Our Mission
Land Acknowledgment
UC Berkeley sits on the territory of xučyun, the ancestral & unceded land of the Chochenyo-speaking Ohlone people, successors of the sovereign Verona Band of Alameda County.
Nondiscrimination
The University of California, in accordance with applicable federal and state law and University policy, does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, religion, sex, gender identity, pregnancy, physical or mental disability, medical condition (cancer related or genetic characteristics), ancestry, marital status, age, sexual orientation, citizenship, or service in the uniformed services.
Welcome
Finally, UC Berkeley Law is a very special community. It is a warm, collegial environment. It is the most intellectually exciting law school that I have been part of, with a plethora of speakers and programs and symposia every week. It is part of a superb and beautiful campus in a great location.
I feel very proud to be the dean of UC Berkeley Law and am excited for you to learn more about it.
Warmly,
Dean and Jesse H. Choper Distinguished Professor of Law
Finally, UC Berkeley Law is a very special community. It is a warm, collegial environment. It is the most intellectually exciting law school that I have been part of, with a plethora of speakers and programs and symposia every week. It is part of a superb and beautiful campus in a great location.
I feel very proud to be the dean of UC Berkeley Law and am excited for you to learn more about it.
Warmly,
Dean and Jesse H. Choper Distinguished Professor of Law
Excellence, Public Mission, & Community
What are we looking at in the admissions process? In short, everything. We employ a holistic review process and we read every application, front to back. We want to know who you are, where you come from, what matters to you, and that you understand what makes UC Berkeley Law the right law school for you.
What sets us apart:
- UC Berkeley Law offers two different program options each leading to the same LL.M. degree. You can choose your path between the executive track and the traditional track.
- We are among the first ever to offer a law degree with a certification of specialization in artificial intelligence (AI). It’s an industry-endorsed foundation in AI focused on building core skills and knowledge in areas including intellectual property, data privacy, licensing, and risk. This certificate has been specifically designed for the LL.M. executive track to allow busy professionals to grapple with the real-time legal issues introduced by artificial intelligence and other emerging technologies.
- The UC Berkeley Law faculty is second to none, and their doors are always open. “This is not only a place with a long-standing tradition of freedom of speech, gender and racial equality, and mutual respect, but also a vibrant environment offering endless opportunities. Here, you can not only acquire cutting-edge knowledge but also interact with professors who hold prestigious academic positions and dedicate themselves wholeheartedly to teaching, as well as passionate staff members committed to selfless service.”
— Fuyang Wan, ’25, China - You can craft the specialized academic experience you’re looking for. We offer the option to earn a certificate of specialization while meeting the eligibility requirements for U.S. state bar exams. In the academic year you can take courses outside of the law school to supplement your law classes. We offer lectures and simulation courses, taught by faculty and practitioners.
The Bay Area & Campus
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Customizable Curriculum
Executive Track
The LL.M. executive track offers two flexible schedule options designed to fit the needs of working professionals. Remote + Summer students take part-time online courses, starting in January and ending in December with one full-time, in-person semester during the summer. Two Summers students complete their coursework over two consecutive, full-time, in-person summer semesters. Whichever option you choose, spend your summer at UC Berkeley Law in our exclusive LL.M. executive track program!
After students complete mandatory coursework in Fundamentals of U.S. Law and Legal Research and Writing, they are free to enroll in any of the electives they choose. Students in the LL.M. executive track may also focus their studies to earn a Certificate of Specialization in one of our most popular areas of study — Business Law, Law and Technology, or AI Law & Regulation. With careful planning, students can also meet the requirements to become eligible to sit for the California Bar Examination.
Traditional Track
After completing mandatory degree requirements in Fundamentals of U.S. Law and Legal Research and Writing, LL.M. candidates may then customize their studies by choosing elective coursework as they see fit. Students seeking in-depth training in a particular area of law may also earn a Certificate of Specialization in one of six practice areas: Business Law, Technology Law, International Law, Public Interest and Social Justice Law, Energy and Clean Technology Law, and Environmental Law. With careful planning, students can also meet the requirements to become eligible to sit for either the California or New York Bar Examination.
Required Courses
Fundamentals of U.S. Law
The course introduces international law students to the American legal system, the common law method of case analysis, and U.S. forms of governance. Students will focus on the principal Constitutional doctrines that underpin the American legal and political system, including federalism and separation of powers, with a focus on how American law interacts with global concerns. Throughout the course, students will practice skills that will help them succeed in law school, on the bar examination, and in practice.
Legal Research & Writing
This course will introduce students to U.S. legal reasoning and practice by examining court opinions, teaching legal research methods, and developing skills of legal writing in the United States. The course emphasizes understanding the U.S. legal system, common law legal reasoning, legal problem solving, and effective written communication of legal analysis. The course includes several written assignments building up to a final writing project (on an assigned topic).
Certificates of Specialization
Business Law
Energy & Clean Technology Law*
Environmental Law*
International Law*
Law & Technology
Public Interest & Social Justice Law*
**Available for LL.M. executive track only
Our Top-Ranked Programs
Environmental Law
Business Law
Criminal Law
Contracts/Commercial Law
International Law
Focused Learning
UC Berkeley Law, a Silicon Valley neighbor long renowned for its top technology law programs, are meeting modern challenges head -on with the help of faculty, students, research centers, executive and Continuing Legal Education platforms.From different corners of the legal and policy world, they’re positioned to understand and explain the latest AI offerings and highlight places where guardrails are needed — and where a hands-off approach would be smarter.
At the Berkeley Center for Law & Technology (BCLT) — long the epicenter of the school’s tech program — the AI, Platforms, and Society Center aims to build community among practitioners while supporting research and training. For example, a partnership with CITRIS Policy Lab at the Center for Information Technology Research in the Interest of Society and the Banatao Institute (CITRIS), which draws from expertise on the UC campuses at Berkeley, Davis, Merced, and Santa Cruz, the BCLT program works with UC Berkeley’s Goldman School of Public Policy, School of Information, and College of Engineering.
The center also hosts AI-related events throughout the year. So does the Berkeley Center for Law and Business, through webinars and in-person talks with expert corporate and startup leaders.
Many of BCLT’s faculty co-directors have AI issues as part of their scholarship agenda, including Professors Colleen V. Chien ’02, Sonia Katyal, Tejas N. Narechania, Andrea Roth, Pamela Samuelson, and Jennifer M. Urban ’00. Their expertise spans the full spectrum of AI-adjacent questions, including privacy concerns, intellectual property and competition questions, and the implications for the criminal justice system.
Focused Learning
UC Berkeley Law, a Silicon Valley neighbor long renowned for its top technology law programs, are meeting modern challenges head -on with the help of faculty, students, research centers, executive and Continuing Legal Education platforms.From different corners of the legal and policy world, they’re positioned to understand and explain the latest AI offerings and highlight places where guardrails are needed — and where a hands-off approach would be smarter.
At the Berkeley Center for Law & Technology (BCLT) — long the epicenter of the school’s tech program — the AI, Platforms, and Society Center aims to build community among practitioners while supporting research and training. For example, a partnership with CITRIS Policy Lab at the Center for Information Technology Research in the Interest of Society and the Banatao Institute (CITRIS), which draws from expertise on the UC campuses at Berkeley, Davis, Merced, and Santa Cruz, the BCLT program works with UC Berkeley’s Goldman School of Public Policy, School of Information, and College of Engineering.
The center also hosts AI-related events throughout the year. So does the Berkeley Center for Law and Business, through webinars and in-person talks with expert corporate and startup leaders.
Many of BCLT’s faculty co-directors have AI issues as part of their scholarship agenda, including Professors Colleen V. Chien ’02, Sonia Katyal, Tejas N. Narechania, Andrea Roth, Pamela Samuelson, and Jennifer M. Urban ’00. Their expertise spans the full spectrum of AI-adjacent questions, including privacy concerns, intellectual property and competition questions, and the implications for the criminal justice system.
Research Centers & Initiatives
Berkeley Center for Consumer Law & Economic Justice
Advocating to ensure safe, equal, and fair access to the marketplace.
Berkeley Center for Law and Business
The hub of UC Berkeley Law’s cutting-edge research and teaching on the impact of law on business and national and global economies.
Berkeley Center for Law & Technology
Promoting the understanding and guiding the development of intellectual property and related fields of law and policy as they intersect with business, science, and technology.
Berkeley Center for Private Law Theory
Fostering insights into the legal building blocks of our social and economic life, including the laws of property, contracts, and torts as well as central aspects of family law, trust law, and work law.
Berkeley Center on Comparative Equality & Anti-Discrimination Law
A group of scholars, activists, and legal professionals from six continents working together to address the equality issues of the day.
Center for Indigenous Law and Justice
Aiming to facilitate meaningful ways for interested students, faculty, and staff to work with tribal nations and on Indigenous issues, and to offer programming including conferences, networking events, training sessions, and student fellowships.
Center for Law, Energy & the Environment
Fostering environmental law and policy research and translating it into pragmatic solutions.
Center for Law and Work
Promoting cross-disciplinary scholarship to address the pressing employment-related policy concerns of today.
Center on Race, Sexuality & Culture
Examining contemporary questions of identity and discrimination through the lens of intersectionality, considering how race, gender, and sexual orientation overlap to produce distinct experiences of vulnerability and resilience.
Center on Reproductive Rights and Justice
Broadening the conversation on reproductive rights and choices through legal scholarship, teaching, and conferences, and by bolstering law and policy advocacy efforts.
Center for the Study of Law and Society
Fostering empirical research and theoretical analysis concerning legal institutions, legal processes, legal change, and the social consequences of law.
Civil Justice Research Initiative
Using interdisciplinary, academically based, and independent research to explore how the civil justice system can be made more available to everyone seeking relief.
Criminal Law & Justice Center
A research and advocacy hub striving to transform the criminal legal system by centering the lived experience of communities most directly affected, providing support for impactful teaching, empirical analysis, and pragmatic training in criminal legal reform.
Helen Diller Institute for Jewish Law and Israel Studies
Developing opportunities for research, programming, scholars, and classes to strengthen academic inquiry and discourse related to Jewish and Israeli topics across the Berkeley campus.
Edley Center on Law & Democracy
Defending and strengthening democratic institutions in the United States through actionable research and public leadership.
Thelton E. Henderson Center for Social Justice
Producing and fostering creative scholarship examining the law through a lens of social justice and working with communities to provide education to the general public.
Human Rights Center
Promoting human rights and international justice worldwide and training the next generation of human rights researchers and advocates.
Kadish Center for Morality, Law & Public Affairs
Promoting research and reflection on moral philosophical issues in law and public life, with special concern for the substantive aspects of criminal law.
The Honorable G. William and Ariadna Miller Institute for Global Challenges and the Law
Supporting populations overlooked or unprotected by existing legal infrastructure, with a global focus on climate and energy justice, corruption, the rule of law, and human rights.
The Robbins Collection
Promoting and sponsoring comparative research and study in the fields of religious and civil law, including Jewish and Islamic law and the various Christian traditions.
Representing His Country on the Global Stage, Ali Alabdali LL.M. ’23 Draws on His Year in Berkeley
That passion grew during his academic year in Berkeley’s LL.M. Program, where he joined the Berkeley Journal of International Law and earned an international law specialization certificate. He also gained vital experience outside the classroom, working with the school’s Human Rights Center as an open-source investigator on its legal investigations team.
Leaders in Law
Four senior scholars — Professors Brian Galle, Joy Milligan Ph.D. ’18, Bertrall Ross, and Kevin Washburn — join Assistant Professors Jason Ferguson and Ryan Sakoda and Clinical Professor Alina Ball as the school’s new hires. They’re the latest in a transformative wave of hiring since Dean Erwin Chemerinsky arrived in 2017.
“We had a spectacular year in faculty hiring. We’ve added terrific faculty in many different fields who will be great classroom teachers as well as influential scholars,” Chemerinsky says. “We are tremendously fortunate to have them join us.”
Ross, who is returning to the school after four years at the University of Virginia School of Law, says the time away helped him remember and appreciate its unique qualities.
The school’s storied history as a leader in many areas of legal academia and its commitment to serving the public was alluring to Washburn, a specialist in Indian law who counts the late professor and fellow Indian law expert Philip Frickey as a mentor.
“It’s a wonderful public law school,” he says. “I have always been a public servant in one way or the other, with my entire career in the federal government or in public law schools, and that really appealed to me.”
Ball, an East Bay native, leads the new Social Enterprise Clinic in the growing Clinical Program.
Tax law expert Galle is excited to be in the middle of UC Berkeley’s campus, where he can engage with “an incredible set of law colleagues” as well as scholars from the university’s Department of Economics, which is consistently ranked among the best in the country.
Ferguson will teach and advise students in the law school’s Jurisprudence and Social Policy Program (JSP), which he calls “one of the most unique Ph.D.-granting programs in the country” and a big draw for him.
“Both JSP and the affiliated Center for the Study of Law and Society were major resources for me and played an important role in my turn toward the critical study of law in context and law in action,” he adds.
An empirical researcher of crime and criminal justice policy, Sakoda dovetails with the law school’s deep bench of data-driven researchers, particularly those using the economist’s toolbox.
“The faculty has an incredible scope and depth of expertise, and I look forward to working with and learning from all of my new colleagues,” he says.
Global Network & Professional Development
Professional Development Services
- Individual advising with specialized attorney-counselors dedicated to the professional development needs of LL.M. students
- Programs and workshops tailored for LL.M. students, including resume writing, interviewing skills, business etiquette and networking, and legal practice areas
- Networking events to help LL.M. students build and cultivate professional relationships
- International and domestic job search advising
- F-1 Optional Practical Training (OPT) for LL.M. traditional track only
Raise Your Bar
The California Bar determines eligibility based on whether you’ve been admitted to practice law in any jurisdiction in the world. We offer all the coursework you might need to become eligible for the California Bar Exam in all of our tracks.*
The New York Bar divides exam applicants by those who have been educated in a common law or civil law system. If, like most of the world, you are trained in civil law, you will find all the bar-related coursework you might need in our LL.M. traditional track.*
*Bar eligibility is determined by the relevant state bar and not UC Berkeley Law. Please contact the state bar with questions about your eligibility.
Discover More
‘The Government is Listening to Me!’ LL.M. Student Kosha Doshi Already Making an Impact Protecting People Online
During a 2022 summer term at the London School of Economics, she began looking into “dark patterns.” The term describes manipulative design strategies that are widely used to deceive online users, making it onerous for them to unsubscribe from various major platforms.
Skeptical about what traction a student could make in this space, her belief system soon changed radically when a former internship mentor texted to reveal that India had incorporated her suggestion. Doshi recalls “running across my parents’ house telling them, ‘The government is listening to me!’”
Seeing her recommendation influence national policy was a pivotal moment, she says: “It reinforced the importance of having the courage to voice one’s ideas, regardless of background or experience. At the time, I was still an undergraduate law student, yet my research, persistence, and belief in my work helped bring about tangible change.”
Doshi adds that the experience played a crucial role in overcoming her imposter syndrome, showed that impact is not limited by age or title but by the ability to advocate effectively, and launched both her career path — and confidence — to keep pursuing legal and policy reforms.
She took that momentum to UC Berkeley Law, where she earned an LL.M. degree while capitalizing on myriad opportunities. India’s data protection landscape was still evolving when she applied, with a comprehensive legal framework yet to be enacted.
Her interactions with startups at Berkeley SkyDeck have illuminated real-world challenges of implementing technology within legal and ethical constraints, and Doshi teamed up with LL.M. classmates to further bridge that gap by launching Legal Innovation and Entrepreneurship at Berkeley, a student group pushing to equip law students with tech-focused legal skills.
“The ever-evolving nature of technology has always intrigued me, and being in Silicon Valley has only heightened my awareness of the constant advancements in AI, cybersecurity, and data privacy,” Doshi says. “The law often struggles to keep pace with technological change, and I see a critical gap that needs to be bridged.”
After graduating, she hopes to leverage her experiences, knowledge, and network to create more meaningful progress in the tech law field.
APPLYING
Master of Laws (LL.M.) Program
Executive Track
Our Most Flexible Program
There are two options for the LL.M. executive track:
Remote + Summer (R+S) allows you to earn your LL.M. degree in one calendar year, with part-time online spring/fall semesters online, and one full-time, in person summer semester in Berkeley.
Two Summers (S+S) allows you to earn your LL.M. degree over two consecutive full-time, in person summer semesters in Berkeley
In the summer, students enroll in 8-10 weeks of in person study depending on the schedule they create.
Traditional Track
Our Academic Year Program
APPLICATION CHECKLIST
☐ $80 non-refundable application fee (LL.M. traditional track only)
☐ Personal statement
☐ Curriculum Vitae
☐ Official academic records
☐ Two letters of recommendation
☐ TOEFL score of 100 or IELTS score of 7.0
☐ Video assessment (optional for all)
These requirements are subject to change. Please check our website for the most up-to-date information.
Scholarships
**Submit your complete LL.M. executive track (S+S) application by November 18th for priority scholarship consideration.
Admissions Timeline
Applications open for all tracks
September 1*
LL.M. executive track decisions begin
November 18
LL.M. executive track remote + summer option application deadline
December 18
LL.M. traditional track application deadline
February 15
LL.M. executive track two summers option application deadline
March 1*
LL.M. traditional track decisions begin
*Dates subject to change
PROGRAM CALENDAR
will
you go?
our paths intertwined, and
our stories became part of a
shared journey.
