Veena Dubal to Deliver Spring 2026 Gruber Distinguished Lecture in Global Justice

Employment and labor law scholar Veena Dubal will deliver the spring 2026 Gruber Distinguished Lecture in Global Justice. 

The lecture, titled “Contemporary Challenges in Higher Education,” will take place Monday, March 2, at 4:30 p.m. in Room 128 of the Sterling Law Building. A subsequent panel, “Organizing, Building, and Defending the University in Precarious Times,” will occur on Tuesday, March 3, at 4 p.m. in the same room.

Veena Dubal is a professor of law at the University of California Irvine School of Law. She is widely recognized for her scholarship at the intersection of law, technology, and labor, specifically for her focus on inequality and evolving work conditions. Her work encompasses topics such as the impact of digital technologies and emerging legal frameworks on workers' lives, the interplay between law, work, and identity, and the role of law and lawyers in solidarity movements.

Dubal’s scholarship has been published in law and social science journals; her research has been cited internationally in legal decisions, including by the California Supreme Court; and her work is regularly featured by media outlets such as The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, The Los Angeles Times, NPR, and CNN, among others. Described by TechCrunch as an “unlikely star in the tech world,” she is regularly sought out by policymakers, judges, worker organizations, and unions across the U.S. and Europe. 

Dubal earned a B.A. from Stanford University and a J.D. and Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley. She completed a postdoctoral fellowship at Stanford University and returned in 2022 as a residential fellow at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences. Dubal is the recipient of numerous awards and grants, including the Fulbright, for her scholarship and previous work as a public interest lawyer.

Both events are open to the Yale community and Yale IDs will be required to enter. Email the Gruber Program at gruber.events@yale.edu to register. The faculty host of the lecture on March 2 is John Thomas Smith Professor of Law and Faculty Director of the Global Health Justice Partnership Amy Kapczynski ’03. Kapczynski will join Dubal to moderate the panel on March 3. 

The Gruber Distinguished Lecture in Women’s Rights and the Gruber Distinguished Lecture in Global Justice feature speakers whose exceptional achievements have served the causes of global justice and women’s rights. The lecture is a core component of the Gruber Program for Global Justice and Women’s Rights, a Yale University program administered by Yale Law School.