Prof. Barak Medina holds the Justice Haim Cohen Chair in Human Rights at the Hebrew University Faculty of Law. He has served as Rector (Provost) of the Hebrew University (2017-2022) and Dean of the Faculty of Law (2009-2012). Prof. Medina is a graduate of Tel-Aviv University (LLB, BA and MA in economics), Harvard Law School (LLM), and the Hebrew University (PhD in economics). He has served as a Visiting Professor at the law schools of Columbia University in New-York and University of California, Berkeley.

Prof. Medina’s main topics of research and instruction include constitutional law, and economic analysis of law. His research interests include the right to equality, freedom of speech, judicial review, constitutionalism, and more. He is the author of seven books, including the most authoritative book on Israeli constitutional law (with Amnon Rubinstein), and a book titled “Law, Economics, and Morality” (with Eyal Zamir), on incorporating threshold deontology to the economic analysis of law. His most recent book is a 1,000-page volume on Human Rights Law in Israel. 

As Rector of the Hebrew University Prof. Medina took part in efforts to promote academic excellence in research and teaching, and to promote equality at the university. Among other things, Prof. Medina led a major effort to increase the diversity of university students and faculty, including increasing the rate of Arab and Haredi students, as well as that of students who are the first generation in higher education.