Advancement
Updates from Development & Alumni Relations
Humor and Humility Reign at Alumni Awards Ceremony
Launched by Semel in 2001, the clinic helps represent people facing the death penalty, gives students hands-on experience in high-stakes litigation, and exposes problems endemic to administering capital punishment. Semel thanked clinic Co-Director Ty Alper, seed donors Nick McKeown and Peter Davies, and many others for her rewarding work training more than 350 Berkeley Law students — over half of whom are now in public interest or government jobs.
“You kept me believing that I’m truly in the right place doing precisely what I’m meant to do,” Semel said. “Thank goodness for your faith in me, which often exceeds my faith in myself.”
After being elected Northwestern University’s first Black student body president in 1970, Eva Paterson ’75 criticized President Richard Nixon’s response to the Vietnam War, debated Vice President Spiro Agnew on live television, and also testified before Congress. She was named one of “Ten Young Women of the Year” by Mademoiselle, and featured on the covers of Ebony and Jet.
This year’s Judge D. Lowell and Barbara Jensen Public Service Award winner, Paterson led the Legal Aid Society of Alameda County, a shelter for battered women in Oakland, and the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights. Later, she co-founded the Equal Justice Society in 2000 and was its president for over 20 years, co-authoring several landmark civil rights lawsuits.
“Our democracy right now is imperiled,” said Paterson, citing voter suppression, book bans, and policies targeting LGBTQ communities. “Courts and lawyers and judges have saved us … We have the ability to fight back and make things better, and that’s our obligation as people connected with Berkeley Law.”
Leo Pircher ’57 received the Citation Award, Berkeley Law’s highest honor. A founding member of Pircher, Nichols & Meeks and a real estate industry pioneer, he crafted the framework for legal and tax techniques that the industry has long used to acquire and finance large properties.
Grateful for Berkeley Law’s then paltry tuition ($37 a semester, he recalled) and “legendary professors,” Pircher co-chaired a hugely successful fundraising campaign for the school. He also helped found the Berkeley Center for Law and Business and launched the Pircher, Nichols & Meeks Joint Venture Challenge, an annual competition in which Berkeley law, business, and environmental design students team up to negotiate a simulated real estate deal.
“Law school was the most important influence on my professional life,” he said. “I’ve tried to show my appreciation by contributing both time and money and will continue to do so. Those of us who received so much have an obligation to give back so that future generations will have the same opportunities we had.”
Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Bryant Yang ’07, winner of the Young Alumni Award, drew instant laughs: “Bless you all for recognizing that I am still young, although my receding hairline and my back pain would respectfully disagree.”
Thought to be the first Burmese American appointed to a U.S. judgeship, Yang fled Burma with his family in 1988 amid violent military crackdowns on political dissidents. In law school, he worked in Thailand helping Burmese migrants and refugees, meeting children who worked dangerous jobs and knowing that many of them would likely become human trafficking victims.
“The tragedy is that is their lot in life, no matter how hard they worked, no matter what they dreamed,” Yang said. “I kept thinking to myself, ‘But for the grace of God go I.’ With God’s grace I was able to come to the United States, and the nation’s premier public institution gave me the best legal education … Thank you for transforming my life and the lives of so many others like myself.” — Andrew Cohen
Constitutional Calling Sparks Inspiring Gift
Through endowed support for a tenured professor from the Thomas David and Judith Swope Clark Chair in Constitutional Law, the recipient (to be named this fall) will also run an annual symposium on constitutional interpretation. Berkeley Law Dean and renowned constitutional law scholar Erwin Chemerinsky describes Tom’s gift as a wonderful asset to the school.
Calling his Berkeley Law education “one of the best gifts I ever received,” Tom says the school provided benefits “not just to me, but also to the community, state, and nation.” When Judie died last year, he says he knew it was the best use for much of their estate.
The Clarks spent their adult lives saving for retirement and to support their daughter, Olivia, who has suffered significant disabilities since an early age. In 2012, Judie was diagnosed with Lewy body dementia, and Tom took on caregiving responsibilities for her, modifying their home to support her needs.
“Soon after Judie died, I realized that my efforts to accumulate assets to support Judie and Olivia in fear I would predecease them resulted in far more than I or Olivia would ever need,” he says.
Tom worked for the Port of Oakland until 2006, handling maritime, shipping, and public trust issues along with other public law matters. He hopes the chair holder and annual symposium will foster close study of the U.S. Supreme Court and its decisions, particularly those by justices who embrace originalism.
The product of Welsh Mormon and Finnish Baptist immigrants, Tom grew up with “a belief that civil government under our Constitution is a force for good that must be curbed to protect individual rights and liberties.”
His great-great-grandfather, William Lykins, was a judge in 1820s Kentucky whose son, grandson, and great-granddaughter were also lawyers, along with Tom and his older brother Paul. Certain he’d follow in those footsteps, Tom gave a speech at his junior high’s career day declaring it. He felt similarly after visiting UC Berkeley as a high school senior, and vowed to join the law school’s ranks after walking its halls.
Life as a law student fulfilled all his expectations. Tom took Torts from Professor Robert Cole, typing his notes out after every class. Berkeley Law legends Frank C. Newman, Herma Hill Kay, Phillip Johnson, Bernard Diamond, and John Hetland were among his other favorite professors.
“I reveled in studying at Berkeley Law,” Tom says. “The multiplicity of legal subject matter that fascinated me there continued in my legal practice.”
He wishes that all alumni, especially those past their 70s, consider the school in their estate planning.
“Berkeley Law is a living treasure and should be nourished,” Tom says. “A gift to Berkeley Law can give them, as my endowment has given me, incredible and unimaginable pleasure.” — Gwyneth K. Shaw
Welcome Support for Untenured Faculty
The late Victoria Armstrong LL.M. ’80 assigned half of her remaining estate after various designations (nearly $880,000) to Berkeley Law, which the school recently received for an endowed professor’s chair and will assign to an untenured faculty member. The Hoessel-Armstrong Professorship also honors Armstrong’s mother, Virginia Hoessel Armstrong, who graduated from UC Berkeley in 1936 with a B.A. in Humanities.
“I am delighted at our newest chair for a professor, the Hoessel-Armstrong Professor of Law,” Dean Erwin Chemerinsky says. “It is our third chair for an untenured member of our faculty and presents another wonderful opportunity to provide recognition and additional support for outstanding professors early in their teaching careers.”
Abbye Atkinson and Tejas N. Narechania were the first two untenured chairholders. Atkinson’s pathbreaking research on how the law of debtors and creditors causes wealth to flow out of disadvantaged communities led to her testifying before the Senate Banking Committee. Narechania, a leading telecommunications regulation scholar, has had his work cited by the White House, U.S. Supreme Court, and major media outlets.
Berkeley Law’s Merit Review Advisory Committee will make a recommendation for who should receive the Hoessel-Armstrong Professor of Law chair, forming the basis for its request to the university’s chancellor and provost. — Andrew Cohen
Collaboration and Commitment
“I’ve been one of our firm’s co-captains for the Alumni Workplace Challenge since Osa Wolff (’97) asked me to join her in 2021,” says Caitlin Brown ’17, an associate at Shute, Mihaly & Weinberger in San Francisco. “We take a lot of pride in our firm’s 100% donation rate over the past eight years, and I’ve enjoyed helping continue that tradition.”
While the Challenge runs May 1 through June 30, all donations made throughout the fiscal year count toward the campaign. This year, 77 captains at 55 law firms and companies helped generate more than $900,000 from 571 donors, with a 45% participation rate.
The effort was led by Berkeley Law Alumni Association Fundraising Chair Michael Charlson ’85 of Vinson & Elkins, Anna Remis ’07 of Sidley Austin, David Zapolsky ’88 of Amazon.com, Inc., and Theresa Lee ’03 of Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman.
The organizations below, listed with their captains, won their respective mods this year. Those that achieved 100% participation among alumni employees are noted with an asterisk.
- Mod A (41+ alumni): Fenwick & West, Julia Ushakova-Stein ’11 and Taimur Case ’15
- Mod B (30-40 alumni): Jones Day, Brian McDonald ’02 and Nadim Houssain ’20
- Mod C (20-29 alumni): Farella Braun + Martel, Nathan Anderson ’16 and Janice Reicher ’12
- Mod D (15-19 alumni): Shute, Mihaly & Weinberger*, Caitlin Brown ’17 and Osa Wolff ’97
- Mod E (10-14 alumni): Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld*, Alissa Miller ’01 and Deborah Festa ’99; Vinson & Elkins*, Michael Charlson ’85 and Rob Landicho ’13
- Mod F (7-9 alumni): Baker Botts*, Allison Mallick ’10, Kevin Chiu ’18, and Sam Dibble ’98
- Mod G (2-6 alumni): Conrad Metlitzky Kane*, Cara Sandberg ’12; Lane Powell*, Lisa Poplawski ’11; Miller Nash Graham & Dunn*, Cozette Tran-Caffee ’12; Venable*, Jean-Paul Cart ’09; Walkup, Melodia, Kelly & Schoenberger*, Spencer Pahlke ’07
If your workplace is not yet participating in the Challenge, please contact Jenny Hogg at jenhogg@berkeley.edu to learn more about becoming one of Berkeley Law’s valued alumni volunteer captains. — Andrew Cohen
Expanding Access and Opportunities
Covering tuition and fees for three years, the scholarship is largely fueled by donors. Robert Evans ’71 and his wife Norma and Cara Sandberg ’12 recently made multi-year pledges to the program, which also gives recipients a spot in Berkeley Law’s Pre-Orientation Program to ease the law school transition and introduces them to the student-led First Generation Professionals organization.
The number of annual BLOS students has increased from cohorts of three to five when the program started in 2015 to 10 per year now. Of the 58 recipients, 31 are current students. A committee of staff, students, and alums conduct in-person and virtual interviews to select the group.
“I like to think of BLOS not just as a scholarship, but as a family of people who are here to support and uplift each other,” says Director of Admissions for Outreach and Recruitment Alice Young. “Every year, we welcome more people to our family and celebrate the successes of our students and graduates.”
Co-president of the school’s Law Students of African Descent chapter, Caesar worked on litigation matters at law firms in New York City the past two summers, focusing on white collar, antitrust, and insurance litigation.
She graduated summa cum laude from Spelman College and worked extensively with inmates, juveniles, and families of incarcerated loved ones. Caesar chaired the Georgia Department of Juvenile Justice State Advisory Group’s youth subcommittee and created an engagement program to improve community relations between law enforcement and minority youth.
“That experience fueled my passion to address systemic inequalities, work toward reform, and create a more just legal system,” says Caesar, who is now involved with Berkeley Law’s Post-Conviction Advocacy Project.
Young relishes seeing BLOS recipients like Caesar spearhead student journals, pro bono programs, and student organizations — and watching them surge into the legal profession.
“BLOS alums are judicial clerks, public defenders, public interest fellows, and associates at top law firms across the country,” Young says. “Not only are they the first in their families to graduate from college and law school, they’re leaders, advocates, and innovators.”
For Caesar, the scholarship’s ability to support her journey while enhancing Berkeley Law’s diversity is doubly rewarding.
“It encourages students from various backgrounds to contribute their perspectives and it also enriches the learning environment by fostering a more inclusive community,” she says. “I know this is the right place for me. I’ve worked hard, and this scholarship helps me stand out in a field where people like me are often neglected.” — Andrew Cohen