Assistant Dean Adam Sterling during a lecture
GUIDING THE WAY: Assistant Dean Adam Sterling ’13, here teaching his first Leadership Laboratory class of the fall semester, spearheads Berkeley Law’s unique leadership program. Photo by Laurie Frasier

Graphics and Textures by Jordi Ferrándiz

Painting a
New Picture of
Leadership

Berkeley Law’s multipronged initiative is designed to help students become effective leaders in all sectors — and all levels — of their future work.
By Andrew Cohen
T

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.”

Sterling worked closely with Berkeley Law senior administrators and outside practitioners to develop the initiative’s core components. They include a leadership academy with an inaugural cohort of 11 students selected from the incoming 1L class (see “First Class”), a leadership certificate available to all students, a growing slate of relevant courses, and a new Certificate of Specialization in AI Law and Regulation for LL.M. students.

Establishing a leadership program has long been a priority for Dean Erwin Chemerinsky, who asked Sterling to oversee its launch in September 2023. The head of Berkeley Law’s prolific executive education program and former executive director of the school’s Berkeley Center for Law and Business, Sterling is steering toward two objectives.

The first, he explains, is to empower students and alumni who are interested in leadership opportunities that go beyond traditional legal roles. The second is to provide all students with the leadership training needed to become successful attorneys — regardless of where they start or finish their careers.

“This program will support our existing leadership offerings, including work from our research centers, clinics, practicums, executive education, field placements, Pro Bono Program, journals, and student groups,” Chemerinsky said. “I’m very excited about it and how it will enhance the learning experience for our students.

“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 become effective leaders in every area of law, and it will provide a model for other law schools as well.”

Curriculum push

Berkeley Law has added two new courses on leadership this year. During the fall semester, Sterling is teaching Leadership Laboratory — designed similarly to a business school entrepreneurship course.

Students identify public or private sector challenges with a nexus to the law, interview key stakeholders connected to the given challenge, and work in teams to develop real-world solutions. Each class includes a mix of lectures and exercises related to leadership as well as opportunities to work on group projects.

In the spring semester, lecturer Rebecca Portnoy will teach Leading People. A required course at Berkeley’s Haas School of Business, it leverages behavioral and social science to provide a framework for leadership and management. Portnoy currently teaches the Haas course and will adapt it for law students.

Also in the spring semester, The Business of the Legal Profession will be taught by Orrick Chair and CEO Mitch Zuklie ’96 and former HP Chief Legal Officer Harvey Anderson. The course will illuminate the fundamentals, disruptors, tools, and attributes needed to become a high-impact professional.

“With more than 60 years of combined experience, Mitch and I want to augment traditional ‘legal’ learning with some of the skills common among the most successful practitioners that derive from behavioral rather than legal mechanics,” Anderson says. “In short, ‘how to not think like a lawyer.’”

By expanding course offerings focused on various aspects of leadership needed across the legal profession, Berkeley Law seeks to cultivate skills that give graduates a beneficial advantage early in their wide-ranging professions.

“Our alums so often end up in leadership positions because they have the skills and the determination to seek out those roles, and people around them recognize those attributes,” says Professor Jonathan D. Glater, the associate dean of J.D. curriculum and teaching. “With this program explicitly focused on preparing students for such opportunities in and adjacent to law, they will be even better prepared to seize them.”

Professor Colleen V. Chien giving a lecture; Dean Erwin Chemerinsky talking to students seated in front of him
LEADING LIGHTS: (Top) Professor Colleen V. Chien ’02 is teaching Law and Governance of Artificial Intelligence, a required course for the new LL.M. Certificate of Specialization in AI Law and Regulation. Photo by Brittany Hosea-Small. (Bottom) Dean Erwin Chemerinsky foresees the new leadership initiative giving students a vital leg up early in their careers. Photo by Darius Riley

Leadership academy

The new academy is designed for students interested in pursuing an array of leadership roles, from government officials and judges to nonprofit executives and startup founders. Going forward, prospective students will be able to apply for a spot as part of their Berkeley Law application.

With around 10 first-year students each year, chosen in collaboration with the admissions department, the academy will provide scholarship support, special programming, coaching, and mentorship. Last June, the inaugural cohort had a memorable kickoff Zoom meeting with Sterling and Texas Congressman Colin Allred — a 2014 Berkeley Law graduate and former NFL player now running for the U.S. Senate.

Allred described how pivotal Berkeley Law was in his career arc, the importance of meaningful relationships he built there, and how leadership skills are vital throughout all aspects of one’s professional path.

Reflecting the wide-ranging interests of the school’s overall student body, the first academy cohort includes an accomplished documentary filmmaker, a counter-disinformation startup researcher, a nonprofit program manager who helped build micro-libraries in prisons across the U.S., and the founder of a mentorship program for young women in technology.

Many cohort members cite Berkeley Law’s leadership within legal education and across the legal marketplace as a major draw for applying and enrolling.

“I chose Berkeley Law because I want my perspective as a future legal professional to be shaped by a forward-thinking and innovative academic environment,” says Lauren Weiss. “I’m thrilled to pursue opportunities that complement my entrepreneurial background and studies, and I’m excited to join a community of like-minded peers equally passionate about leveraging technology and innovation to address complex legal challenges.”

Academy members also point to the school’s public mission and concerted effort to develop leaders from all backgrounds — across all areas of legal work — as incentives to choose Berkeley Law.

“I found the culture of collaboration and commitment to public service deeply compatible with what I want from a law education,” says Peter Clune. “It’s an elite institution with a gravity of opportunity and access that doesn’t always pair with that sort of culture.”

From the Fields to the Federal Bench

The daughter of Mexican immigrant farm workers, Ana de Alba ’07 spent summers toiling in the fields with her parents as early as age 6 — often lacking access to clean water and regularly seeing supervisors harass her mother. When she helped her mother clean houses, she recalls the owners at times following them from room to room, worried they might steal something.

After earning scholarships to UC Berkeley and then Berkeley Law, de Alba returned to California’s Central Valley. She represented low-wage and immigrant workers, persuaded her firm to expand its pro bono work, and became the first Latina partner in its 63-year history.

Named a Fresno County Superior Court judge in 2018, de Alba reached the federal bench in 2022 as the Eastern District of California’s first Latina judge. Last year, she joined the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.

At a professional lunch event early in her career, uncertain of the table setting protocol, de Alba took another person’s bread and felt humiliated by her mistake and the woman’s curt reaction. A decade later, she returned to the same event — as its keynote speaker.

Here, de Alba shares her views on leadership in the law:

Judge de Alba with the family of a new lawyer she swore in
CELEBRATION: Judge Ana de Alba ’07 (left) rejoices with the family of a new lawyer (third from left) that she just swore in. Photo by Phliip Pacheco
Looking back at my career’s trajectory, leaders I admire have shared two main attributes: confidence and accessibility. They know how to do their job and are patient enough to teach others, humble enough to attribute success to the team, and confident enough to recognize when it’s time for someone else to lead.

Not surprisingly, they also share access — to information, to spaces not always available to everyone, to educational opportunities, and to themselves and others as mentors.

Stepping into a leadership role happens quite early in the practice of law. Whether you work in private practice, for the government, or in the public interest, you’re often tasked with supervising paralegals, secretaries, community outreach coordinators, or more junior associates. They all look to you for guidance, and the way you interact with them will directly impact their futures.

As a young lawyer, I gained faith in my skills and instincts from senior partners who gave me constructive feedback, supported my ideas, and engaged in open dialogue. They also helped me understand a new world and navigate its, at times, treacherous waters.

My parents didn’t go past elementary school. Their employment was field and cannery work, along with some house-cleaning gigs. Luckily, my firm had senior partners who saw my “ganas” (desire) to succeed and opened space for me to grow. I had a child, became an equity shareholder, and started a pro bono and plaintiff-side employment practice.

When I left to become a judge, I wanted to pay it forward.

As a judge on the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, the impact a federal clerkship can have on a young attorney’s career isn’t lost on me. And as a first-generation professional Latina with poor immigrant parents, I know how hard it can be to succeed in these spaces. So my approach to hiring law clerks is a bit unconventional as I don’t limit my pool to top law schools or students who graduated atop their law school class.

500-square-foot house with no insulation in Merced County
HUMBLE ROOTS: Judge de Alba grew up in a 500-square-foot house with no insulation in Merced County with her parents and three brothers. She slept in a sleeping bag on the floor. Photo courtesy of Ana de Alba
handwritten thank you letter from a student to a judge
KEEPSAKE: One of many thank-you notes the judge gets from students after school field trips. Photo courtesy of Ana de Alba
Judge de Alba in her Fresno chambers with a diverse roster of clerks
INVESTED: Judge de Alba meets often in her Fresno chambers with a diverse roster of clerks and other staff that she works closely with and regularly mentors. Photo by Phliip Pacheco
That’s not to say grades and rank don’t matter, but I look at the applicant as a whole. Are they the first in their families to attend graduate school? Did they have to work during law school to make ends meet or help support their families? Is English their second language? Were their law school choices limited because of circumstances beyond their control?

Once they’re hired, I keep an open-door policy and expect the clerks to interact with everyone in chambers daily. This builds confidence in their abilities, improves their communication skills, and fosters a good working environment.

They also help me host local school field trips to the courthouse. Being in California’s Central Valley lets me connect with people who may not otherwise interact with the legal system — and may not think about it as a possible career.

Most of the kids and I share similar traits, and I enjoy telling my story, showing a photo of my childhood house, and reminding them that where they start in life doesn’t need to dictate where they end up. I get wonderful feedback from the schools, and many now make it an annual field trip.

By creating these kinds of opportunities for clerks and rural children, I hope to help pave the way for an entirely new generation of attorneys who will bring a different perspective to the practice of law.

Timely AI certificate

Berkeley Law’s innovative new LL.M. Certificate of Specialization in AI Law and Regulation will be available to students in the LL.M. executive track, which is offered over two summers or through remote study combined with one summer on campus. The curriculum for the new certificate was designed in consultation with an advisory group of industry leaders, including Meta Director and Associate General Counsel Nikki Vo, ACLU Technology Civil Liberties Director Nicole Ozer ’03, California State Senate AI Advisor Irene Liu ’06, and Anthropic General Counsel Brian Israel ’09.

Those looking to pivot their career focus to artificial intelligence, or enhance their existing practice, will be able to learn from an industry-endorsed AI foundation focused on building core skills and knowledge in areas including data privacy, intellectual property (IP), licensing, and risk.

Regularly hailed for having the nation’s top IP program, Berkeley Law’s proximity to Silicon Valley helped fuel the new certificate offering as it helps bring in practitioners who are grappling in real time with legal issues introduced by AI and other emerging technologies.

“This is the first-ever law degree with a focus in artificial intelligence,” Sterling says. “Students will learn from faculty, practitioner-lecturers, and guest speakers on key topics such as AI ethics, the history and technology of AI, its public interest implications, and the worldwide efforts to regulate it, such as the 2024 EU AI Act.”

The certificate course list features Law and Governance of Artificial Intelligence, taught by Professor Colleen V. Chien ‘02 — one of the 20 most cited IP and cyberlaw scholars in the United States. One focus of her new class will be how AI is transforming the practice of law, and the opportunities AI and automation technologies offer to ameliorate or exacerbate existing inequalities in the practice of law, including the access to justice gap.

“All around us, we see how AI is being used to make crucial decisions in virtually every aspect of our lives,” Chien says. “We use it to determine who gets bail, who gets hired, who gets what medical treatments, and the list goes on. It’s important that our students become fluent with AI technologies not only to learn how law and policy are being developed around them, but also how they’re being applied, regulated, and governed to help mitigate AI’s harms and maximize its benefits.”

Other anticipated courses for the certificate include AI Ethics, AI Licensing, Pro-Innovation Risk Analysis for Lawyers, AI for the People, and Global Regulation of AI.

“This program will equip participants with in-depth knowledge of the ethical, regulatory, and policy challenges posed by AI,” Sterling says. “It will focus on building practice skills to help them strategically advise and capably represent leading law firms and AI companies.”

New initiatives

The faculty will consider a proposal for a new leadership certificate that will be available to all students, allowing
them to receive recognition for successful completion of a rigorous course of study and extracurricular activities around leadership.

In order to earn the certificate, students must take either Leadership Laboratory or Leading People and complete two other elective courses related to leadership or participate in a clinic, practicum, or field placement, and submit a memo summarizing their leadership journey.

Having developed several leadership-focused courses for practitioners through its executive education program, Berkeley Law is eager to ramp up its pragmatic offerings for students. While legal acumen is vital for professional growth, it’s not the only piece of the puzzle.

“Developing strong managerial and interpersonal skills is an important part of succeeding in the practice of law, and not just later in one’s career,” Chemerinsky says.

To propel its new initiative, Berkeley Law aims to raise $1 million over five years for a student leadership support fund that spurs curriculum development and programming. The funding will also support scholarships for students who express interest in and demonstrate capacity for transformational leadership.

“Over the past century, many of the most important and impactful political, social, and business leaders have been lawyers, and that continues today in government, foreign affairs, philanthropy, corporations, and law firms,” says American Airlines Chief Strategy Officer Stephen Johnson ‘83, who donated to the campaign. “However, that has mostly been fortuitous with brilliant lawyers stepping into the breach and deftly addressing society’s most challenging problems.

“Adam’s initiative seeks to make that process considerably more deliberate by selecting young lawyers who want to serve society, helping them recognize, foster, and develop their leadership acumen skills, and jump-starting their careers as our next generation’s lawyer leaders.”

members of Berkeley Law’s new leadership academy
NEW ARRIVALS: (Left to right) Front row: Peter Clune, Sky Karp. Middle row: Rachel Rood-Ojalvo, Sophie Kupetz, Rena Kaur McRoy, Claire Elliman, Michelle Pyke. Back row: Lauren Weiss, Viktor Dimas, Elena Fabian, Arthur Filppu. Photo by Brittany Hosea-Small

First Class

Berkeley Law’s new leadership academy will include annual cohorts of selected incoming 1Ls, chosen in consultation with the admissions team, who want to pursue varying leadership roles. They will receive scholarship support, leadership programming, coaching, and mentorship. Here’s a look at the inaugural group:

Peter Clune

  • Accomplished documentary filmmaker who has worked on projects that premiered at major film festivals including Sundance, and on projects for Netflix, HBO, Apple TV, PBS, Hulu, Showtime, and more.
  • “My favorite projects have shed light on systemic injustice: exploitation and abuse within a polygamous Mormon sect, sexual abuse and manipulation in the entertainment industry, and the U.S. practice of sentencing children to die in prison through juvenile life without parole sentences.”

Viktor Dimas

  • Worked for a London-based counter-disinformation startup researching methodologies used to manipulate social media users, compiling over 60 data-driven reports.
  • “Through the leadership academy, I hope to convert the skills I acquire through my legal education into actionable initiatives, with the support of Berkeley’s extensive alumni network. As an international student, I’m particularly interested in grappling with issues that, despite their U.S. origin, have a global impact.”

Claire Elliman

  • Wrote a prize-winning dissertation on the future of higher education in U.K. prisons, was a paralegal at the New York Legal Aid Society’s Parole Revocation Defense Unit, and helped install 500-book collections in U.S. prisons as a program manager at the nonprofit Freedom Reads.
  • “I appreciate the additional community that this new leadership initiative will provide, and all the opportunities for growth, both professional and personal, that accompany conversations with leaders in their fields.”

Elena Fabian

  • Held firmware engineering and computer science internships, advancing product development for vehicle localization (now in consideration for patenting), and conducted research on individuals’ control over privacy in internet-connected technologies.
  • “I chose Berkeley Law because it was collaborative and a leader in intellectual property. Before my final decision, I even had a professor talk me through other tech-law intersections that might interest me and advance my career. I plan to explore privacy, cybersecurity, and internet regulation.”

Arthur Filppu

  • Worked as a technology risk analyst at Deloitte & Touche — honing his interest in the intersection of technology and law, legal issues related to AI, and entrepreneurial startups — and taught reading skills at underserved elementary schools in Los Angeles.
  • “I’m looking forward to helping make this pioneering leadership program a success now and secure its future. I plan to join the Berkeley Technology Law Journal and work closely with the Berkeley Center for Law & Technology and its associated programs and events.”

Sky Karp

  • Was a paralegal in the Consumer Protection Division of the Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office — where he advanced investigations and litigation related to tenant rights, debt collection, vehicle sales, financial technology, and immigration law — after being a paralegal at the National Immigrant Justice Center.
  • “I hope to foster community with other students and create even more opportunities for Berkeley students to use their legal toolkit to support and strengthen social movements.”

Sophie Kupetz

  • Developed a high school curriculum on slavery’s history in New England, was a client advocate at a Texas county’s Public Defender’s Office, and worked for a client-centered, mitigation-focused federal criminal defense lawyer in New York.
  • “I hope to think critically and creatively about the law with a community of students, faculty, and practitioners who bring their unique and less traditional experiences and lenses to legal work … and practice ways to use the law’s tools to intervene in the rigid legal system.”

Rena Kaur McRoy

  • Spent last year as a legal assistant at an immigration law office in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and during college worked as a sustainability peer educator and as an environmental intern for Washtenaw County.
  • “I chose Berkeley Law for its emphasis on public service, the early engagement students have with activities (including journals and the Student-Initiated Legal Services Projects), and its excellent environmental law offerings. It seems like there’s such a diverse array of passions and experiences.”

Michelle Pyke

  • Advanced from intern to senior research manager within three years at Edelman Data & Intelligence in San Francisco and awarded the “Relentless Pursuit of Excellence” for exceptional client services.
  • “I’ve always been interested in exploring alternative career paths to better suit my preferences and finding avenues that account for my interdisciplinary education. I’m hoping to continue using this lens looking ahead to my career in the law, and believe Berkeley Law’s new leadership initiative offers an opportunity to do just that.”

Rachel Rood-Ojalvo

  • Worked for more than two years at an education nonprofit in Mexico City, helping high school students develop tools to succeed in college, while conducting research for a Harvard sociology project investigating the global history of policing and prison.
  • “I hope to combine my background in prison policy and Spanish fluency to pursue crimmigration law (combating the criminalization of immigration). I’m excited about clinical work on immigration, student groups like the Berkeley Immigration Group, and courses like Citizenship and Immigration.”

Lauren Weiss

  • Spent two years in London as a software engineering consultant (full-time) and legal editor (part-time), and founded a mentorship program for young women in technology that secured over $15,000 in seed funding.
  • “I hope that participating in this new leadership initiative will give me the confidence and resources to pursue my ongoing passion for community-building initiatives while in law school, including the launch of a dating app for people who want to meet offline.”