Angela Harris received her degree from the University of Chicago Law School in 1986.  Her research focuses on critical legal theory, examining how law can reinforce and challenge subordination on the basis of race, gender, sexuality, class, and other dimensions of power and identity.

Harris joined the UC Davis School of Law faculty in 2011.  She began her career at the UC Berkeley School of Law in 1989, and has been a visiting professor at the law schools of Stanford, Yale, and Georgetown. In 2010-11, at the State University of New York – University at Buffalo School of Law, she served as vice dean of research and faculty development. She is the recipient of the Rutter Award for Distinction in Teaching from Berkeley Law.

Harris is the author of a number of widely reprinted and influential articles and essays in critical legal theory. She is also a prolific co-author of casebooks, including Criminal Law: Cases and Materials; Race and Races: Cases and Materials for a Diverse America; Gender and Law; and Economic Justice. Among other awards for her mentorship of students and junior faculty, she received the 2008 Clyde Ferguson Award from the Minority Section of the Association of American Law Schools. Harris is a frequent and sought-after speaker at workshops and conferences, and she is active in promoting community among critical legal scholars in legal academia and beyond.