From the Dean

A portrait photographic headshot of Dean Erwin Chemerinsky smiling
Photo by Jim Block
“Now, more than ever, it is important that Berkeley Law be a force for upholding the rule of law and for using law to make people’s lives better.”

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.

Part of what makes Berkeley Law distinctive is our public mission — our commitment to using law to make our society and our world better, and training students to do the same throughout their careers. This permeates everything we do.

A critical aspect of this is the far-reaching efforts of our many centers and clinics. This Transcript issue describes the pivotal work of one of our terrific clinics: the Human Rights Clinic, formerly the International Human Rights Law Clinic. For more than a quarter century, this clinic has truly made a huge difference across the globe and in the lives of hundreds of students.

It is a difficult time in the United States and across the world. Now, more than ever, it is important that Berkeley Law be a force for upholding the rule of law and for using law to make people’s lives better. I know that this is the commitment of our faculty, staff, and students. It is what makes me so proud to be the dean of Berkeley Law.

As always, I hope you enjoy this Transcript issue and its description of some of the amazing things that our remarkable alumni, faculty, staff, and students are achieving across the legal landscape.

Erwin Chemerinsky Signature
Erwin Chemerinsky
Dean, Jesse H. Choper Distinguished Professor of Law