Centers Of Excellence

Resnick Center for Food Law & Policy

The Resnick Center performs cutting-edge legal research and scholarship in food law and policy to improve health and quality of life for humans and the planet.

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Podcast Feature

This month, Repast welcomes Kim Kessler, the Assistant Commissioner for the Bureau of Chronic Disease Prevention and Tobacco Control at the New York City Department of Health, Dipa Shah Patel, the Director of the Los Angeles County Public Health Department's Nutrition and Physical Activity Program, and Paula Daniels, the Director of the L.A. County Office of Food Systems. Kim, Dipa, and Paula join Diana to discuss how agencies within municipalities can work together to reduce chronic disease.

Listen to the Podcast

Through its publications, courses, clinic and events, the Resnick Center affords students valuable scholarship, research and networking opportunities.Students can also gain unique policy advocacy training within the food justice movement through UCLA Law’s clinical education curriculum.

The Resnick Center’s engagement in food systems thinking allows it to focus on the development of food governance strategies to promote accountability, transparency and safety in the national and global food chain.

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To forward its mission, the Resnick Center works with UCLA Law students and faculty and the broader UCLA and UC communities, and engages with national and international scholars, experts and policymakers. The Center also maintains a robust slate of outside advisors, including its Outside Advisory Board, and its Research Affiliates, who are recent law school graduates working to better the food system who will consult and assist on various Resnick Center research projects.

Projects

Food Research & Scholarship

The Resnick Center publishes and contributes to scholarship that is foundational to food law and policy, stimulating discussion about global food system approaches and governance strategies while also providing solutions for local communities through clinical education.
Reflecting on the Past to Advance the Future

Celebrating a decade of the Resnick Center for Food Law and Policy.
Model Strategies in Global Food System Law

An interactive issue brief series designed to democratize sustainable, equitable, and inclusive systems-thinking approaches to food governance.
On Food Law

A blog that highlights center publications and activities and provides a forum for food law scholars to discuss ideas and share work, managed by the Resnick Center and the Food Law Lab at Harvard University.
Repast: A Food Law & Policy Podcast

A podcast during which we interview thought leaders in the field of food law and policy to discuss past achievements, current developments, and future challenges.
Careers in Public Interest Food Law and Policy

A guide to help law students and graduates understand the varied directions of a public interest food law career.
COVID-19 and Food Law

Resources on the intersection of Covid-19 and food law and policy for scholars, researchers, and officials.
Food-Based Pro Bono Opportunities

This guide is intended to facilitate the delivery of pro bono legal services to help those in America who are food insecure.

Who We Are

  • Directors & Fellows

    Michael T. Roberts

    Executive Director of the Resnick Center for Food Law and Policy,
    Professor from Practice

    Diana R. H. Winters

    Deputy Director of the Resnick Center for Food Law and Policy
  • Outside Advisory Board

    David T. Biderman

    Partner, Perkins Coie

    Kevin Boylan

    Co-Founder and Managing Partner, Powerplant Ventures

    Ethan Brown

    Founder & CEO, Beyond Meat

    Paula Daniels

    Co-founder and Chair at The Center for Good Food Purchasing and Commissioner, California State Water Commission

    Michael Dimock

    President, Roots of Change

    Marsha Echols

    Professor, Howard University School of Law, and Director, The World Food Law

    Evan Graham-Arango

    Owner, founder and farmer at Ojai Roots Farm in Ojai, CA

    Jeremy Halpern

    Partner, Nutter McClennen & Fish LLP

    Tom Harkin

    Former U.S. Senator, Iowa

    Sascha Henry

    Partner, Sheppard Mullin

    Joshua T. Hofheimer

    Partner, Sidley Austin LLP

    Kim Kessler

    Assistant Commissioner for the Bureau of Chronic Disease Prevention and Tobacco Control, New York City Department of Health

    Kristen R. Klesh

    Partner, Loeb & Loeb LLP

    Corby Kummer

    Senior Editor at The Atlantic

    Robert Lustig

    M.D. Professor of Pediatrics Endocrinology Division, University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) School of Medicine

    Michael Reese

    Reese, LLP

    Stewart A. Resnick

    Chairman and President, The Wonderful Company, LLC

    Rick Shackleford

    Greenberg Traurig Food & Beverage Group Co-Chair

    Thomas Tobin

    Associate, Perkins Coie

    Bernhard van Lengerich

    PhD, Former CSO and VP Technology Strategy, General Mills Inc.; Board Member, Beyond Meat, Inc.

    Gillian Wade

    Partner, Milstein Jackson Fairchild & Wade LLP

    Nury H. Yoo

    Partner, Faegre Drinker
  • Research Affiliates

    Alexa Libro

    Alexa Libro is an associate attorney in the Technology group at Goodwin Procter LLP, where she advises emerging companies and venture capital investors throughout the corporate life cycle. She earned her J.D. from UCLA School of Law in 2022, with a specialization in Environmental Law, and completed the UCLA Food Studies Graduate Certificate Program. She received her B.S. in neuroscience with a minor in biomedical research from UCLA in 2017. During law school, she was a research assistant at the Resnick Center for Food Law and Policy, co-executive chair of the Food Law Society, and co-chief managing editor of the Journal for Environmental Law & Policy.

    Candace Yamanishi

    Candace is an associate attorney in the Business & Tort Litigation Group at Jones Day where she works on a variety of complex litigation matters.  She earned her J.D. from UCLA School of Law in 2022. During law school she was a research assistant for the Resnick Center for Food Law & Policy, participated in UCLA Law's Food Law and Policy Clinic, and was a member of UCLA Law's environmental journal. 

    Laura Yraceburu

  • Affiliated Faculty

    Taimie L. Bryant

    Professor of Law

    Cara Horowitz

    Andrew Sabin Family Foundation Executive Director of the Emmett Institute on Climate Change and the Environment
    Director, Frank G. Wells Environmental Law Clinic

    Jill R. Horwitz

    David Sanders Professorship in Law and Medicine
    Professor of Public Affairs (by courtesy)
    Founding Faculty Director, Lowell Milken Center on Philanthropy and Nonprofits
    Vice Dean for Faculty and Intellectual Life (2019-2021)

    Timothy Malloy

    Professor of Law
    Faculty Director, UCLA Sustainable Technology and Policy Program
    Frank G. Wells Endowed Chair in Environmental Law

    Alex Wang

    Professor of Law
    Walter and Shirley Wang Chair in U.S.-China Relations and Communications
    Faculty Co-Director, Emmett Institute on Climate Change & the Environment

    David Biderman

    Lecturer in Law

    Jasmine Wetherell

    Lecturer in Law
  • International Affiliate Scholars

    Silvia Rolandi

    Silvia Rolandi is a legal scholar and practitioner specializing in international agri-food law, employing a strong interdisciplinary approach that combines law, sustainability, and digital innovation with tradition. Born in the Tuscan countryside, she holds a degree in International Private Law from the University of Pisa Law School and a postgraduate qualification in International Trade Law from the International Training Centre of the UN-ILO in Turin. She earned her Ph.D. in Politics, Human Rights, and Sustainability from the Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna, conducting part of her research as a visiting scholar at the Resnick Center for Food Law and Policy at the University of California, Los Angeles with Professor Michael T Roberts. Currently, she is an Assistant Professor at the University of Pisa, working within the Pisa Agricultural Economics Team – Food and Rural Studies for Sustainability, and she also lectures at Wageningen University & Research with the Law Group (The Netherlands).
  • Distinguished Affiliate Scholar

    Hilal Elver

    Hilal Elver is a Research Professor and co-director of the Project on Global Climate Change, Human Security, and Democracy housed at the Orfalea Center at the UCSB. She is currently serving as the UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food with the Office of the High Commissioner on Human Rights. She has a law degree and a Ph.D. from the University of Ankara Faculty of Law, and SJD (Doctoral degree of juridical Science) degree from UCLA School of Law. She started her teaching career in 1985 at the University of Ankara Faculty of Law, and during this period she was also appointed by the Turkish government as the founding legal advisor of the Ministry of Environment, and the General Director of Women’s Status in the Office of the Prime Minister. In 1994, she was appointed by the United Nations Environment Program to the UNEP Chair in Environmental Diplomacy at the Mediterranean Academy of Diplomatic Studies in Malta. In 1993 she was a Fulbright Scholar at the University of Michigan Law School in Arbor, and 1996-1998 she was a visiting fellow at the Center of International Studies at Princeton University. Since 1998 she has been teaching comparative law, international human rights law, and international environmental law at various universities in the U.S and Europe. Currently, she is one of the members of the Turkish negotiation team at the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change.

Publications by Type

For Students

The Center's educational component features high-caliber classes, conferences, workshops, and experiential learning. Students enjoy working with Center faculty and fellows on various research projects and publications. New student opportunities to immerse in food law include experiential learning through the Food Law and Policy Clinic and interdisciplinary exchange through the new UCLA Graduate Food Studies Certificate Program.

  • Curriculum

    Course Offerings

    Atlantic Foodways: Culture, Science, Governance, taught by Michael T. Roberts and Dr. Robin Derby, Associate Professor of History. Summer abroad program to Italy.

    Food Studies, taught by Michael T. Roberts, which was designed for the Graduate Food Studies Program. The emphasis is on holistic, systems thinking approaches in dealing with food systems and working in interdisciplinary projects.

    Law 693: Food Litigation: Consumer Protection, Regulation, and Class Actions, taught by David Biderman and Tommy Tobin, both of whom serve on the Center’s Outside Advisory Board.

    Law 508: Food Law and Policy Seminar, taught by Executive Director Michael T. Roberts and Deputy Director Diana Winters, focuses on how food law as a response to the modern food system has adapted and developed into a distinctive area of law.

  • UCLA Graduate Food Studies Certificate Program
    2022 graduates of the program with Michael Roberts (far right).
    2022 graduates of the program with Michael Roberts (far right).

    With food security and environmental sustainability becoming increasing global concerns, there is an urgency to educate the next generation of leaders with strong interdisciplinary foundations. The Food Studies Graduate Certificate Program offers UCLA PhD, MA and professional school students the opportunity to investigate this growing field. The program will prepare students from diverse disciplines to address complex topics that span food cultures and histories, nutrition and public health, food policy and food justice, urban planning, and agrifood systems and the environment. For more information about the certificate, visit the UCLA Food Studies Certificate Program website.

Resources

  • On Food Law Blog

    On Food Law highlights center publications and activities and provides a forum for food law scholars to discuss ideas and share work. The blog is managed by the Resnick Center and the Food Law Lab at Harvard University.

    Read the blog.

  • Resnick Newsletter

    Keep up to date with the Resnick Center's news, events, partnerships and publications.

    Please reach out to us at resnickcenter@law.ucla.edu for more information, to join our mailing list, to get involved, or to donate to our work.

    Fall 2022 Newsletter

  • The Bruin Promise

    The Bruin Promise is a bridge to alumni education at UCLA.

News
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May 13, 2025

Diana Winters is quoted by Axios about water fluoridation

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Mar 05, 2025

Michael Roberts is quoted in the LA Times about food safety

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Jan 31, 2025

The relationship between fruit drink front-of-package claims, fruit imagery, and ingredient disclosures and consumer perceptions, intentions, and behavior: A systematic review

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Events
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05 29
Event Occurred: May 29, 2025
8:00 AM - 5:00 PM
School of Law
Privacy Law Scholars Conference

The world’s premier academic conference of privacy, law, and technology scholars, researchers, and practitioners.

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