Christopher Edley Jr. has spent 40 years influencing public policy. He is currently the Honorable William H. Orrick Jr. Distinguished Professor of Law at UC Berkeley School of Law, after serving as Dean from 2004 through 2013. Prior to coming to Berkeley, Edley spent 23 years as a Harvard Law School professor and co-founded the Harvard Civil Rights Project.

Edley co-chaired the congressionally chartered National Commission on Education Equity and Excellence (2011–2013). He served in White House policy and budget positions under presidents Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton, and held senior policy positions in the presidential campaigns of  Michael Dukakis, Al Gore, Howard Dean, Barack Obama, and Hillary Clinton. He was a senior economic adviser for the Clinton presidential transition, overseeing housing and financial institution regulation.

In 2008, as a board member for the Obama presidential transition, Edley worked on healthcare, education, and immigration. He recently chaired NRC committees to evaluate NAEP performance standards and to design a national system of education equity indicators. Edley is a graduate of Swarthmore College (mathematics), Harvard Kennedy School (public policy), and Harvard Law School.