James Gordley received a B.A (1967) and M.B.A. (1968) from the University of Chicago and a J.D. (1970) from Harvard Law School. After a year in private practice and a fellowship in Italy, he became Ezra Ripley Thayer Fellow at Harvard Law School and then fellow at the Medieval Institute of Canon Law at Berkeley, he joined the Berkeley Law Faculty in 1978 where he became a full professor in 1981, and Shannon Cecil Turner Professor of Jurisprudence in 1996. He is currently Co-Editor in Chief of the American Journal of Comparative Law, a member titulaire of the International Academy of Comparative Law, a member of the Consulting Board of The European Review of Contract Law, and a member of the Board of Editors, Trento Project on the Common Core of European Law.