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Headshot of Jessica Vapnek

Jessica Vapnek

Associate Dean of the MLS Program, Director of the International Development Law Center, Professor of Practice

Bio

Jessica Vapnek is Associate Dean of the MLS Program, Director of the International Development Law Center, and Professor of Practice at UC Law SF. Previously, she was a Regional Technical Director for a consulting firm in San Francisco implementing rule-of-law projects around the world. In that role she managed complex international projects and helped write winning proposals. Previously, for almost 15 years, Professor Vapnek served as a Legal Officer with the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) in Rome, providing policy advice to member countries, drafting legislation on agriculture and natural resources, and writing and editing a number of articles and books. Professor Vapnek has lived in Africa (she was a Peace Corps Volunteer in the former Zaire and a Fulbright Scholar in Ghana) and has worked in or traveled to almost 100 countries during her career. She continues to do occasional work for the UN as an expert, for example traveling to Bhutan and Malawi to review their veterinary legislative frameworks and to Nepal to evaluate a proposed draft food safety law. She speaks French, Spanish, and Italian.

Education

  • ¾«¶«Ó°Òµ of California, Berkeley - School of Law
    J.D.

  • Yale ¾«¶«Ó°Òµ
    B.A.

Accomplishments

  • Editor in Chief
    California Law Review

  • Fulbright Scholar
    Ghana

  • Fulbright Specialist
    Poland

  • Peace Corps Volunteer
    Democratic Republic of the Congo

Selected Scholarship

  • Drafting National Food Legislation in a Globally Connected World in RESEARCH HANDBOOK ON INTERNATIONAL FOOD LAW (Michael Roberts, ed.)
    Jessica Vapnek & Melvin Spreij, Edward Elgar
    2023

  • Food and Agriculture Policy in BUSINESS & PUBLIC POLICY HANDBOOK
    Jessica Vapnek & Tiffany Wang, Edward Elgar
    2021

  • Jessica Vapnek & Peter Boaz, FAO Legislative Study Series 2021

  • Jessica Vapnek, Kai Purnhagen, & Ben Hillel, Wiley-Blackwell 2021

  • Agricultural Legislation in International Legislative Drafting Handbook
    Jessica Vapnek, Carolina Academic Press
    2020

  • Jessica Vapnek and Donald L. Revell, Capital Law Review 48:2 2020

  • Jessica Vapnek and Ashley R. Williams, 20 U. Denv. Water L. Rev. 217 2018

  • Jessica Vapnek, Alfred Fofie, & Peter Boaz, Arbitration - The International Journal of Arbitration, Mediation and Dispute Management 2017

  • Jessica Vapnek, Hastings International and Comparative Law Review 2016

  • Jessica Vapnek, Peter Boaz, & Helga Turku, Duke Forum for Law & Social Change 2016

  • Jessica Vapnek, International Journal for Court Administration 2013

  • Jessica Vapnek & Megan Chapman, FAO Legislative Study Series 2011

  • Jessica Vapnek, Bruce Aylward, Jamie Bartram, & Christie Popp, editors, FAO Legislative Study Series 2009

  • Jessica Vapnek, FAO Legal Papers Online 2009

  • Jessica Vapnek, FAO Legal Papers Online 2009

  • Designing National Pesticide Legislation
    Jessica Vapnek, Isabella Pagotto, & Margaret Kwoka, FAO Legislative Study Series
    2007

  • Legislative Implementation of the Food Chain Approach
    Jessica Vapnek, Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law
    2007

  • Development of an Analytical Tool to Assess Biosecurity Legislation
    Daniele Manzella & Jessica Vapnek, FAO Legislative Study Series
    2007

  • Guidelines for the Revision of National Plant Protection Legislation
    Jessica Vapnek & Daniele Manzella, FAO Legal Papers Online
    2007

  • Recent Trends in the Law and Policy of Bioenergy Production, Promotion and Use
    Charlotta Jull, Patricia Carmona Redondo, Victor Mosoti, & Jessica Vapnek, FAO Legislative Study Series
    2007

  • Making National Food Laws
    Jessica Vapnek & Melvin Spreij, Rivista di Diritto Agrario (Agrarian Law Review)
    2005

  • Perspectives and Guidelines on Food Legislation, with a New Model Food Law
    Jessica Vapnek & Melvin Spreij, FAO Legislative Study Series
    2005

  • Law and Sustainable Development Since Rio: Legal Trends in Agriculture and Natural Resource Management
    Jessica Vapnek & Mohamed Ali Mekouar, editors, FAO Legislative Study Series
    2002

  • Implementation of Management Plans
    Jamie Bartram, Jessica Vapnek, et al., Toxic Cyanobacteria in Water: A Guide to their Public Health Consequences, Monitoring, and Management
    1999

  • Institutional and Legal Measures to Combat African Swine Fever
    Jessica Vapnek, FAO Legal Papers Online
    1999

  • Establishing a Water Abstraction Licensing Scheme: Issues and Options
    Jessica Vapnek, FAO Legal Papers Online
    1999

  • The West African Drug Mule Train
    Jessica Vapnek, Criminal Law Bulletin
    1996

Courses

  • Legal Research and Writing for Masters Students
  • Drafting Legislation
  • Introduction to US Legal Systems
  • Introduction to Law
  • Advanced Legal Writing
  • US Law & Current Events
  • Asynchronous Legal Writing for Masters