Berkeley Center for Law and Business

The Berkeley Center for Law and Business (BCLB) is Berkeley Law’s hub for rigorous, relevant, and empirically based research, education, and programming on the interrelationships of the law, business, and the economy. Our areas of focus include venture capital and entrepreneurship, corporate social responsibility, capital markets, and mergers and acquisitions. BCLB’s marquee initiatives include Startup@BerkeleyLaw, the Corporate Responsibility Initiative, the Women in Business Law Initiative, and the Berkeley Corporate Counsel Network.

BCLB Initiatives

The Curriculum

Each year, the Berkeley Center for Law and Business support over 50 of the most comprehensive and innovative business law courses in the world. In addition to core courses taught by our dynamic business law faculty, students have access to a vast menu of elective courses on cutting-edge topics like accounting, antitrust, blockchain, corporate governance, finance, gaming law, M&A, negotiations, private equity, sports law, real estate, regulation, sustainability, and venture capital.

Curriculum Highlights:

Blockchain, Cryptoeconomics, and the Future of Technology, Business and Law: This groundbreaking elective takes 20 students from each of Berkeley’s law, business, and engineering schools to learn about blockchain technologies and their industry applications. Students are put into interdisciplinary teams and required to develop real world use cases, including legal and regulatory analyses of their applications.
Business In Society: This elective course studies the changing role that companies are playing in society and its impact on corporate governance and the role of inside counsel.
Venture Capital Finance: The country’s first and only venture capital finance class to provide training in advanced financial modeling, taught by former Silicon Valley attorney and Berkeley Center for Law and Business faculty co-chair, Robert Bartlett. This course examines the economics of venture capital finance and the contract structures that are used to achieve these economics.
Wall Street: Taught by Berkeley Center for Law and Business faculty co-chair, Steven Davidoff Solomon, this elective explores media depictions of Wall Street and the finance industry from Wall Street to the Big Short to It’s a Wonderful Life.

Research

The Berkeley Center for Law and Business supports faculty research and programming in a number of areas critical to the study and practice of business law, with a strategic focus in:

Capital Markets and M&A: Antitrust, Bankruptcy, Corporate Finance, Private Equity, Securities Regulation, & Tax
Corporate Sustainability: Compliance, Privacy and Cybersecurity, the Fiduciary Duties of Boards and Investors, the Changing Role of Inside Counsel, & Shareholder Activism
Entrepreneurship, Startups, and Venture Finance: Blockchain and FinTech, Equity and Inclusion, Fund Formation, Social Enterprises

Programming

Berkeley Corporate Counsel Network – A networking group for Berkeley Law alumni working in-house.
Berkeley Sustainable Business and Investment Forum – An annual corporate sustainability forum co-hosted with the Haas School of Business.
Berkeley Corporate Law Conference – An annual conference, co-hosted with Wachtell Lipton, on trends and issues in corporate law.
Berkeley West Coast M&A and Antitrust Forum – An annual forum on pressing M&A and antitrust issues, co-hosted with Cleary Gottlieb.
Business Law Happy Hour and Career Fair – A business law fair and reception to connect new students with attorneys from leading business law firms.
Executive Education Academies – Tailored programs for executives on the fundamentals of venture capital, finance, and blockchain.
Fundamentals of Banking Law and FinTech – An annual executive education program on the fundamentals of banking and regulation of FinTech for West Coast practitioners.
Leadership Lunch Series – Weekly lunch talks for Berkeley Law students featuring top general counsels, corporate executives, law firm partners, and government officials.
New York M&A Roundtable – An annual gathering of leading investors, executives and attorneys, co-hosted with Kirkland & Ellis, on hot topics in M&A and governance.
West Coast Executive Meeting with the SEC – A meeting between the director of corporate finance at the Securities and Exchange Commission and over 40 CFOs and general counsels from Silicon Valley’s top technology companies, co-hosted with Simpson Thacher.

Startup@BerkeleyLaw

As an institute of the Berkeley Center for Law and Business, Startup@BerkeleyLaw serves law students, entrepreneurs, and investors by delivering educational programs and services on critical issues faced by early-stage companies.

Institute for Business in Society

As an institute of the Berkeley Center for Law and Business, the Business in Society Institute (BISI) studies the changing role of companies in society and the impact that has on the law and the legal profession. BISI conducts research, teaches courses, hosts symposia, and provides fellowships and internships for students to engage with this emerging and impactful area.

Women in Business Law Initiative

Since its inception in 2016, the Women in Business Law Initiative has offered best-in-class career development, mentorship, and networking programs to help female students and professionals excel both in their lives and their careers. Through meetings, conferences, forums, and tailored programs—such as our established mentorship program—we connect female students to a rich network of other successful women at law firms, in industry, and government.

BCLB Principal Personnel

Robert Bartlett, Faculty Co-Director, Professor of Law, & a founder and program co-director of Startup@BerkeleyLaw. His primary area of research examines the operation of capital markets and the unique role that law and legal institutions play in their formation and behavior.

Steven Davidoff Solomon, Faculty Co-Director & Professor of Law. He is one of the nation’s most well-known authorities on corporate law. His research focuses on the intersection of law and finance with a particular focus on corporate law and governance, mergers and acquisitions, and capital markets.

Adam Sterling, Executive Director, co-founder of Startup@BerkeleyLaw. Previously he was a startup and venture capital attorney at Gunderson Dettmer and the co-founder and director of the Sudan Divestment Task Force and Conflict Risk Network.

Core Faculty

Abbye Atkinson, Assistant Professor
Kenneth M. Ayotte, Professor of Law
Adam Badawi, Professor of Law
Kenneth Bamberger, Professor of Law
Richard Buxbaum, Professor of International Law
Robert Cooter, Professor of Law
Aaron Edlin, Professor of Law and Economics
Stavros Gadinis, Professor of Law
Sonia Katyal, Professor of Law
Prasad Krishnamurthy, Professor of Law
Katerina Linos, Professor of Law
Adair Morse, BerkeleyHaas professor
Anne Joseph O’Connell, Professor of Law
Frank Partnoy, Professor of Law
Panos N. Patatoukas, BerkeleyHaas Professor
Victoria Plaut, Professor of Law and Social Science
Daniel Rubinfeld, Professor of Law
Rachel Stern, Assistant Professor
Molly Van Houweling, Professor of Law
Nancy E. Wallace, BerkeleyHaas professor

BCLB Staff

Alexandra Diamant, Program Coordinator
Deborah Kang, Director of Startup@BerkeleyLaw
Amelia Miazad, Institute for Business in Society
Adam Sterling, Executive Director
Delia Violante, Program Manager
J. Conlon Meek and Anh-Tu Lu, BCLB Undergraduate Fellows
Ruochen Huang, Startup@BerkeleyLaw Undergraduate Fellow