Certified Benefit
Across a wide range of legal fields, certificates enable students to dive deep
She wasn’t anticipating spending much time inside an American courtroom — but she got plenty, thanks to her pro bono work and her choice to pursue the Practical Lawyering Certificate, one of the school’s baker’s dozen of specialty choices.
“I would recommend it to anyone exploring a legal career in the U.S.,” Kanoria says. “It was one of the most formative and rewarding experiences of my LL.M. journey.”
The Practical Lawyering program builds hands-on skills through classes and, in the second semester, an externship. Kanoria worked with Alameda County Superior Court Judge Sharon Djemal, a UC Berkeley Law lecturer who had spent 20 years with the East Bay Community Law Center.
After spending the fall semester working with two Student-Initiated Legal Services Projects, the Contra Costa Reentry Project and the International Refugee Assistance Project, Kanoria found her externship with Djemal especially rewarding.
“Judge Djemal was truly the kindest judge I’ve met — and her courtroom placement within the criminal division couldn’t have been more ideal,” Kanoria says. “Since I was hoping to work closely with the public defender’s office, this externship gave me the perfect vantage point to observe how the courts operate at every level.”
J.D. and LL.M. students have expansive certificate options. The Race and Law Certificate requires two of the foundational courses Race and American Law, Critical Race Theory, Federal Indian Law, and Race, Sexuality and the Law, and has experiential and writing requirements. Introduced this summer and the first of its kind, the LL.M. Certificate of Specialization in AI Law and Regulation helps busy professionals grapple with real-time legal issues introduced by artificial intelligence and other new technologies.
Several certificates are affiliated with some of the school’s biggest research centers: the Berkeley Center for Law and Business (BCLB), Berkeley Center for Law & Technology, and Center for Law, Energy & the Environment. BCLB Executive Director Angeli Patel ’20 says the Business Law Certificate enables students to venture beyond the basics and build true legal and strategic expertise.
“It allows them to use their time at Berkeley Law with precision to chart a path toward becoming not just sharp legal advisers, but impactful business leaders,” she says. “In the process, it puts students in company with professors, practitioners, and peers who are shaping, and who will go on to lead, the future of business law.”
Each program involves significant work, but Kanoria says it pays off handsomely.
“Having never lived in the U.S. before, I knew I wanted to gain practical courtroom exposure. The certificate gave me exactly that — a chance to immerse myself in the legal system, build meaningful connections, and learn by doing,” Kanoria says. “The return on that experience was immeasurable, both personally and professionally.”