Private law governs our relationships with each other in arguably the most important spheres of our lives: in the market, the workplace, the neighborhood, and intimate relations. Private law theories develop conceptual and normative analyses of these building blocks and critically investigate their meanings, their interrelationships, their varied institutionalizations, and their implications in these and other social settings. The theory of private law has a proud legacy stretching back to antiquity, which has been continually renewed and updated. The need for a new generation of private law theory has become all the more acute given questions and challenges posed by rapid technological change, economic globalization, and the rise of new forms of family and personal relations.
The Berkeley Center for Private Law theory promotes interdisciplinary research on these themes. We organize a variety of activities designed to stimulate dialogue, to exchange and advance knowledge, and to explore new ideas. The Berkeley Center for Private Law Theory aims to foster insights into the legal building blocks of our social and economic life and contribute to making them fair and just.
The Berkeley Center for Private Law Theory invites applications for its 2024-25 doctoral award program. The Center offers grants of $6,000 to registered JSD, PhD, or other doctoral students in good academic standing at the University of California, Berkeley, who study contracts, property, torts, or any other related legal field, such as trusts, work law, or family law. We are particularly interested in learning about candidates who share Barkeley’s commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion. Doctoral Fellows will be part of the Center’s research group and will be committed to take part in all the Center’s activities (its conferences, courses/seminars, and all its other activities) on both the Fall and the Spring terms.
Applicants must submit:
- Summary of the dissertation research plan (up to two pages). This document should state your hypothesis and how it relates to (adds on, criticizes, elaborates) existing scholarship and how it is connected to BCPLT’s areas of inquiry.
- CV, including a list of publications (if applicable).
- Names of up to three potential referees (one of them the applicant’s supervisor).
Deadline for submission of all application materials: Feb 1, 2024. Application materials should be sent by e-mail to Ms. Elena Gonzalez at gonzaleze1314@berkeley.edu. (Applications are currently closed.)