Centers & Programs

The UC Center for Business Law (CBL) was established with the mission of bringing together leading scholars, business leaders, practitioners, regulators and students to engage in the study, teaching and practice of business law at UC Law SF. The Center aims to be the leading business law venue in San Francisco, one of the world’s great centers of commerce, finance and technology. UC Law SF boasts more than 20,000 alumni, some of whom are already leaders in business and others who are only beginning to make their mark.

The UC Law SF Indigenous Law Center (ILC) advances the position that UC Law SF, as a public law school, has a responsibility and an opportunity to educate students about how U.S. law impacts Native American Nations and peoples. The charge of the ILC is thus to enhance our curriculum by offering courses, seminars, public lecture series, panels, and an affiliated scholar program.

The Institute for Criminal Justice is dedicated to promoting the fair, effective, and ethical administration of criminal justice. An umbrella entity for criminal justice engagement by the UC Law SF community, the Institute pursues these goals through rigorous and engaged scholarship, high-quality pedagogy and educational programs, legal representation, and community outreach. 

Established with the explicit objective of collaborating across disciplines and cultures, the International Development Law Center pursues links with other academic and research organizations, increasing the law school’s global footprint while generating international contacts and opportunities for the UC Law SF community.

The Center for East Asian Legal Studies (CEALS) is preparing the next generation of global legal professionals to meet demands created by the economic and growth and legal transformation in East Asia. Building on our law school’s existing strengths in international and comparative law, CEALS offers a broad range of courses, exchange programs, internships and public events on key East Asian legal systems.

The Center for Gender and Refugee Studies (CGRS) founded in 1999, is the nation’s leading advocacy organization on the issue of women asylum-seekers fleeing gender-related violence. CGRS provides legal expertise and resources to attorneys and coordinates legal and national public policy advocacy efforts. The center integrates students and international scholars into all aspects of its work.

The Center for Innovation (C4i) promotes data-driven law-making and seeks to empower regulators to make informed, evidence-based decisions, particularly at the intersection of law and technology. More than a think tank, C4i is an action tank invested in identifying implementable solutions to today’s problems.

LexLab is a legal tech hub connecting UC Law SF students and alumni to investors, founders, lawyers, engineers and companies building the future of legal services.

The Center for Negotiation and Dispute Resolution (CNDR). As lawyers turn to negotiation, mediation, and arbitration to settle matters that previously were adjudicated, the need has increased for attorneys to master dispute resolution. CNDR organizes classes, research, and professional programs for the study of alternative ways to settle disputes.

The nonpartisan Center for Litigation and Courts was established in 2021 to expand the knowledge of civil litigation, alternative dispute resolution, and the courts; to disseminate that knowledge to the bench, bar, legal academy, and lay public; and to supply resources and guidance to members of the UC Law SF community interested in civil litigation.

The Center for Racial and Economic Justice (CREJ) works to advance equity through legal education, scholarship and collaboration, providing the UC Law SF intellectual community with access to nationally renowned thinkers on issues of racial and economic inequality and the space to critically examine how the law reinforces subordination.

The Center for Race, Immigration, Citizenship, and Equality (RICE) supports scholarship, education, and public service on the ways that intersectional and marginalized identities produce and reflect structural inequality.