PeopleofSuperintelligence

Researcher

Colleen V. Chien

Chien is a law professor whose research examines artificial intelligence, intellectual property, and access to justice. She earned engineering and science, technology, and society degrees at Stanford, a law degree at Berkeley, and joined Santa Clara Law in 2007. Her public service included advising the Obama White House on intellectual property and innovation and serving as a Commerce Department senior counselor in 2021. She received the American Law Institute’s 2017 Early Career Scholars Medal. As of October 2026, she is a Berkeley Law professor and co-director of Berkeley’s Center for Law & Technology, where she teaches AI governance and studies generative AI in legal aid.

Now at
University of California, Berkeley and University of California, Berkeley School of Law
Works
137
Citations
1,022
h-index
16
Badges

Publication numbers from OpenAlex, as of 19 October 2026.

Timeline

  1. 1996–2002

    Stanford and Berkeley degrees

    She earns a B.S. in Engineering and an A.B. in Science, Technology, and Society at Stanford in 1996, then completes a J.D. at Berkeley Law in 2002. As an undergraduate, she works at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

  2. 2007–2010

    Santa Clara Law professor

    She joins the Santa Clara Law faculty in 2007 after working at Fenwick & West. Her work examines patent assertion business models, and she coins the term “patent assertion entity” in 2010.

  3. 2013–2015

    Advising the White House

    She serves as Senior Advisor for Intellectual Property and Innovation to the U.S. Chief Technology Officer in the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy from 2013 to 2015.

  4. 2017

    An Early Career Scholars Medal

    In 2017, she is named a co-recipient of the American Law Institute’s Early Career Scholars Medal.

  5. 2021

    Counselor at Commerce

    She joins the U.S. Department of Commerce in 2021 as a part-time senior counselor in its Office of General Counsel, while retaining her Santa Clara teaching duties.

  6. December 2023

    Joining Berkeley Law

    She joins the Berkeley Law faculty in December 2023 after serving as a professor at Santa Clara University School of Law.

  7. 2025

    AI for legal aid and courts

    In 2025, she works with UC Berkeley computer scientist Irene Chen on a chatbot that helps people navigate legal questions after their criminal records are cleared. With Miriam Kim, she publishes a field study of lawyers using generative AI and surveys 202 legal aid professionals.

  8. As of October 2026

    Professor and center co-director

    As of October 2026, she is the William G. Simon Professor of Law and co-director of the Berkeley Center for Law & Technology, and teaches The Law and Governance of Artificial Intelligence.

Career

  1. Since 2023University of California, BerkeleyProfessor of Law
  2. NowUniversity of California, Berkeley School of LawCo-director
  3. From 2021United States Department of CommercePart-time Senior Counselor
  4. 2013–2015White House Office of Science and Technology PolicySenior Advisor for Intellectual Property and Innovation
  5. 2007–2023Santa Clara UniversityProfessor
  6. 2007–2020Stanford University

Education

  1. 2002University of California, BerkeleyJ.D.
  2. 1996Stanford UniversityB.S. and A.B.

From the biography and OpenAlex affiliations (the years of papers that list the organization), so some years are approximate.

Most-cited works

  1. Cheap Drugs at What Price to Innovation: Does the Compulsory Licensing of Pharmaceuticals Hurt Innovation2003 · 103 citations
  2. Startups and Patent Trolls2012 · 96 citations
  3. Race to the Bottom2012 · 93 citations
  4. Of Trolls, Davids, Goliaths, and Kings: Narratives and Evidence in the Litigation of High-Tech Patents2009 · 92 citations
  5. Patent Holdup, the ITC, and the Public Interest2012 · 74 citations

From OpenAlex, as of 19 October 2026.

  1. More people shaping AI studied at Massachusetts Institute of Technology than at any other institutionIncludes University of California, Berkeley. Our estimates of where the people shaping AI studied and where their careers led, from education records in cited biographies.
  2. Google has the highest combined h-index among AI organizationsIncludes University of California, Berkeley. Our estimates of combined and median h-index at AI organizations, using current affiliations and OpenAlex records.
  3. The median h-index is 53 at universities and 19 at frontier AI labsIncludes University of California, Berkeley. The median h-index is 53 at universities and 19 at frontier AI labs. We compare publishing careers, citations and moves to estimate how universities and frontier labs contribute to AI research.
  4. 44% of AI career moves go from one university to anotherIncludes University of California, Berkeley. We estimate how 14,272 AI career moves link universities, companies, labs and government research centers, with net flows and the most common paths.

Colleagues

People with dated positions at the same organization in the same years.

Sources and credits

Photo: We have no published photo of Colleen V. Chien yet. Send us a free-licensed photo.

  1. Colleen Chien - UC Berkeley Law law.berkeley.edu. Checked 19 October 2026.
  2. Cross-disciplinary scholar Colleen Chien ’02 joins Berkeley Law faculty law.berkeley.edu. Checked 19 October 2026.
  3. Colleen Chien Awarded Young Scholar Medal scu.edu. Checked 19 October 2026.
  4. The American Law Institute Announces Early Career Scholars Medal Winners | The American Law Institute ali.org. Checked 19 October 2026.
  5. Professor Colleen Chien Joins U.S. Commerce Department as Part-Time Senior Counselor law.scu.edu. Checked 19 October 2026.
  6. UC Berkeley Law experts outline the latest developments at the intersection of technology and criminal law law.berkeley.edu. Checked 19 October 2026.
  7. Generative AI and Legal Aid: Results from a Field Study and 100 Use Cases to Bridge the Access to Justice Gap digitalcommons.lmu.edu. Checked 19 October 2026.