Critical Race Studies
Home of the nation's first Critical Race Studies program and top scholars in the field, we prepare students for impactful careers in racial justice advocacy and scholarship.
At UCLA Law, students work directly with the thought leaders who built the foundations of Critical Race Studies. Led by these renowned scholars, our curriculum includes fundamental courses in civil rights and race theory. Students are challenged to think critically about forms of racial subordination in American legal history; to compare related legal and social subordination along other axes of identity; to apply the central themes in critical race theory to specific areas of the law; and to analyze how legal institutions erect racial hierarchies.
Students can choose to complete a CRS specialization, and advanced coursework is a vital component of the program whose hallmark initiatives include a full slate of opportunities outside of the classroom. Our annual CRS Symposium addresses the most innovative ideas and strategies to end racial injustice. And on-the-ground initiatives – including the Race and Re-Entry Initiative and the Race, Work, and Economic Justice Clinic – allow students to gain invaluable experience that bridges their study of theory and their work as attorneys of conscience.
Our Faculty
Ahilan Arulanantham
Professor from Practice
Faculty Co-Director, Center for Immigration Law & Policy
LaToya Baldwin Clark
Professor of Law
Kimberlé W. Crenshaw
Distinguished Professor of Law
Promise Institute Chair in Human Rights
Fanna Gamal
Assistant Professor of Law
Cheryl I. Harris
Rosalinde and Arthur Gilbert Professor in Civil Rights and Civil Liberties
Jerry Kang
Ralph and Shirley Shapiro Distinguished Professor of Law
Distinguished Professor of Asian American Studies (by courtesy)
Inaugural Korea Times – Hankook Ilbo Endowed Chair (2010-20)
Founding Vice Chancellor for Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (2015-20)
Jasleen Kohli
Executive Director, Critical Race Studies Program
Hiroshi Motomura
Susan Westerberg Prager Distinguished Professor of Law
Faculty Co-Director, Center for Immigration Law and Policy
Sunita Patel
Professor of Law
Faculty Director, UCLA Veterans Legal Clinic
Angela R. Riley
Carole Goldberg Endowed Chair of Native American Law
Special Advisor to the Chancellor on Native American and Indigenous Affairs
Director, Native Nations Law & Policy Center
Lauren van Schilfgaarde
Assistant Professor of Law
Noah D. Zatz
Professor of Law and Labor Studies