Sujit Choudhry named next dean of Berkeley Law
, Cecelia Goetz Professor of Law, will be the next dean of the University of California, Berkeley, School of Law. His five-year term begins on July 1.
An internationally recognized authority on comparative constitutional law and comparative constitutional development, Choudhry has made incredible achievements since joining the Law faculty in 2011. At the Law School he founded the , the world's first university-based center generating and mobilizing knowledge in support of constitution building. As the center’s faculty director, he advised Libyan experts and parliamentarians in Tripoli; partnered with the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (International IDEA) on projects examining how Middle Eastern and North African (MENA) constitutions can best regulate political parties, and issues involving executive-legislative relations in the context of the Arab Spring; and held symposia on pressing topics such as the state of Arab constitutionalism and current constitutional reforms in Turkey. Within a year of its launch, the center saw its work cited in a report by the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights.
As co-teacher of the for both JDs and LLMs, Choudhry , where they presented their research on topics relevant to constitutional drafting and reform processes at the University of Tunis and met with high-level Tunisian political actors, most notably President Mohamed Moncef Marzouki, who at an event hosted by Choudhry’s center. The output of Choudhry’s clinic includes finished and in-progress reports on the post-Arab Spring state of constitutional courts, political party finance regulation, and “semi-presidentialism” as part of constitutional reform, as well as anti-corruption, decentralization, and oil and natural gas issues in MENA constitutional frameworks. Apart from the clinic, Choudhry has taught , , and the , and serves as faculty director of the Global Fellows Program.
“We have been so fortunate to have Sujit on our faculty,” said Dean in his announcement of Choudhry’s departure. “He will be greatly missed here at , but legal education has gained a tremendous new dean.”
“ is a magnificent law school that occupies a special place in the world of global legal education,” said Choudhry in the announcement to the Law community. “I will always treasure my association with . I am immensely grateful to my colleagues, staff, and students, many of whom have become good friends, for making this a wonderful home. While I am very excited about what lies ahead at Berkeley, I will miss you all very much.”
Posted May 6, 2014