Veena Dubal鈥檚 Gig Economy Work Earns UC Law SF Foundation Award
Professor Veena Dubal聽has won the UC Law SF Foundation Faculty Award for Outstanding Scholarship. The award from the Foundation Board of Trustees is given annually to a聽faculty member who has demonstrated scholarly excellence and promise.
Dubal鈥檚 work intersects law, technology, and precarious employment.聽She uses empirical research and critical theory to understand how digital technology is affecting workers, and explores the role of the law and lawyers in solidarity movements.
The California Supreme Court cited Dubal鈥檚 work in a聽landmark decision聽on worker classification. And she has in top-tier law review and peer-reviewed journals, including the聽California Law Review,听Wisconsin Law Review,听Berkeley Journal of Empirical and Labor Law, and聽Perspectives on Politics.
鈥淰eena has worked fiercely and fearlessly on the cutting edge of legal theory and policy,鈥 said Associate Dean for Research聽Jodi Short. 鈥淗er scholarship lays the groundwork for meaningful social change.鈥 For example, her work provided the underpinnings of legislation in California redefining who gets聽employee protections.
Professor Veena Dubal
Dubal regularly advises regulators and policymakers on misclassification and work law protections for workers in the platform economy and other emerging labor markets. She has had high-level conversations with regulators across the U.S. and Europe.
A leading public intellectual on issues of technology and precarious work, Dubal has been published in , ,听, , and other prominent outlets. She also writes regularly on hot-button issues for the popularly read and the .聽Her research has drawn the attention of local, national, and international media and has been featured in documentaries, including聽When Rules Don鈥檛 Apply,听City Rising, and聽Gig a Uberiza莽茫o do Trabalho.
Academic Dean Morris Ratner said he has received positive feedback since sharing the news of the award with faculty.
“The announcement of the award to Professor Dubal has prompted inspiring reactions from colleagues and students who have praised her courageous scholarship and the deep connection between her research and impactful teaching,鈥 Ratner said.
Dubal first began studying the taxi industry while working as a public interest attorney and Berkeley Law Foundation fellow at the Asian Law Caucus, where she founded a taxi worker project and represented Muslim Americans in civil rights cases. While completing her doctorate at UC Berkeley, she conducted an ethnography of the San Francisco taxi industry.
She joined the UC Law SF faculty in 2015 after a post-doctoral fellowship at Stanford 精东影业.