Centers

Research and public service are critical components of the UC Hastings mission. All the centers work in cutting-edge or innovative areas of the law and provide opportunities for students and practitioners to work together and collaborate. UC Hastings faculty and center staffs share their results with the legal community through special programs, events, and reports.

The Center for Gender and Refugee Studies (CGRS) founded in 1999, is the nation's leading advocacy organization on the issue of women asylum-seekers fleeing gender-related violence. CGRS provides legal expertise and resources to attorneys and coordinates legal and national public policy advocacy efforts. The center integrates students and international scholars into all aspects of its work.

The Center for Negotiation and Dispute Resolution (CNDR). As lawyers turn to negotiation, mediation, and arbitration to settle matters that previously were adjudicated, the need has increased for attorneys to master dispute resolution. CNDR organizes classes, research, and professional programs for the study of alternative ways to settle disputes.

The Center for State and Local Government Law (CSLGL) promotes research on public law issues. Scholars, lawyers, and students convene at the center's conferences and colloquia to share ideas and encourage research. UC Hastings is the only public law school in California offering a program of study and research focusing on state and local government law. The Public Law Research Institute (PLRI) is part of the Center and conducts legal research on topics identified as important by a variety of state and local agencies. The Institute sponsors events on public law issues and publishes periodic reports and working papers written by UC Hastings students under direct faculty supervision.

The Center for WorkLife Law (WLL) seeks to jump-start the stalled gender revolution by focusing, at any given time, on a few projects that hold the promise of producing concrete social or institutional change within a three-to-five year time frame. We concentrate our efforts on advancing women’s leadership, developing legal protections for employees with family responsibilities, and promoting better work-life policies within institutions. Our current initiatives include programs and best practices for advancing women leaders, case studies on major law firm rainmakers and new models of legal practice, research on how gender bias differs by race, and an innovative working group on pregnancy accommodation.

UCSF/UC Hastings Consortium on Law, Science & Health Policy is dedicated to promoting research, education, and service opportunities that bridge the gap between law and science.  To a large extent, scientists and health care professionals operate largely insulated from one another, both in their formal training and their daily practice. Increasingly, the demands of modern law and science require a sophisticated understanding of the other's form and function. Lawyers and scientists can no longer continue to work in isolation. Instead, they must be well-versed in one another's vocabulary and their practices need to be integrated.  The UCSF/UC Hastings Consortium was founded to promote this collaboration.