Advancement
New Fellowship Launches Criminal Justice Careers for Recent Grads
The inaugural fellows — Class of 2024 members Emily Hunt, Alyssa Meurer, Sandhya Nadadur, and Chloe Pan — began work this fall with a sponsoring organization. They’ll also write mid-year and year-end fellowship reports, attend a conference, and receive $49,500 for a year of work, $5,500 for bar exam‐related costs, and $5,500 to help defray health care costs.
“The Larsen Fellowship reflects the critical need for criminal justice reform — which is recognized all along the political spectrum — and the challenge new graduates often have in breaking into the public interest job market,” says Professor Andrea Roth, the Barry Tarlow Chair in Criminal Justice. “This is an exciting addition to the center’s offerings and to Berkeley Law’s criminal law program more broadly.”
Larsen co-founded Ripple, which provides enterprise blockchain and crypto solutions.
“Public safety and criminal justice reform work hand in hand — they’re really two sides of the same coin,” he says. “It’s super important that we make sure we get the best and the brightest into public service work.”
Each recipient has demonstrated deep commitment to criminal justice issues and the communities they affect.
Hunt, who did more than 250 hours of pro bono work while at Berkeley Law, will be a California Racial Justice Act attorney at the Solano County Public Defender’s Office. Passed in 2020, the law prohibits bias that is based on race, ethnicity, or national origin in charges, convictions, and sentences — but it is underutilized due to lack of public defender resources.
“I’m excited to work with data and statisticians to demonstrate what racial disparities exist and bring those claims on behalf of criminal defendants,” Hunt says.
“I’m hoping to create a resource hub for incarcerated individuals who have legal questions,” and for prisoners’ rights attorneys across Illinois “to help them understand some of the procedural barriers to filing a lawsuit and how they can win relief in the courts,” Meurer says.
Nadadur will help Dolores Street Community Services in San Francisco serve survivors of trafficking and intimate partner violence who are facing deportation because of crimes they committed as a result of their traumatic experiences. She has worked at the California Immigrant Policy Center and clerked with the Federal Public Defender in California’s Central District.
“My particular project will utilize newly operative language from two California statutes to expand the types of post-conviction relief they can offer,” she says.
Pan joins the District of Columbia Office of the Solicitor General, focusing mainly on its multistate litigation and amicus practice and writing federal appellate briefs advocating for gun regulations that uphold public safety.
“Seeing so many of my loved ones struggle to access the most basic government services … made me realize I wanted to be the advocate I wish my community had,” says Pan, who was editor in chief of the California Law Review and won Berkeley Law’s McBaine Honors Moot Court Competition. “That’s why I’m especially grateful for this fellowship opportunity, which will let me work on a wide range of issues to do just that.”
Mentoring Maven Gives Back
She thrived, and law school paved the way for a distinguished career: first as a litigator in San Francisco, then Silicon Valley, followed by two decades as a Santa Clara County Superior Court judge until her retirement from the bench last year. She recently joined the JAMS dispute resolution firm.
Lucas wanted to give back to the school that meant so much to her, but living in San Jose made it difficult to get to Berkeley more than occasionally. So she signed up for the Alumni Guide program, launched by the Development & Alumni Relations Office in 2020 to keep students and alums connected during the pandemic. It proved so successful that it’s become a permanent fixture.
The program matches alums with incoming students over the summer before their 1L year, then asks them to touch base again six weeks into the fall semester and do a final check-in at the start of spring semester. Lucas has been a particularly stellar and extremely involved mentor, says Director of Alumni Engagement Erin Dineen, who runs the program.
Not only has Lucas stayed in touch with her four mentees after their 1L year, she’s also fostered relationships between Jenny Chen ’25, Gabby Cirelli ’24, Claire Davidson ’26, and Lucia Lopez-Rosas ’25.
“With dinners, coffees, and museum visits, Judge Lucas takes the time to get to know me and my goals and tailors her perspective to my needs,” Davidson says. “I know that throughout my time at Berkeley Law and beyond, I can and will continue to learn from Judge Lucas. She’s the best, and I’m so grateful Berkeley Law connected us.”
Being an Alumni Guide has been hugely rewarding, Lucas says, particularly as she’s built the bonds between students at different stages in their law school careers.
“When this opportunity came up, it appealed to me because it was something I could do long-distance and also because it was so direct and one-on-one with students,” she explains. “Then I got assigned to fabulous people — and once we were connected, it just took off.”
She recommends the program to any alum looking to get involved.
“It’s a joy, because they’re really wonderful folks, very engaged, very bright, and very appreciative,” she says. “This is just the best deal, because it’s a modest commitment and there’s a great return.”
Honored Quartet Sings Praise for Their Alma Mater
“The larger Berkeley community continues to grow and be a source of support for me, all of us here, and future generations,” said King, a Skadden partner and former global co-head of the firm’s corporate transactions practice.
Rated among the last decade’s top 10 lawyers by The Daily Journal, he appears regularly on best attorney lists while maintaining an active pro bono practice. A Berkeley Center for Law and Business board member since 2006, King is also serving his second stint on the Berkeley Law Alumni Association board of directors.
As a first-generation college student at UC Berkeley, Ma found “so many ways to get engaged in the communities I cared about.” She brought that ethos to Berkeley Law, and then to improving California’s health care policy in various roles — now as associate vice president for health policy and regulatory affairs at University of California Health — America’s largest public academic health care system.
An active volunteer and mentor in several organizations, Ma is also on the alumni association board. Working to start an alumni regional chapter in Sacramento, she pointed to some Sacramento-area grads and said, “Yes, you just got voluntold” to help with this effort.
A Berkeley Law professor for 34 years and an expert on tax law as well as estates and trusts issues, Rakowski once directed the school’s Kadish Center for Morality, Law & Public Affairs. Berkeley Law’s 2010 Rutter Award for Teaching Distinction winner, he was elected to the prestigious American Law Institute and is the editor of Estate Planning & California Probate Reporter.
“What strikes me is how astonishing our students have been from the time I came here,” he said. “They’re intelligent, challenging, inquisitive, and ambitious … This is also an almost uniquely collaborative faculty. My colleagues are inventive, good- humored, and supportive rather than competitive, so it’s been a joy for me.”
Brick recalled the impact of learning First Amendment law from Professors Robert Cole and Jesse Choper. Howard Rice’s first female partner, she eventually left to spend the next 19 years as an ACLU of Northern California staff attorney and produced leading legal work on many civil liberties cases — including Flores v. Morgan Hill Unified School District, which requires schools that learn LGBT students are being harassed to take meaningful steps to protect them.
Another past alumni association board member, Brick urged the crowd to use their law degrees for good.
“You can do public interest law and still be at a private law firm,” she said. “The enormous generosity of lawyers in private practice here in the Bay Area, they’re the ones who make it possible for public interest organizations to do so much of the work they do.”
Planning a Lasting Legacy
Gottlieb also credits the imprimatur of his degree for opening the doors to his stellar career: After starting at Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher in Los Angeles, he did stints at Wyle Laboratories and the medical device manufacturer MiniMed before opening his own mediation firm 20 years ago.
“There’s no question that it was because I had the Berkeley Law pedigree and carried that with me to other places that gave me other pedigrees,” he says. “Berkeley Law speaks very loudly.”
As a prolific fundraiser in Southern California, particularly for Jewish organizations, Gottlieb was familiar with the idea of estate gifts. When he began thinking seriously about his own philanthropic legacy, Berkeley Law was an obvious choice.
Gottlieb’s substantial gift will be directed to scholarships, which was important to him as a beneficiary of his era’s more affordable tuition.
“I basically started at ground zero when I graduated, but I didn’t have any debt,” he says. “I know it’s not like that now.”
Like Gottlieb, Linda Slider ’85 is supporting financial aid, making a substantial bequest to the Berkeley Law Opportunity Scholarship — a three-year, full tuition scholarship for selected first-generation college graduates.
“My own studies at Berkeley Law would have been financially impossible if Berkeley hadn’t waived my tuition fees and costs,” Slider says. “Even back in the comparatively low-cost educational world of the 1980s, scholarships and fee waivers were critical.
“It’s a privilege to be able to repay the generosity shown to me when I was a young, poor student by helping to keep Berkeley affordable for the next generation.”
Gottlieb encourages other alums to give back to the school that gave them so much.
“There’s a saying that the best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago and the second best time is today,” he says. “I’m planting my tree.”
Gifts of Distinction
Greenberg, who died in 2016, was a legal giant in Stockton, helped launch the city’s Legal Aid office, and served as San Joaquin County Bar Association president.
While a law student, the bombing of Pearl Harbor prompted him to report for active duty the very next day. He returned to Berkeley Law after serving as a naval officer in the Pacific and started a Stockton firm that is now run by his son and grandson.
Joan “Dollie” Lavine ’69, who practiced law in Los Angeles and died in 2020, made a $5 million bequest in part to honor her father, 1919 Berkeley Law grad Morris Lavine. After serving in World War I and working as a newspaper reporter and screenwriter, he became a prominent defense attorney.
Lavine’s clients included Bugsy Siegel associate Mickey Cohen and Tomoya Kawakita, a California native convicted of treason in the United States after serving as an interpreter for American prisoners of war in Japan. He also made 18 arguments before the U.S. Supreme Court and represented the petitioners in the seminal 1967 Chapman v. California case.
Rising to the Challenge
A partner and transactional attorney who focuses on real estate investment, development, and finance, Rifenbark has been a captain since 2021.
“I was interested in taking on the role after many years of participating in the Alumni Workplace Challenge and being involved in the on-campus interviewing program and the New Students/Alumni Guide Program,” she says. “I enjoy being able to give back to a school that has provided me with so many personal and career opportunities.”
While Rifenbark’s engagement helps her bridge the distance between Los Angeles and Berkeley, Purvis lives near the school and still spends time on campus. Senior counsel in the firm’s San Francisco office and specializing in land use and environmental law and litigation, he was a first-time captain this year.
“I was happy to transition into the role and participate,” Purvis says. “I’ve enjoyed being able to coordinate with other Berkeley Law alums and to help give back to a school that continues to play a large role in my personal and professional life. The Berkeley Law alums at our firm are a great group of people.”
Other firms that achieved 100% giving were Shute, Mihaly & Weinberger (19 alums) led by co-captains Caitlin Brown ‘17 and Osa Wolf ‘97; Walkup, Melodia, Kelly & Schoenberger (three alums) led by captain Spencer Pahlke ’07; and Lane Powell (three alums) led by captain Lisa Poplawski ’11.
Formerly called Partners in Leadership, the friendly fundraising competition running from May 1 through June 30 had 79 alums serving as captains at 65 participating workplaces this year. Guided by Steering Committee Co-Chairs David Zaplosky ’88 (Amazon.com, Inc.), Michael Charlson ’85 (Vinson & Elkins), Anna Remis ’07 (Sidley Austin), Theresa Lee ’03 (Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman), and Kurt Kurzenhauser ’19 (Skadden), the campaign had 34% overall giving and raised nearly $900,000.
Rifenbark and Purvis communicated regularly and divided up responsibilities for outreach and follow-up in pursuit of their 100% giving goal. Working with the school’s Development & Alumni Relations team, they provided updates about Berkeley Law’s achievements, challenges, events, and ways to participate at the school.
“It definitely helps us all feel more connected to Berkeley Law,” Rifenbark says. “And it’s encouraging to work with a great community of people who are dedicated to helping support the school.”
