Table of Contents

Capturing the Memories
Snapshots of everything from onsite events to festive global gatherings to 1L public interest standouts.

Powerhouse Professors
Across the country and the world, alumni in academia spread Berkeley Law’s extraordinary intellectual culture.

Forefront
Leadership in Research, Service, & Education
Guiding worldwide digital investigations • Going about it the write way • Launchpad to confidence and leadership • Helping student-athletes with endorsements • Survivor Advocacy Project broadens its scope • Judges-in-Residence program turns 10

Fast Forward
Powerful Student Action Figures

Study Hall
Faculty Honors & Scholarship

Advancement
Updates from Development & Alumni Relations

Class Notes
All in the Alumni Family

One of the things that I am proudest of for my time as dean has been our significant increase in financial aid for our students. Sadly, no longer does the law school receive much in the way of state funds. This year, only about 8% of our revenue comes from the campus and the state. This is dramatically different from what it used to be.

We now are tremendously dependent on tuition, with over 60% of our revenues coming from J.D. and LL.M. tuition. The result is that, like our peer private and public law schools, we have to charge very high tuition. This year, tuition and fees for in-staters is $62,567 and for out-of-staters is $74,995.

We have the obligation to make sure that no one is denied a Berkeley Law education because of inability to afford it, and that no one is discouraged from applying because of its cost “sticker shock.” Financial aid is absolutely crucial. I have made it my top priority in fundraising and we have almost doubled our financial aid in my six-plus years as dean.

Across the globe, delegations conducting digital investigations of international criminal and humanitarian violations are learning best practices from Berkeley Law’s Human Rights Center.

Partnering with the International Center for Transitional Justice, these free five-day programs recently took place in Jordan to train 49 members of Yemen’s National Commission to Investigate Alleged Violations of Human Rights, and in Tunisia to train 20 journalists, lawyers, and human rights defenders from Libya. The sessions help investigators who face varied challenges documenting abuses amid conflict in their countries.

“The program was extremely significant due to the wealth of diverse knowledge and skills imparted by a proficient training team from the Human Rights Center,” says Yemen field monitor Maher al Absi, noting that “we’re only at the beginning of our journey in this field” and that the deep-dive sessions “covered a range of crucial topics.”

Now co-editor in chief alongside fellow 3L Becky Hunter, he says the journal has defined his law school experience.

“It’s unique and special: one part academic journal, one part social club,” Peters says. “There’s space for people who really want to get into the weeds of editorial work on super niche, cutting edge environmental law and energy law issues, and also space for people who just want friends to go hiking with. It ends up being a really fun and robust community.”

“We continually see our pre-orientation students take on leadership positions,” ASP Director Diana DiGennaro ’06 says. “This is a robust year-round program that sets up students for success.”

Six of the past nine California Law Review editors in chief participated in pre-orientation, as did five of the six Student Association at Berkeley Law co-presidents over the past three school years.

But athletes from lower-profile sports or programs are also inking these name, image, and likeness (NIL) deals, albeit for much smaller payouts — as low as $50 or $100. Even a mid-range deal between $5,000 and $20,000 often isn’t worth the hefty cut taken by the agent or lawyer who brokers it, which can run as high as 30%.

Without representation, though, young athletes are vulnerable.

“It’s been the most significant and valuable part of my law school journey thus far,” Gaines says.

Like all 40 Student-Initiated Legal Services Projects under Berkeley Law’s Pro Bono Program, students can join starting in their first semester. That enabled SAP’s co-leaders to gain meaningful experience right away, and to now guide the group as 2Ls.

The judges met with Berkeley Law’s Clerkship Committee, visited upper-level and 1L classes, held open office hours, talked with Berkeley Law Opportunity Scholars, and took part in lunchtime panels moderated by Director of Judicial Clerkships Anna Han. They also met individually with some affinity groups and attended dinners with students, alumni, and faculty.

3L Alex MacLennan, who will clerk for Delaware Supreme Court Justice Karen L. Valihura after graduating, says the judges “provided unparalleled insights into both the operations of their courts and the clerkship experience” and that “their advice will prove invaluable in maximizing my potential as a judicial law clerk.”

Over the last five years under Dean Erwin Chemerinsky, financial aid expenditures have nearly doubled. They accounted for 20% of last year’s operating budget, and the school returned half of its Professional Degree Supplemental Tuition (PDST) fees to financial aid — far more than the one-third amount required by the UC Regents.

“This has helped us improve the school in so many ways,” Chemerinsky says. “It has increased our diversity, enhanced our classroom learning environment, and lessened the debt for many students, giving them more opportunities to choose career paths they desire.”

When Ginsburg asked his undergraduate advisers for help, they all said there was one person to talk to: Berkeley Law Professor Martin Shapiro.

“So I got in touch with him and sent him to Mongolia, and I got very interested in constitution-making through that process,” Ginsburg says. “After a couple years of working on this, I realized these were really interesting questions: Where does constitutional democracy come from? How is it sustained, and how does it die?

But when recent alums who achieved that milestone gathered at International House for a ceremony welcoming them as new lawyers, they also got poignant reminders of the privilege and responsibility that comes with practicing law.

But when recent alums who achieved that milestone gathered at International House for a ceremony welcoming them as new lawyers, they also got poignant reminders of the privilege and responsibility that comes with practicing law.