Dr. Yifat Aran

Dr. Aran is an assistant professor of business law, specializing in law and entrepreneurship, and venture capital.

She graduated from Stanford University (JSM, 2015; JSD, 2020) where she was a fellow of the prestigious Stanford Interdisciplinary Graduate Fellowship Program (SIGF) and the John Olin Program in Law and Economics. She also holds degrees from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem (LLB; LLM), where she graduated as valedictorian.

In addition to her academic work, Dr. Aran has extensive experience as an attorney practicing corporate and commercial litigation. She served as a law clerk to Chief Justice, Dorit Beinisch, and a senior law clerk to Chief Justice, Dr. Asher Grunis.

In her research, she examines the relationships among investors, entrepreneurs, and employees in start-up companies, focusing especially on legal conditions that foster innovation and entrepreneurship.

• Equity Illusions, Journal of Law, Economics, & Organization (2023) (with Raviv Murciano-Goroff).
• The Startup Law of the Startup Nation, 53 Hebrew University Law Review (forthcoming, 2022) (in Hebrew).
• The Effect of Specialized Court over Time, in Time, Law, and Change: An Interdisciplinary Study 167 (Sofia Ranchordas & Yaniv Roznai eds., Hart Publishing, 2020) (with Moran Ofir)
• Making Disclosure Work for Start-Up Employees 2019(3) Columbia Business Law Review 102 (2019)
• Beyond Covenants Not to Compete: Equilibrium in High-Tech Start-Up Labor Markets 70(4) Stanford Law Review 1235 (2018)

• Israeli tech employees set for tax windfall worth millions, Assaf Gilead, Globes (2 Mar, 2023).
• Dr. Aran’s TechCrunch op-eds
• Investment terms will toughen; employees will take the hit, Assaf Gilead, Globes (30 May, 2022).
• There is a Reason Why High-Tech Companies Hide Information From Employees Who Receive Options, Omri Zerachovitz, TheMarker (21.10.2021).
• Hi-tech Workers Know Very Little About the Billions Hidden in Options, Omri Zerachovitz, TheMarker (12.10.2021).
• What’s Happening in Venture Law in 2021?, Danny Crichton, TechCrunch (September 11, 2021).

• Israel Science Foundation (ISF), Theoretical and Comparative Analysis of Startup Ownership (2023-2025)
• Institute Fellowship, The Institute for the Study of Employee Ownership and Profit Sharing, Rutgers University, 2022
• Summer Fellowship, The Center for Advanced Studies on the Foundations of Law and Finance at Goethe University Frankfurt, 2022
• Donna Schweers and Thomas Geiser Interdisciplinary Graduate Fellowship (SIGF), Stanford Vice Provost for Graduate Education, 2017-2020
• John M. Olin Program in Law and Economics, Summer Research Fellowship, Stanford Law School, 2017
• John Hart Ely Prize for Outstanding Performance in Law and Economics Seminar, Taught by Professor Mitchell A. Polinsky, Stanford Law School, 2017
• Intellectual Property Writing Award, Stanford Law School Internal Writing Competition, 2017
• International Peace Scholarship, P.E.O. International Sisterhood, 2016–2017; 2017-2018
• E. David Fischman Scholarship, The Jewish Federation of Greater St. Paul, 2014–2017.
• Silvan Cohen Fund Scholarship, Hebrew University Law School Award for Advanced Legal Studies Abroad, 2017-2018
• Lamas Fund Scholarship, Hebrew University Rector Award for Advanced Legal Studies Abroad, 2015–2016; 2017-2018
• Decalogue Fund Scholarship, Hebrew U. Law School Award for Advanced Legal Studies Abroad, 2014–2015; 2019-2020
• Gerald Gunther Prize for Outstanding Performance in Modern American Legal Thought, Taught by Professor Barbara Fried, Stanford Law School, 2015
• Stanford Law School Fellowship, 2014–2015
• Lionel Cohen Award, Hebrew University Law School Award for the Class Valedictorian, 2010
• Wolf Foundation Award for Excellence in Studies, Hebrew University Rector Award, 2009
• Eisenberg Award for an Outstanding Law Student, Hebrew University Law School Award, 2008