Daniel Farber

Dan Farber is the Sho Sato Professor of Law at the University of California, Berkeley. He also has leadership roles at two Berkeley research centers: the Center for Law, Energy, and Environment; and the Edley Center on Law and Democracy. Professor Farber is a member of the American Academy of Arts.

Professor Farber is a graduate of the University of Illinois, where he earned his B.A., M.A., and J.D. degrees. He graduated, summa cum laude, from the College of Law, where he was the class valedictorian and served as editor-in-chief of the University of Illinois Law Review. After law school, he was a law clerk for Judge Philip W. Tone of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit and then for Justice John Paul Stevens of the U.S. Supreme Court. Professor Farber practiced law with Sidley & Austin, where he primarily worked on energy issues, before returning to the University of Illinois as a faculty member in 1978. He taught at the University of Minnesota Law School faculty from 1981 to 2002, where he was the McKnight Presidential Professor of Public Law. He also has been a visiting professor at the Stanford Law School, Harvard Law School, and the University of Chicago Law School.

His most recent book is Contested Ground: How to Understand the Limits on Presidential Power (UC Press 2021). His earlier books include Research Handbook on Public Choice and Public Law (Elgar 2010) (with A. O’Connell); Judgment Calls: Politics and Principle in Constitutional Law (Oxford University Press 2008) (with S. Sherry); Retained by the People: The “Silent” Ninth Amendment and the Rights Americans Don’t Know They Have (Basic Books 2007); Lincoln’s Constitution (University of Chicago Press 2003); and Eco-Pragmatism: How to Make Sensible Environmental Decisions in an Uncertain World (University of Chicago Press 1999).

Education

B.A., University of Illinois (1971)
M.A., University of Illinois (1972)
J.D., University of Illinois (1975)

Daniel Farber is not teaching any Law courses in Spring 2026.

Courses During Other Semesters

Semester	Course Num	Course Title	Teaching Evaluations
Summer 2026	201S sec. 001	Business Torts
	206.51S sec. 001	Advanced Writing Project
Fall 2025	201 sec. 003	Torts	View Teaching Evaluation
Summer 2025	201S sec. 001	Business Torts	View Teaching Evaluation
	206.51S sec. 001	Advanced Writing Project	View Teaching Evaluation
Spring 2025	206C sec. 001	Note Publishing Workshop	View Teaching Evaluation
	272.3 sec. 001	Climate Change and the Law	View Teaching Evaluation
	274.7 sec. 001	Environmental Law Colloquium	View Teaching Evaluation