Table of Contents
Features
A multipronged initiative aims to help students become strong leaders in all sectors and all levels of legal work.
The Power in Community
Enduring images from orientation, a rousing basketball and public interest triumph, star students, and more.
Around the World and Also at Home
The impactful and newly renamed Human Rights Clinic expands its domestic agenda.
Column
Erwin Chemerinsky calls for the school to help uphold the rule of law and use it to improve people’s lives.
Sections
Nuggets from the School Community
Smaller class sizes improve 1L experience • Guidance for ESG efforts • Constitution on the brink? • Building an alternative career pipeline • Pro bono prowess • Pushing for more representative juries • Revealing obstacles for deported veterans • Mexican lawyer in peril finds haven at Berkeley • New law library director turns the page • “Voices Carry” podcast amplifies excellence • Examining repair through reparations • Preserving treasured legal history
Forefront
Leadership in Research, Service & Education
No coach, no problem for moot court champs • 3L blends scholarship with family defense work • Setting another school public service record • LL.M. students increase pro bono engagement • Confronting challenges for Latina law faculty • Animal rights — more than a pet project
Fast Forward
Powerful Student Action Figures
Study Hall
Faculty Honors & Scholarship
Advancement
Updates from Development & Alumni Relations
Class Notes
All in the Alumni Family
Table of Contents
Features
A multipronged initiative aims to help students become strong leaders in all sectors and all levels of legal work.
The Power in Community
Enduring images from orientation, a rousing basketball and public interest triumph, star students, and more.
Around the World and Also at Home
The impactful and newly renamed Human Rights Clinic expands its domestic agenda.
Column
Erwin Chemerinsky calls for the school to help uphold the rule of law and use it to improve people’s lives.
Sections
Nuggets from the School Community
Smaller class sizes improve 1L experience • Guidance for ESG efforts • Constitution on the brink? • Building an alternative career pipeline • Pro bono prowess • Pushing for more representative juries • Revealing obstacles for deported veterans • Mexican lawyer in peril finds haven at Berkeley • New law library director turns the page • “Voices Carry” podcast amplifies excellence • Examining repair through reparations • Preserving treasured legal history
Forefront
Leadership in Research, Service, & Education
No coach, no problem for moot court champs • 3L blends scholarship with family defense work • Setting another school public service record • LL.M. students increase pro bono engagement • Confronting challenges for Latina law faculty • Animal rights — more than a pet project
Fast Forward
Powerful Student Action Figures
Study Hall
Faculty Honors & Scholarship
Advancement
Updates from Development & Alumni Relations
Class Notes
All in the Alumni Family
From the Dean
Bringing Leadership to Life
One of the joys of being on an academic calendar is that each year offers the welcome sense of renewal and a new beginning. I am tremendously excited as we start this school year about some of the new things that are happening at Berkeley Law.
For example, after decades of dividing the first-year class into three “supermods,” starting this year we will have four. As a result, every class for our 1L students will be smaller in size (see “Smaller Class Sizes Improve 1L Experience”). Making this happen took an enormous amount of work from many faculty and staff, and I am extremely grateful to them as I think it will greatly enhance the first-year education for all of our incoming students.
I am also very excited about a new leadership training program that we have created under the direction of Adam Sterling ’13, which is featured in this issue of Transcript (see “Painting a New Picture of Leadership”). I long have believed that law schools need to do a better job of training the next generation of leaders. This new initiative will help Berkeley Law students develop the skills to be leaders in every area of law and provide a model for other law schools as well.
In Brief
Smaller Class Sizes Improve 1L Experience
First-year students had been split into three modules, or “supermods,” with their required fall courses: Civil Procedure, Criminal Law, Contracts, and Torts. Students also have one small mod course to encourage connections between one another and a faculty member.
Smaller Class Sizes Improve 1L Experience
First-year students had been split into three modules, or “supermods,” with their required fall courses: Civil Procedure, Criminal Law, Contracts, and Torts. Students also have one small mod course to encourage connections between one another and a faculty member.
Revealing Obstacles for Deported Veterans
Ten current and recent students, many veterans themselves, researched and co-drafted a report detailing myriad barriers these former service members face to medical care and disability benefits from the federal Department of Veterans Affairs (VA).
Out of the Darkness
Turning the Page
She was hooked. Her passion only grew in law school, where she excelled at anything involving research.
Examining Repair Through Reparations
Preserving Treasured Legal History
No Coach,
No Problem
Student-led team wins annual Hispanic National Bar Association moot court event
Adriana Hardwicke ’24 and classmate Maripau Paz decided to team up after Hardwicke learned about the annual contest. Hardwicke had competed on Berkeley’s Moot Court Team, Paz had chosen the Trial Team route, and they joined forces with Harvard Law exchange student José Rodriguez to make history.
Because the group wasn’t working through the school’s Advocacy Competitions Program, they had to raise money for the entry fee and travel costs. The Student Association at Berkeley Law and the La Alianza Law Students Association helped sponsor them, and Dean Erwin Chemerinsky topped off the funding.
Family Plan
3L Addie Gilson blends scholarship with hands-on advocacy
It was an eye-opening experience, she says — particularly seeing the experience of the parents.
“In my first week, I witnessed Child Protective Services remove a newborn child from her mother,” Gilson says. “Before that day, I had only ever thought of the child welfare system in terms of the injustices inflicted on children by their parents, not those imposed on families by the state.
Seven Up
Berkeley Law lands most selections for California Attorney General Honors Program
IN THE CLUB: Participant Annabelle Wilmott ’22 says she’s excited for the program’s deep level of training and mentorship.
The selections include 2024 graduates David Beglin, Truman Braslaw, Becky Hunter, Sierra Killian, and Amaya Ramsay-Malone, as well as Brandy Doyle ’22 and classmate Annabelle Wilmott. The highly competitive program enables recent law school graduates and newly admitted lawyers who are committed to a career in public service to work with experts on vital issues in criminal justice, consumer protection, environmental preservation, and more.
“Berkeley Law’s public interest counselors played a critical role by helping me prepare my personal statement, answering questions about the application, conducting mock interviews, and providing needed guidance and reassurance,” Braslaw says. Lecturer Ted Mermin ’96 also “encouraged me to seek public sector work and took time out of his busy schedule to meet with me individually about the Honors Program.”
Supporting policies and initiatives that are administered by state agencies, the recipients will work in the Attorney General’s Office in either San Francisco or Sacramento — drafting legal pleadings, getting courtroom experience, and receiving hands-on training, career development programming, and mentorship.
International Impact
LL.M. students’ pro bono participation grows, paying major dividends
More and more, they’re gravitating toward the Pro Bono Program, Director Deborah Schlosberg says: 80 LL.M. students graduated in May with Pro Bono Honors for completing at least 25 hours of service work. There’s been particular growth in their participation with the 40 Student-Initiated Legal Services Projects and the Berkeley Law Alternative Service Trips, which happen over spring break in locations across the country.
“We’re thrilled with the expansion of LL.M. student engagement in the Pro Bono Program,” Schlosberg says. “Our commitment to access to justice extends beyond the local community. When our international students adopt our mission and take it forward, both within the United States and in their home countries, we’re able to carry forward our public interest mission on a global stage.”
An Uphill Climb
Berkeley Law’s national workshop confronts challenges for Latina law professors
COMMON GROUND: Temple University’s Evelyn Rangel-Medina ’14 (center) and Rachel López (right) enjoy a light moment with Seattle University’s Nazune Menka. Photo by Brittany Hosea-Small
“That’s problematic — we’re always an outlier because of these demographics of the faculty population. You deal with struggles not being normative in your own institution,” Moran said.
Dozens of Latina law professors from across the country gathered for the two-day event to discuss such challenges and brainstorm strategies for collective and professional development, with leaders of Berkeley Law’s Clinical Program helping to coordinate and lead conference panels.
More Than a Pet Project
Animal Legal Defense Fund students push for lasting change
“It breaks my heart to contemplate the vastness of animal suffering,” he says. “I see animal rights as the moral blindspot of our generation.”
Uppal, Abraham Brauner ’24, and current group leader Krishna Desai ’25 worked vigilantly to broaden awareness of ALDF’s robust programming and Plant-Based Berkeley Law campaign, and how animal rights issues connect with other social justice concerns.
Painting a
New Picture of
Leadership
Graphics and Textures by Jordi Ferrándiz
Graphics and Textures by Jordi Ferrándiz
Painting a
New Picture of
Leadership
he phrase “Leaders in the Law” evokes some well-grooved images. A gray-haired managing partner in his tailored suit, arms crossed. A star litigator holding court before a rapt jury. A glib sports agent smiling at the press conference for a client’s lucrative NFL contract.
But in crafting its ambitious new leadership program, Berkeley Law wants to paint a much different picture — one that recognizes how leadership skills permeate all sectors and all levels of legal work. Third-year law firm attorneys frequently oversee a first-year associate, paralegal, and secretary on cases. Young nonprofit lawyers are often asked to enlist support from outside organizations. Judicial clerks regularly take the reins on drafting opinions.
“We designed this program to ensure that our students aren’t just effective lawyers, but effective leaders,” says Adam Sterling ’13, the school’s assistant dean for executive education. “Berkeley Law graduates should be capable of guiding teams, making strategic decisions, and driving organizational growth. Moreover, they must be able to tackle societal issues with innovative solutions.”
Photo Essay
‘A Thread of Advocacy Around the World’
After a quarter century of pathbreaking international work, the Human Rights Clinic expands its domestic agenda.
By Gwyneth K. Shaw
hen Berkeley Law hired Professor Laurel Fletcher for its inaugural in-house clinic, the phrase “human rights” in the United States conjured images of abuses on foreign soil, from brutal regimes in Central and South America to ethnic and religious discrimination in far-flung corners of the globe.
“The original conception of human rights work popularized by Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch focused on the foreign policy of the U.S. and other powerful Western states,” Fletcher says. “International advocates put a big emphasis on strengthening international norms and institutions as a way to enforce universal rights.”
New Terrain Brings More Opportunities
“I wanted exposure to a wider array of classes, peers, and professors,” says Stukenberg, who transferred to Berkeley as a 2L. “Anything is possible at Berkeley Law. The most difficult part of coming here is picking which opportunities to lean into.”
A business intelligence and data science manager at Zillow before law school, Stukenberg also volunteered at immigration nonprofits. Last year, she savored taking First Amendment, Local Government Law, Consumer Financial Regulations, Work Law, and Criminal Trial Practice — where the final exam is conducting a full trial.
New Terrain Brings More Opportunities
“I wanted exposure to a wider array of classes, peers, and professors,” says Stukenberg, who transferred to Berkeley as a 2L. “Anything is possible at Berkeley Law. The most difficult part of coming here is picking which opportunities to lean into.”
A business intelligence and data science manager at Zillow before law school, Stukenberg also volunteered at immigration nonprofits. Last year, she savored taking First Amendment, Local Government Law, Consumer Financial Regulations, Work Law, and Criminal Trial Practice — where the final exam is conducting a full trial.
Cutting to the Chase
At age 12, he was too young to have an official job. But Tony, the shop’s owner, would give him $20 to sweep hair and clean windows on the weekends.
“The ‘Who’s greater: Kobe or LeBron?’ arguments and the older barbers’ magnificent stories were a chorus over the dull hum of their clippers,” Williams recalls. “I absorbed their wisdom, experience, and confidence so much that from a young age I sounded persuasive … Just that bit of exposure over a couple of summers set me on this path.”
Cutting to the Chase
At age 12, he was too young to have an official job. But Tony, the shop’s owner, would give him $20 to sweep hair and clean windows on the weekends.
“The ‘Who’s greater: Kobe or LeBron?’ arguments and the older barbers’ magnificent stories were a chorus over the dull hum of their clippers,” Williams recalls. “I absorbed their wisdom, experience, and confidence so much that from a young age I sounded persuasive … Just that bit of exposure over a couple of summers set me on this path.”
Leaning Into a Bright Horizon
As a 1L, Frank got involved with the school’s Native American Law Students Association (NALSA) chapter and the student-led Native American Legal Assistance Project. A Ho-Chunk Nation citizen, she spent her spring break in Alaska on a Berkeley Law Alternative Service Trip working with the First Alaskans Institute, an Alaska Native advocacy organization.
At the same time, she’s helped grow the school’s resources for Indigenous students and scholars, through events organized by NALSA and the new Center for Indigenous Law and Justice and attending interviews with prospective faculty members.
Leaning Into a Bright Horizon
As a 1L, Frank got involved with the school’s Native American Law Students Association (NALSA) chapter and the student-led Native American Legal Assistance Project. A Ho-Chunk Nation citizen, she spent her spring break in Alaska on a Berkeley Law Alternative Service Trip working with the First Alaskans Institute, an Alaska Native advocacy organization.
At the same time, she’s helped grow the school’s resources for Indigenous students and scholars, through events organized by NALSA and the new Center for Indigenous Law and Justice and attending interviews with prospective faculty members.
Study Hall
Teaching Spotlight:
Prized Faculty Duo Honored for Classroom Prowess
The latter recognizes a small group of faculty — five this year — from across the university for “sustained excellence in teaching.” Professors must be nominated for the award, submit some course materials, and are observed by multiple former winners. Holmquist is the 18th law school professor to be recognized and fourth to receive a campus-wide award in the last five years.
New Fellowship Launches Criminal Justice Careers for Recent Grads
Mentoring Maven Gives Back
Honored Quartet Sings Praise for Their Alma Mater
Mentoring Maven Gives Back
Honored Quartet Sings Praise for Their Alma Mater
Class Notes
1959
1994
1995
2011
Parting Shot
True Colors
Fall 2024, Volume 63
Cover Illustration by
(Based from a photo by
Alex A.G. Shapiro
Managing Editor & Senior Writer, Communications
Andrew Cohen
Creative Direction
Laurie Frasier
Original Design & Layout
Arnaud Ghelfi, l’atelier starno
Gwyneth K. Shaw
Sarah Weld
Contributing Artist
Jordi Ferrándiz
Contributing Photographers
Jim Block
Brittany Hosea-Small
Tylor Norwood
Philip Pacheco
Darius Riley
Email: updates@law.berkeley.edu
Phone: 510.642.1832
U.S. Mail: University of California, Berkeley, School of Law
Development & Alumni Relations
224 Law Building
Berkeley, CA 94720-7200
Visit law.berkeley.edu
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Facebook: UCBerkeleyLaw
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Transcript is published by the University of California, Berkeley, School of Law Communications Department.
