April 13, 2020. UC Hastings Law announced the appointment of Evan Epstein as the inaugural Executive Director for the Center for Business Law and Adjunct Professor of Law.
Epstein is a corporate governance expert who has advised founders, executives, directors, and investors for over 15 years in Silicon Valley and internationally. He has deep experience with executive and director education, and is the former Executive Director of the Arthur and Toni Rembe Rock Center for Corporate Governance, a joint initiative between Stanford Law School and the Stanford Graduate School of Business.
The Center for Business Law at UC Hastings was founded in 2018 with the mission of bringing together leading scholars, business leaders, practitioners, regulators, and students to engage in the study, teaching, and practice of business law. It aims to be the leading business law venue in San Francisco, one of the world’s great centers of commerce, finance, and technology.
When asked why he chose to join UC Hastings, Evan cited the stellar reputation of the law school and its business law academics.
“I am honored and delighted to join UC Hastings Law to help build from the ground up the Center for Business Law, in collaboration with an outstanding group of faculty, staff, and advisors,” Epstein said. “I am drawn to foundational moments, and our goal will be to create an innovative world-class business law center that will benefit not only UC Hastings students, but also alumni and the broader business community of San Francisco and Silicon Valley.
Professor of Law Jared Ellias, an expert in bankruptcy law, serves as Faculty Director of the center.
“Evan is an incredible addition to Hastings,” Ellias said. “He’s a proven leader in the business law space and he’s full of great ideas on how we can build a business law center that creates opportunity to grow the community we already have that studies, practices, and teaches business law here in the heart of San Francisco. We’re so excited to add Evan to our Center for Business Law, which is a startup in a 140-year-old institution. Evan is exactly the person we need to grow this program into something that will be at the heart of what we do.”
Academic Dean and Professor of Law Morris Ratner spoke to the center’s direction:
“The Center for Business Law at UC Hastings connects the dots among our business law scholars, business-oriented student groups, accomplished alumni practitioners, and the broader business and policy-making communities in which UC Hastings is embedded. It creates a center of gravity to harness all of that expertise and interest and take it in new directions of engagement and opportunity, including executive education, an area where Evan Epstein is particularly accomplished.
“These kinds of partnerships and collaborations are even more critical in challenging environments. The pandemic and economic downturn will call on current and future lawyers and business leaders to be even more creative and adventuresome in the days to come. Our Center for Business Law is well positioned to positively contribute to these efforts.”