The mission of the Berkeley Center for Law & Technology is to foster beneficial and ethical advancement of technology by promoting the understanding and guiding the development of intellectual property and related fields of law and policy as they intersect with business, science and technology.

BCLT was founded in 1995 to respond to the significant interest of students attending Boalt Hall in high technology law. Boalt was already home to the Berkeley Technology Law Journal, and also had a number of faculty with international stature in high technology law and policy. Founded to consolidate, enhance, and expand upon these resources, the Berkeley Center for Law & Technology was started.  By reaching out to Silicon Valley and other Bay Area law firms, as well as to leading high technology companies, to forge a program in high technology law that not only provides opportunities for outstanding training for students interested in technology fields, but also serves as a resource for lawyers, industry groups, and other affected parties as they grapple with the complex policy and legal issues arising in the wake of high technology developments, BCLT has developed links with several other organizations and outstanding affiliated faculty and scholars with interests in high technology law, including some of the top economists working on technology policy.