Oregon Law welcomes Professor Orli Oren-Kolbinger as the newest member of our nationally-recognized business law faculty. Orli’s journey to academia has been shaped by a deep commitment to teaching and a profound interest in the intersection of tax law, economics, human behavior, and access to justice.
The oldest of three children, Orli was born in Tel Aviv to a nurse and a chemist and raised in various parts of Israel. From an early age, Orli felt drawn to teaching. Even as a child, she had a natural talent for explaining complex concepts in simple terms, often tutoring peers and assisting her teachers in the classroom. “There’s something beautiful in teaching,” she said. “You know you can leave a mark.”
This passion for education, combined with an early exposure to law through a pre-law program for teens, set the stage for her future career. Her early aspirations to become a judge eventually evolved into a commitment to academia, where she could blend her love of teaching with her growing interest in law and economics.
Orli’s academic journey began at the University of Haifa, where she double majored in law and economics. Her passion for economics initially arose out of a love of math but was later fueled by the effort to understand human action that underpins economic theory. She came to understand that economic research makes links between data and human behavior, creating an opening to critically examine ourselves and spark social change. “A researcher’s work is empirical data that comes into being. You cannot strip the human connection away from the process,” Orli noted. While at university, she took every opportunity to immerse herself in research—from working as a research assistant and to staffing the library research desk—gaining hands-on experience that would shape her future scholarly pursuits.
Her legal interests took a significant turn when she enrolled in an introductory tax law course. She was immediately enamored with tax, a field that satisfied her intellectual curiosity and love of logic but also allowed her to explore the intricate ways in which legal frameworks impact individuals and society. After completing her LLB and BA, she embarked on her military service as a criminal prosecutor at the JAG Corps and developed expertise in criminal law and procedure. She later earned an LLM, focusing on criminal law and economic analysis of law and writing her final thesis on whether plea bargaining in cases with evidentiary difficulty leads to the conviction of innocents.
With the goal of one day becoming a professor, Orli pursued her PhD in Law at Bar-Ilan University, where she delved into the complexities of judicial decision-making in tax law. Intrigued by human behavior from an economic and an empirical point of view, she explored how judges’ subjectivities, backgrounds, personalities, and exposure to external events influence their decisions and legal outcomes. She worked with leading professors in both law and economics to bridge disciplinary intellectual frameworks and apply empirical methodologies to her research. Orli recalled, “I learned how to employ research methodologies to answer questions about the world. It all starts with data. But I was always most interested in the human behavior and motivations involved, how people respond to the rules and the information all around them.”
Eventually, a Fulbright Scholarship brought Orli to the United States, where she joined the University of Michigan Law School as a Michigan Grotius research scholar. She began studying the US tax system and connecting with US economists and tax scholars. Here, she found a scholarly community that both challenged and embraced her, further solidifying her commitment to academic life. After her time at Michigan, she secured a visiting professor position at Villanova University Charles Widger School of Law, where she taught tax and tax policy and began researching how US tax law impacts different societal groups. She then moved back to Israel and joined Sapir Academic College School of Law as an Assistant Professor, where she taught tax courses, judicial decision-making, and criminal procedure and researched the effect of macroeconomic fluctuations on judicial decision-making.
Orli’s research is driven by a desire to use the tax system as a tool for social good. Her current work focuses on how tax policies can help alleviate poverty and address issues of access to economic justice. She is particularly interested in the barriers that prevent eligible individuals from accessing the tax benefits they are entitled to and the structures that create these barriers. “I want to ask, does a person have what they need to maximize their experiences in society? What are the social and legal barriers they face? People made these barriers,” Orli noted, “so I’m interested in knowing: Who decided? Who designed it, how did they do it, and why?”
Her recent research also examines the gendered dimensions of tax law, including the phenomenon of women being left with tax debt when their husbands disappear. She is investigating whether the leniency shown by judges in these cases is a recognition of fundamental errors in US tax code or a form of benevolent sexism.
In addition to being a prolific researcher, Orli is a passionate advocate for her students, encouraging them to question assumptions and approach the law with empathy and a commitment to justice. “This is my vision for my students: You are the social agents. I'm teaching you so that you can go change the world for the better. That's the mark I want to leave. I'm not telling students what to think, I'm teaching them how to ask questions, interrogate priors, and back up their ideas with data and authority,” Orli reflected. “I'm happy when students leave with question marks when they sometimes look to us for periods or exclamation points.”
At Oregon Law, Orli teaches Federal Income Tax I (individual taxation), Federal Income Tax II (business taxation), and Tax Policy. When Orli arrived in Eugene to interview for the position, she knew immediately that Oregon Law was the place for her. During the interview process, she had the opportunity to meet with Oregon Law students, and she was moved by their willingness to share their experiences with her. She hopes this kind of reciprocal openness is something that she brings to every encounter. “I start with, this interaction is a relationship. I want to remove my preconceptions and be open to learning and sharing with others. This creates a comfortable environment where mentee and mentor are learning from each other. I'm here to guide students on their journey, but ultimately their journey will be their own.”
Outside the classroom, Orli ( “my light” in Hebrew) is a dedicated mother of three, and she and her husband are avid cooks, having honed their skills when their youngest child developed food allergies. She also enjoys hiking, reading, watching comedies and crime dramas, and sports, and has a particular fondness for soccer—a sport she took up as a child to prove a point. She recalled, “At 5 or 6 years old, some boys said that I couldn't play with them. I said, if I play the goalie and stop all your goals, I'm in.” She ended up playing on that team for six years, remarking, “If someone closes a door, I'll find a window.”
Orli Oren-Kolbinger brings to Oregon Law a wealth of experience, a deep commitment to justice, and an infectious passion for teaching. The law school is fortunate to have her as part of its community, where her contributions will undoubtedly leave a lasting impact on students, colleagues, and the broader legal field.