Christopher A. Whytock
Joint appointment in Law and Political Science
Co-Director, Center in Law, Society and Culture
Expertise:
Conflict of laws, transnational litigation, civil procedure, international law
Background:
Christopher Whytock is Professor of Law and Political Science at the UC Irvine School of Law. He has been a Visiting Professor of Law at NYU School of Law, UC Berkeley School of Law, and University of Zurich Law School, as well as Director of Studies at the Hague Academy of International Law, Visiting Researcher at the Institut suisse de droit comparé, and the Vice Dean of UC Irvine School of Law.
Professor Whytock’s research focuses on conflict of laws, transnational litigation, civil procedure, and international law. His articles have appeared or are forthcoming in law journals including Boston University Law Review, Columbia Law Review, Cornell Law Review, Duke Law Journal, New York University Law Review, University of Chicago Law Review, University of Iowa Law Review, and University of Pennsylvania Law Review, as well as in peer-reviewed journals including Journal of Empirical Legal Studies, Theoretical Inquiries in Law, and International Security. His books include Conflict of Laws (Sixth and Seventh Editions) (with Peter Hay, Patrick J. Borchers & Symeon C. Symeonides), Research Handbook on the Politics of International Law (co-edited with Wayne Sandholtz), Transnational Law and Practice (First and Second Editions) (with Donald E. Childress III and Michael D. Ramsey), and Understanding Conflict of Laws (Fourth Edition) (with William M. Richman & William L. Reynolds).
Professor Whytock serves as an associate reporter for the Restatement (Third) of Conflict of Laws, and he previously served as an adviser on the Restatement (Fourth) of the Foreign Relations Law of the United States. He also serves as a member of the U.S. State Department Advisory Committee on Private International Law, a member of the U.S. Delegation to the Hague Conference on Private International Law’s Working Group on a Convention on Jurisdiction in Transnational Civil or Commercial Litigation, and an ALI adviser for the Uniform Law Commission’s Conflict of Laws in Trusts and Estates Act.
Professor Whytock has taught courses on civil procedure, conflict of laws, international law, foreign relations law, and international relations theory.
Professor Whytock previously taught at the University of Utah College of Law and practiced law at O’Melveny & Myers LLP and Paul, Hastings, Janofsky & Walker LLP. He received his Ph.D. in political science from Duke University; his J.D. and M.S. in Foreign Service from Georgetown University, where he was a Ford Foundation Fellow in Public International Law; and his B.A. in political science from UCLA.
(Log in to view full course descriptions in the UCI Law Course Catalog)
- Patrick J. Borchers, Symeon C. Symeonides, Christopher Whytock, and Peter Hay, “Conflict of Laws” 7th ed. Hornbook Series (West Academic 2026)
- Are Foreign Affairs (Still) Different? An Empirical Analysis of the Political Question Doctrine, 94 University Of Chicago Law Review (2026) (with Wayne Sandholtz).
- Au Revoir, Renvoi? An Empirical Analysis of the Renvoi Doctrine in State and Federal Courts, Willamette Law Review (forthcoming 2026) (with Ming-Yin Chang).
- Foreign Judgment Enforcement as Assisted Extraterritoriality, in Elgar Concise Encyclopedia Of Extraterritoriality And The Law (Austen Parrish, Danielle Ireland-Piper & Cedric Ryngaert eds.) (Edward Elgar, forthcoming 2026).
- Determining the Content and Meaning of Foreign Law: The Approach of the New Third Restatement of Conflict of Laws, 39 Emory Int’l L. Rev. 1077 (2025).
- The French Private International Law Codification Project: A View from the United States, 65 Colloques De La Société De Législation Comparée 111 (2025).
- Choice of Law for Property Issues: The Third Restatement’s Approach in Comparative Context, in Private International Law And Rights In Rem (Maria Font i Mas ed.) (Marcial Pons Ediciones Jurídicas y Sociales 2024)
- Politics and Private International Law, in Research Methods In Private International Law (Xandra Kramer & Laura Carballo Piñeiro eds.) (Edward Elgar 2024)
- Situs and Domicile in Choice of Law for Succession Issues, 97 Tulane Law Review 1181 (2023).
- The Many State Doctrines of Forum Non Conveniens, 72 Duke Law Journal 1163 (2023) (with William S. Dodge & Maggie Gardner).
- Causal Inference in Constitutional Law, in Research Methods In Constitutional Law (David S. Law & Malcolm Langford eds.) (Edward Elgar, forthcoming).
- Christopher A. Whytock, Situs and Domicile in Choice of Law for Succession Issues, 97 Tulane Law Review 1181 (2023).
- Christopher A. Whytock, The Many State Doctrines of Forum Non Conveniens, 72 Duke Law Journal 1163 (2023) (with William S. Dodge & Maggie Gardner).
- Christopher A. Whytock, Sticky Beliefs about Transnational Litigation, 28 Southwestern Journal of International Law 284 (2022) (invited symposium article).
- Christopher A. Whytock, Choice of Law for Immovable Property Issues: New Directions in the European Union and the United States,74 Revista Española de Derecho Internacional 81 (2022) (with Georgina Garriga Suau) (peer reviewed).
- Christopher A. Whytock, Transnational Litigation and U.S. Courts: A Theoretical and Empirical Reassessment, 19 Journal of Empirical Legal Studies (2022) (peer reviewed).
- Christopher A. Whytock, Enforcement of Foreign Judgments, Systemic Calibration, and the Global Law Market, 23 Theoretical Inquiries in Law 119 (2022) (with Samuel P. Baumgartner) (peer reviewed).
- Christopher A. Whytock, The Concept of a Global Legal System, The Many Lives of Transnational Law: Critical Engagements with Jessup’s Bold Proposal (Peer Zumbansen ed.) (Cambridge University Press, 2020).
- Christopher A. Whytock, Transnational Access to Justice, 38 BERKELEY JOURNAL OF INTERNATIONAL LAW 154 (2020).
- Christopher A. Whytock & Seth Davis, State Remedies for Human Rights, 98 Boston University Law Review 397 (2018).
- Peter Hay, Patrick J. Borchers, Symeon C. Symeonides & Christopher A. Whytock, Conflict of Laws (6th ed., 2018).
- Christopher A. Whytock, From International Law and International Relations to Law and World Politics, in Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Politics: The Politics of Law and the Judiciary (William Thompson & Keith E. Whittington eds., 2017).
- Research Handbook on the Politics of International Law (Wayne Sandholtz & Christopher A. Whytock eds., 2017).
- Christopher A. Whytock, Toward a New Dialogue Between Conflict of Laws and International Law, 110 Am. J. of Int’l L. Unbound 150 (2016).
- Christopher A. Whytock, Conflict of Laws, Global Governance, and Transnational Legal Order, 1 UC Irvine J. of Int’l, Transnat’l, & Comp. L. 117 (2016).
- Christopher A. Whytock, Enforcement of Foreign Judgments: Governance, Rights, and the Market for Dispute Resolution Services, in The Transformation of Enforcement: European Economic Law in Global Perspective 47-68 (Hans-W. Mickitz & Andrea Wechsler eds., 2016).
- Tarik Hansen & Christopher A. Whytock, The Judgment Enforceability Factor in Forum Non Conveniens Analysis, 101 Iowa L. Rev. (2016).
- Adam S. Chilton & Christopher A. Whytock, Foreign Sovereign Immunity and Comparative Institutional Competence, 163 U. Pa. L. Rev. 411 (2015).
- Donald E. Childress III, Michael D. Ramsey & Christopher A. Whytock, Transnational Law and Practice (2015).
- Christopher A. Whytock, Faith and Scepticism in Private International Law: Trust, Governance, Politics, and Foreign Judgments, 7 Erasmus L. Rev. 113 (2014).
- Christopher A. Whytock, Foreign State Immunity and the Right to Court Access, 93 B.U. L. Rev. 2033 (2013).
- William M. Richman, William L. Reynolds & Christopher A. Whytock, Understanding Conflict of Laws (4th ed. 2013).
- Christopher A. Whytock, Some Cautionary Notes on the “Chevronization” of Transnational Litigation, 1 Stan. J. Complex Litig. 467 (2013).
- Christopher A. Whytock, Donald Earl Childress III, & Michael D. Ramsey, Foreword, After Kiobel: International Human Rights Litigation in State Courts and Under State Law, 3 UC Irvine L. Rev. 1 (2013).
- Christopher A. Whytock, Kiobel Insta-Symposium: After Kiobel: Human Rights Litigation in State Courts and Under State Law, Opinio Juris (2013).
- Christopher A. Whytock, Transnational Judicial Governance, 2 St. John's J. Int'l & Comp. L. 55 (2012).
- Christopher A. Whytock & Cassandra Burke Robertson, Forum Non Conveniens and the Enforcement of Foreign Judgments, 111 Colum. L. Rev. 1444 (2011).
- Christopher A. Whytock, The Evolving Forum Shopping System, 96 Cornell L. Rev. 481 (2011).
- Marcus S. Quintanilla & Christopher A. Whytock, The New Multipolarity in Transnational Litigation: Foreign Courts, Foreign Judgments, and Foreign Law, 18 Sw. J. Intl. L. 31 (2011).
- Christopher A. Whytock, Private-Public Interaction in Global Governance: The Case of Transnational Commercial Arbitration, 12 Bus. & Politics (2010).
- Christopher A. Whytock, Foreign Law in Domestic Courts: Different Uses, Different Implications, in Globalizing Justice: Critical Perspectives on Transnational Law and the Cross-Border Migration of Legal Norms (Donald W. Jackson, Michael Tolley & Mary Volcansek eds., 2010).
- Christopher A. Whytock, Myth of Mess? International Choice of Law in Action, 84 N.Y.U. L. Rev. 719 (2009).
- Christopher A. Whytock, Domestic Courts and Global Governance, 84 Tul. L. Rev. 69 (2009).
- October 2024
“Conflict of Laws in the United States: A Comparative Human Rights Perspective,” presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Society of Comparative Law, Fort Worth, TX - October 2024
Presenter, Human Rights and Conflict of Laws, Annual Meeting of the American Society of Comparative Law - November 2024
Restatement of the Law Third, Conflict of Laws, Preliminary Draft No. 9 (Property: Trusts), American Law Institute - April 2024
International Studies Association’s 65th Annual Convention in San Francisco. Chair,“Transnational Cooperation in the Late Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Centuries” Speaker, “The Global Legal System: Law, Politics and Transnationalism” on the “International Law and New Frontiers” panel - March 2023:
- Panel Member, International Human Rights Award for Professor Wayne Sandholtz, Annual Convention of the International Studies Association, Montreal, Canada
- January 2023:
- “Restatement of the Law Third, Conflict of Laws, Tentative Draft No. 3,” presented at the
Meeting of the Council of the American Law Institute, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, (with Kermit Roosevelt III & Laura Elizabeth Little).
- 2023 Best Civil Justice Article Prize by UC Berkeley Civil Justice Research Initiative, awarded for “The Many State Doctrines of Forum Non Conveniens,” 72 Duke Law Journal 1163 (2023) (with William S. Dodge & Maggie Gardner)
- ALI: WATCH: Vice Dean Whytock discusses his project Restatement of the Law Third, Conflict of Laws
- Daily Journal: Vice Dean Whytock quoted on upcoming virtual swearing-in ceremony hosted by UCI Law
- American Law Institute: WATCH: Vice Dean Whytock discusses Tentative Draft No. 1 (2020) of Restatement of the Law Third, Conflict of Laws
- Bloomberg Businessweek: Prof. Whytock comments on lawsuits against China over COVID-19
- Daily Journal: Vice Dean Whytock comments on UCI Law’s focus on exposing students to artificial intelligence and emerging technology
- Courts Law JOTWELL: Profs. Whytock, Davis make compelling case in journal article on state remedies for human rights violations
- Human Rights at Home Blog: Prof Whytock writes on Jesner v. Arab Bank, the future of human rights litigation
- UCI Law Press Release: Two UCI Law Faculty Members Appointed Associate Reporters for American Law Institute’s Restatements of the Law
- Article by Prof. Whytock cited in Supreme Court Ruling