Founded in 2008, the institute works across disciplines to develop and promote research and policy tools useful to decision makers locally, statewide, nationally, and beyond. The institute houses the school’s leading environmental programs, including the Frank G. Wells Environmental Law Clinic, a vital training ground for environmental lawyering. Taking advantage of its home at one of California’s top law schools, the institute has particular expertise in the cutting-edge steps taken by California to lead the way toward meaningful reductions of greenhouse gas emissions. Lawmakers, the broader legal community, business leaders, academics, and the media rely on the institute as a trusted resource to analyze and answer questions about policy and law issues related to climate change and other environmental challenges.
UCLA School of Law is one of the only law schools in the country to offer its faculty members the support of trained statisticians to further empirical research. The Empirical Research Group (ERG) is a methodology-oriented research center that specializes in the design and execution of quantitative research in law and public policy, and enables faculty members to include robust empirical analysis in their legal scholarship. Articles and reports published by faculty members working with ERG have covered topics as diverse as bankruptcy, legal aid, pollution prevention, tax policy, gay rights, the living wage, and campaign finance disclosure. Articles, reports, working papers, and supporting data are posted on the ERG website. In addition to faculty scholarship, ERG trains law students as research assistants in empirical methods such as sampling, data collection, and statistics, and works closely with law students who conduct their own empirical research.
The School of Law has long been recognized for its innovative approach to experiential teaching that transforms the classroom into a real-world laboratory through the integration of theory and practice. It has been a national leader in clinical teaching since the early 1970s, and continues to offer rigorous practical training across a wide range of practice areas. Students gain crucial firsthand experience that prepares them for future careers, learning from faculty members whose knowledge and expertise place them at the forefront of experiential education.
From the first year, students have opportunities to receive training and hands-on experience by participating in the El Centro Legal Clinics. El Centro places students with public-interest legal services organizations to provide legal assistance to underserved individuals, families, and communities. Second- and third-year students can participate in a broad array of clinical and experiential courses that encompass all areas of legal practice—litigation, transactional, and public interest. In addition, second- and third-year students can do part-time and full-time externships, working for judges, government agencies, public interest law firms, and nonprofit organizations.
The experiential education program is led by exceptional faculty members—visionary scholars who have contributed the cornerstone ideas that form the basis of clinical training, as well as a new generation of leaders who are bringing experiential education into areas of the legal profession that have long remained outside the scope of hands-on training.
Through the School of Law’s extensive and diversified externship program, students can work in a supervised environment with a wide variety of employers and in a diverse range of practice areas. Students are able to extern with judges, government agencies, nonprofit organizations, or in some circumstances, entertainment and other in-house placements. They also may participate in the UCDC Law Program, a full-time externship program in Washington, DC. The field placement program brings together faculty members, students, and practicing lawyers to collaborate and connect classroom learning with practice opportunities.
The International and Comparative Law Program offers a wealth of courses, seminars, and clinics, prominent symposia, international moot court opportunities, and highly regarded student-edited journals that address the emerging challenges of a globalized world. Permanent faculty members offer numerous international and comparative law courses such as international business transactions, national security law, international environmental law, international criminal law, European Union law, and Islamic law. The study of international and comparative law is further strengthened by the opportunity to take courses in other UCLA departments. Some of the country’s best work in international economics, politics, and business occurs at UCLA, and many law students find it valuable to complement their law school work with coursework in other departments. Students may also pursue joint degrees with other departments with the approval of the law school administration.
The School of Law and the Philosophy Department offer an exciting program in law and philosophy that takes advantage of the law faculty’s strength and depth in the subject, and the school’s close relationship to the Philosophy Department. The program has many dimensions, including a wide range of courses at the intersection of law and philosophy and a legal theory workshop, open to all members of the law school and Philosophy Department, in which leading scholars present works in progress.
The central mission of the Lowell Milken Institute for Business Law and Policy is to influence national legal and policy debate over critical issues affecting the regulation and governance of business. The institute seeks to fulfill this mission by promoting innovative research at the intersection of law and business, by a highly respected and widely recognized business law faculty; by offering a unique blend of policy and practice-oriented courses designed to prepare law students to be leaders in the new economy; and by hosting timely conferences and scholarly events on matters that advance the public discussion.
The Native Nations Law and Policy Center supports Native nations to enhance their governmental institutions and laws, strengthen their cultural resource protections, and address critical public policy issues by bringing together UCLA academic resources and the knowledge and experience of tribal leaders and knowledge-holders. The center serves as the home for the Tribal Legal Development Clinic and Tribal Appellate Court Clinic that involve students in projects such as constitution drafting, code development, and serving as law clerks for Native nation clients.
UCLA School of Law has a long-standing commitment to public service, and is committed to cultivating an environment that encourages all of its students and alumni to better serve society in myriad ways. Students gain significant exposure and experience in public service through clinical courses, a pro bono program, an externship program, extensive public interest advising and informational programming, and numerous student organizations. The Office of Public Interest Programs, hub of the school’s public interest efforts, hosts a variety of career-oriented programs and relevant public interest forums and events in which students, faculty, alumni, and the broader community participate. The office also hosts the annual Southern California Public Interest Career Day, which attracts more than 110 public service employers and some 1,000 students from around the region.
Founded in 2009, the Program on Understanding Law, Science, and Evidence (PULSE) explores the many connections between law and science, technology, and evidence. PULSE engages in interdisciplinary research, discussion, and programming to examine how basic facts about our world, furnished through science and credited as evidence, influence various venues of law and policymaking.
The Promise Institute for Human Rights, founded with a visionary $20 million gift in 2017, trains human rights lawyers and leaders, generates vital scholarship, and develops programs for on-the-ground assistance to address the most pressing contemporary human rights concerns of our times —including genocide studies, international migration and refugee crises, and post-conflict human rights. Through cross-disciplinary work, the institute explores the complex relationships between economic development, health, democracy, rule of law, and human rights. Students participate in a wide range of clinics, experiential programs, research opportunities, and fellowships.
The Resnick Center for Food Law and Policy is dedicated to studying and advancing law and policy solutions to improve the modern food system. A national think tank at the school, the program develops key legal and policy research and tools to foster a food system, from farm to fork, that is healthy both for consumers and the environment.
The UCLA Institute for Technology, Law, and Policy performs cross-disciplinary research on the ways that new and emerging technologies affect society, privacy, law, and public policy. The institute is a collaboration between UCLA School of Law and the UCLA Samueli School of Engineering. The institute brings together faculty and students from the law and engineering schools to conduct research, convene events, and engage the wider academic community and the public about the benefits and risks of technologies including artificial intelligence and machine learning, robotics, cybersecurity, and digital media and communications.
The Williams Institute on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Law and Public Policy is the only think tank of its kind dedicated to the field of sexual orientation law and public policy. The institute supports legal scholarship, legal research, policy analysis, and education regarding sexual orientation discrimination and other legal issues that affect lesbian and gay people. The institute began with the recognition that issues central to sexual orientation law have profound implications for the development of the law and public policy in general. Drawing on the intellectual and material resources of UCLA, the institute serves as a national center for the interdisciplinary exploration of these issues by scholars, judges, practitioners, advocates, and students.
The Ziffren Institute for Media, Entertainment, Technology, and Sports Law supports and expands the curricular offerings of the Media, Entertainment, Technology, and Sports Law specialization. The program helps students interested in learning more about entertainment law to earn externships with entertainment-related businesses, brings influential speakers to campus, and sponsors the industry’s top legal conference on entertainment issues, the annual UCLA Entertainment Symposium. Students run an entertainment-related journal, the UCLA Entertainment Law Review; and the student organization, the Entertainment Law Association.
Reflecting a growing interdisciplinary focus at UCLA, the School of Law formed a partnership in 2005 with the Anderson Graduate School of Management to create the Ziman Center for Real Estate. The center is firmly grounded in the scholarship and teaching missions of both schools, and offers practical application principles that help real estate industry professionals, public officials, and business people make critical policy and business decisions. The center truly bridges the divide between research and practice, and offers students a full range of coursework that supplies a holistic view of real estate issues.
