Beck Boorstein

R. A. “Beck” Boorstein (they/them) is a legal historian of the United States whose research interests lie at the intersections of disability studies, administrative law, labor, and public health. They are currently working on a dissertation that examines how federal administrative agencies regulated disability, contagion, and occupational safety during the HIV/AIDS epidemic of the 1980s.  

 

They received their B.A. in History and English from Amherst College, and their J.D. from The University of Chicago Law School. In 2022, their scholarship received the Stanford Center for Law & History Graduate Student Annual Conference Paper Prize. Their research has been generously supported by more than 10 different grants, fellowships, and awards, including the Yale Institution for Social and Policy Studies Democratic Innovations Fund, the American Society for Legal History’s Student Research Colloquium Fellowship, and the Oscar M. Reubhausen Fund.

 

Beck is passionate about disability advocacy and has helped to co-organize the Annual Symposium for Disability and Accessibility at Yale. They also worked with clients in the Mental Health Advocacy Law Clinic as a law student and participated in legislative advocacy projects focused on mental health and disability law.