Eli Salzberger

Salzberger was born in 1960 in Jerusalem, the son of Maccabi Salzberger (well-known gynecologist and Director of the Misgav Ladach maternity hospital), and Charlotte (Wreschner) Salzberger (co-founder of the school for Social Work at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and Deputy Mayor of Jerusalem 1980–1990). He attended the Gymnasia Rehavia high school, and served as an officer in the intelligence corps of the Israel Defense Forces from 1978 to 1983. During his military service he studied Social Science at Tel-Aviv University (1982–1983). Salzberger received his LL.B from the Hebrew University Faculty of Law in 1987 (first in his class) and concomitantly obtained a B.A. in economics. Subsequently, he clerked for Justice Aharon Barak of the Israeli Supreme Court and for deputy State Attorney Dorit Beinish (both of whom later became Presidents of Israel’s Supreme Court); during that time he pursued a direct program towards Ph.D. at the Hebrew University.

From 1988–1993, Salzberger studied at Oxford University, where he was awarded a Senior Scholarship at Lincoln College. His doctoral dissertation, "Economic Analysis of the Doctrine of Separation of Powers: The Independence of the Judiciary", included an empirical study of judicial promotions in the UK.

Salzberger was the Jerusalem branch coordinator and an elected member of the board of directors of the Association for Civil Rights in Israel (1984–1988). Other public activities include membership in the public council of the Israeli Democracy Institute, a state commission for reforming performers' rights in Israel, and membership in a Ministry of Education supervisory committee for the civics curriculum. He is a member of the University of Haifa Board of Governors, Senate, and Executive Committee.

Salzberger is married to Professor Fania Oz-Salzberger. They have twin sons.

Salzberger has taught at the Faculty of Law at the University of Haifa since 1993 (tenured senior lecturer in 1999, associate professor in 2004 and full professor in 2011). He was elected vice Dean (2002–2005) and Dean of the Faculty of Law (2005–2008).

Salzberger was the founder and a co-director of the Center for the Study of Crime, Law, and Society. He also served as co-editor of the Haifa Law Faculty’s journal "Mishpat Umimshal" (Law and Government) for four years. Recently (2012), a team led by him won a competition for a new Minerva research center on the rule of law under extreme conditions. Salzberger’s research and teaching areas are legal theory and philosophy, economic analysis of law, legal ethics, intellectual property and cyberspace, and the Israeli Supreme Court. He was a visiting professor at Princeton University, the University of Connecticut School of Law, UCLA Law School and a number of European law schools including Humboldt University in Berlin, Hamburg, Utrecht, Torino, Aix-Marseilles, St. Gallen, and Munich.[1][2]

He was the first Israeli to serve as a member of the steering committee, and subsequently as the President, of the European Association for Law and Economics (EALE). He also served on the EALE board of European master's degree in Law and Economics.

Salzberger received numerous fellowships and prizes, notably the Rothschild, Fulbright, and British Council Fellowships, and research grants from the Minerva Foundation, the Israel Science Foundation, EU 7th research program, and the German-Israeli Foundation. He received an honorary doctorate from the University of Hamburg in June 2019.[3]