Dan Farber is the Sho Sato Professor of Law at the University of California, Berkeley. He also has leadership roles at two Berkeley research centers: the Center for Law, Energy, and Environment; and the Edley Center on Law and Democracy. Professor Farber is a member of the American Academy of Arts.
Professor Farber is a graduate of the University of Illinois, where he earned his B.A., M.A., and J.D. degrees. He graduated, summa cum laude, from the College of Law, where he was the class valedictorian and served as editor-in-chief of the University of Illinois Law Review. After law school, he was a law clerk for Judge Philip W. Tone of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit and then for Justice John Paul Stevens of the U.S. Supreme Court. Professor Farber practiced law with Sidley & Austin, where he primarily worked on energy issues, before returning to the University of Illinois as a faculty member in 1978. He taught at the University of Minnesota Law School faculty from 1981 to 2002, where he was the McKnight Presidential Professor of Public Law. He also has been a visiting professor at the Stanford Law School, Harvard Law School, and the University of Chicago Law School.
His most recent book is Contested Ground: How to Understand the Limits on Presidential Power (UC Press 2021). His earlier books include Research Handbook on Public Choice and Public Law (Elgar 2010) (with A. O’Connell); Judgment Calls: Politics and Principle in Constitutional Law (Oxford University Press 2008) (with S. Sherry); Retained by the People: The “Silent” Ninth Amendment and the Rights Americans Don’t Know They Have (Basic Books 2007); Lincoln’s Constitution (University of Chicago Press 2003); and Eco-Pragmatism: How to Make Sensible Environmental Decisions in an Uncertain World (University of Chicago Press 1999).
Education
B.A., University of Illinois (1971)
M.A., University of Illinois (1972)
J.D., University of Illinois (1975)
Daniel Farber is teaching the following courses in Spring 2025:
• 206C sec. 001 - Note Publishing Workshop
• 272.3 sec. 001 - Climate Change and the Law
• 274.7 sec. 001 - Environmental Law Colloquium
Courses During Other Semesters
| Semester | Course Num | Course Title |  Teaching Evaluations | Summer 2025 | 201S sec. 001 | Business Torts | 206.51S sec. 001 | Advanced Writing Project | Fall 2024 | 201 sec. 003 | Torts | Summer 2024 | 201S sec. 001 | Torts for LLMs | View Teaching Evaluation | 206.51S sec. 001 | Advanced Writing Project | View Teaching Evaluation |
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Trump sets his sights on reversing California’s…
Professor Daniel Farber, director of the Center for Law, Energy & the Environment at UC Berkley Law weights in on how the Trump administration’s agenda and policy reversals will impact California.
Democracy Under the Microscope: New Speaker Series Takes on Pivotal Issues Facing America
The five-part series addressed the state of American democracy and its nexus with the press and social media, elections and the courts, presidential power, and judicial power.
In Defense of Democracy: Berkeley Law Launches New Center Named After Beloved Former Dean
With faith in America’s democratic institutions waning, the center — named after former dean Christopher Edley Jr. — will probe underlying problems and train students to become effective guardians of our political system.
Environmental Attorneys See Windfall After Biden Climate Law
Professor Daniel Farber comments on the boost in courses focusing on climate change issues at universities.
Biden’s pitch for Supreme Court reform
Professor Daniel Farber weighs in on President Biden’s proposed Supreme Court reform.
Former Berkeley Law Dean and Prominent Domestic Policy Expert Christopher Edley Jr. Dies at 71
Edley led the school from 2004 to 2013 and spearheaded a significant expansion of its faculty, research centers, student public interest grants, and physical space.
Opinion: Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s presidential campaign is a climate disaster
Dan Farber, faculty director of Berkeley Law’s Center for Law, Energy, and the Environment and Evan George, communications director of the UCLA Emmet Institute on Climate Change and the Environment write an opinion piece on the danger Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s presidential campaign poses to climate progress.
Letters: Worries About Climate Change Should Spur Us to Action
“Yes, Mr. Biden could declare a climate emergency, ban fossil fuel exports, cancel oil leases and stop fossil fuel investing abroad,” writes Professor Daniel Farber in his letter to the editor. “After being immediately halted by conservative judges, those emergency actions would go down in flames on 6-to-3 votes in the Supreme Court.”
A Court Win in Montana Could Help Climate Litigation Everywhere Else
“This isn’t binding precedent, just a ruling by one trial judge in one state,” said Berkeley Law professor Daniel Farber. “But it will certainly encourage other litigation and give other judges a little more comfort about ruling this way.”
Latest Trump indictment raises concerns about 2024 election security
Legal expert Daniel Farber, a law professor at UC Berkeley, says, although the charges are in Georgia, they have broad implications nationwide.
Biden is campaigning as the most pro-climate president while his DOJ works to block a landmark climate trial
“It’s one thing for courts to review individual government actions, but [another] for courts to take on the general operation of the government and say, ‘no you’ve got to change your whole overall policy,’” Daniel Farber, a climate law expert and University of California Berkeley Law School professor, told CNN.
Hawaii’s youth-led climate change lawsuit is going to trial next summer
What’s significant about the Hawaii and Montana cases is how far they’ve gotten, said Dan Farber, a law professor and expert in climate litigation at the University of California at Berkeley. The Hawaii case would be only the second to see a trial.
LL.M. Programs in Environmental Law: Shaping a Sustainable Future
“More and more, we’re hearing from students wanting to play a positive role in the future wellbeing of our planet, as the impacts of climate change increase all over the world,” says Daniel Farber, Faculty Director of the Center for Law, Energy and the Environment at Berkeley.
What the Supreme Court affirmative action ruling means for California
Professor Daniel Farber writes about what the SCOTUS affirmative action ruling means for California.
California’s push to ban natural gas hit a snag. Could it derail the entire effort?
The court’s decision “is not obviously wrong,” said Dan Farber, an environmental law professor at UC Berkeley, who disagreed with the decision. “But I don’t think it’s crystal clear.”
What’s Next: Former President Donald Trump Charged in Hush Money Case
Berkeley Law Professor Daniel Farber, discusses the Trump indictment.
Trump has been charged with 34 felony counts. How strong is the Manhattan D.A.’s case?
Bragg “has fired a strong opening shot,” said Daniel Farber, a professor at the UC Berkeley Law School who studies presidential power. “But it’s only the beginning of the battle.”
Trump indictment: What charges mean — and what a potential defense will look like
“The prosecutor’s statement of facts tells a powerful story about a conspiracy to falsify business records for political gain,” said Daniel Farber, a UC Berkeley law professor. “But serious political misconduct doesn’t necessarily equate to a criminal offense, let alone a felony. The prosecutor’s challenge will be to prove fraudulent intent … and to connect this conduct to a separate crime.”
Pence subpoena could set up fight over executive privilege
“Other potential complicating factors include the fact that the episodes investigators presumably want to question Pence about — such as Trump’s efforts to influence the counting of the votes — don’t concern conventional presidential duties typically thought to be shielded by executive privilege,” said Daniel Farber, a presidential powers expert and UC Berkeley Law professor.
Exxon accurately predicted global warming from 1970s – but continued to cast doubt on climate science, new report finds
The report’s findings could potentially help support climate litigation against Exxon, Daniel Farber, professor of law at the University of California, Berkeley, told CNN. “The more we learn about industry deception, the stronger the legal claims will be.”