David A. Carrillo received his doctorate from Berkeley Law before joining the faculty as a lecturer in residence and the founding executive director of the California Constitution Center in 2012. The center is devoted to developing scholarship concerning the California constitution and the California Supreme Court. Dr. Carrillo coauthored a casebook on California constitutional law, teaches courses on the California constitution and the California Supreme Court, publishes articles on those subjects, and is editor-in-chief of SCOCAblog.com, a blog about the state high court.
Before starting his academic career Dr. Carrillo was in active practice for 16 years, as a Deputy Attorney General with the California Department of Justice, as a Deputy City Attorney in San Francisco, as a Deputy District Attorney in Contra Costa County, and as a commercial litigation associate in private practice. A member of the California bar since 1995, Dr. Carrillo is admitted to practice before the Supreme Court of the United States, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, and the Northern, Southern, Central, and Eastern District Courts of California.
In October 2023 and October 2019, California Governor Gavin Newsom appointed Dr. Carrillo to two consecutive four-year terms on the California Law Revision Commission, where he was the 2022–23 chair and the 2021–22 vice-chair. He currently chairs the Citrin Center advisory council and serves on the board of the Northern District of California Historical Society and PPIC’s Statewide Leadership Council.
His past charitable and professional board service includes: the Constitutional Rights Foundation, the Bar Association of San Francisco, the California Bar Foundation, the National Advisory Council of the Institute of Governmental Studies, the Foundation for Democracy and Justice, the State Bar Committee on Appellate Courts, the Justice and Diversity Center of the Bar Association of San Francisco, the Volunteer Legal Services Corporation in Alameda County, and the Berkeley Law Alumni Association. Dr. Carrillo chaired the judicial appointments committee of the Alameda County Bar Association, and served on the State Bar Commission on Judicial Nominees Evaluation and the Committee of Bar Examiners, as well as San Francisco and Alameda bar association committees on judicial appointments. He is a life member of the La Raza Lawyers Association (San Francisco and East Bay) and the Hispanic National Bar Association.
Education
B.A., UC Berkeley (1991)
J.D., Berkeley Law (1995)
LL.M., Berkeley Law (2007)
J.S.D., Berkeley Law (2011)
David A Carrillo is not teaching any Law courses in Spring 2025.
Courses During Other Semesters
| Semester | Course Num | Course Title | Fall 2025 | 223.8 sec. 001 | California Constitutional Law |
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Leader of state Senate Republicans says remote voting by legislators is unconstitutional
David Carrillo, Executive Director of the California Constitution Center, explains why remote voting by California legislators is constitutional and should be allowed
Op-Ed: Why Isn’t California’s Legislature Meeting Remotely?
California Constitution Center Executive Director David Carrillo and Senior Research Fellow Stephen M. Duvernay ask why, if everything happening remotely is our new long-term reality, is the California legislative process on hold?
California experts question legal basis for Barr’s plan to challenge coronavirus shelter orders
Dean Erwin Chemerinsky and David Carrillo, Executive Director of the California Constitution Center, explain States’ broad quarantine powers.
Op-Ed: All of a Sudden, Everyone Loves the Tenth Amendment
California Constitution Center Executive Director David Carrillo and fellow alum Matthew Stanford argue that Federalism is both the problem and the solution to the Covid-19 crisis.
Diversity Dilemma: Berkeley Law Strives to Help Fix Legal Profession’s Inequity
The school’s wide-ranging efforts include its California Constitution Center co-sponsoring a summit that assesses current data, pipeline programs, and judicial clerkship hiring.
Cover to Cover: Another Prolific Year of Books from Berkeley Law Faculty
Dean Erwin Chemerinsky emceed the annual gathering to celebrate books written by the school’s prolific faculty over the past year.
A Modern Take on Federalism: Balancing State and Federal Power
Expert policymakers, attorneys, and scholars will gather at Berkeley Law November 3 to explore the doctrine’s growing importance.
California’s Highest Court Takes Center Stage
Berkeley Law’s California Constitution Center to co-present a daylong conference on the state Supreme Court.
UC Law Student Team Tapped to Rewrite State Campaign Law
A coalition of UC Berkeley and Davis law students are working on a project with the potential for real-world impact on California’s democratic process.