Prof. Shahar Lifshitz is a Senior Research Fellow at the Israel Democracy Institute where he co-directs the project on Human Rights in Judaism with Prof. Yedidia Stern. His previous work at IDI included formulating the family law chapter in IDI’s Constitution by Consensus. Professor Lifshitz is a law professor at Bar-Ilan University. He received his B.A. in Law and Psychology from Bar-Ilan University in 1996, and his Ph.D in Law from the same institution in 2002.
Prof. Lifshitz was a visiting scholar and Berkowitz Fellow at New York University Law School in 2005-2006, and a visiting Professor of Law and Distinguished Fellow of Jewish Law and Interdisciplinary Studies at Cardozo Law School in 2006-2007 and in spring 2009. He was a Visiting Professor at Columbia Law School in fall 2009.
Prof. Lifshitz's areas of academic interest are contract law, family law, and Jewish law, especially the philosophical basis of these fields. Professor Lifshitz is the author of numerous publications. His books include The Spousal Registry (Israel Institute of Democracy, 2007) and Cohabitation Law in Israel from the Perspective of a Civil Law Theory of the Family (Haifa University Press, 2005) for which he was awarded the Bahat Prize.
In 2004, he won the Alon Excellent Scientist Scholarship, awarded by the Higher Council for Academic Studies in Israel, which fully sponsors young scholars in their university positions for three years. In 2005 he was the winner of both a Fulbright and Rothschild Post Doctorate Fellowship and in 2009 he was honored with the Outstanding Award for Teaching by Bar-Ilan University.
Apart from academia, Professor Lifshitz has served as a judge in the Israel Standard Contract Court and currently serves as the Vice Chairman of the Israeli Association of Private Law. Together with Israeli Supreme Court President Dorit Benish, Prof. Lifshitz co-chairs the Forum for Cooperation between the Israeli Supreme Court and Israeli Legal Academia.
Professor Lifshitz participates in meetings of the Knesset Constitution, Law, and Justice Committee and advises legislators on family law issues. He is a member of the Israel Ministry of Justice’s legislative committee for the rights of children, as well as for committee to study pension division between spouses.
email: shaharl@idi.org.il