She immediately got involved with two of the school’s Student-Initiated Legal Services Projects, the Post-Conviction Advocacy Project (PCAP) and the Name and Gender Change Workshop (NGCW). After her 1L year, she spent 10 weeks in Akin Gump’s Los Angeles office as the firm’s Pro Bono Scholar and worked on various pro bono matters. She will join Akin after graduation (likely as a litigator) and intends to make pro bono work a pillar of her practice there, providing litigation support and direct services to local nonprofits.

“I’m so grateful to have landed at Berkeley Law, where a commitment to pro bono work is the norm,” West says. “I’ve met so many talented and generous students whose careers I look forward to watching, and have learned from many inspiring professors.”

She’s also benefited from an additional boost of financial aid for her final year of law school: the Kate Gold ’91 Memorial Scholarship. It’s one of the school’s Continuing Student Scholarships, awarded to 2L and 3L students who meet particular requirements for financial need, academic achievement, or a specific career interest.

Some are in the names of donors, while others are in memory of family members or colleagues.

ROLE MODEL: The Kate Gold ’91 Memorial Scholarship honors her longtime commitment to kindness, mentoring, and inclusivity.

Bill Falik, who has taught at the law school and UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business for many years, funds both types. The Harry Falik Public Interest Scholarship, directed to 3Ls with a strong commitment to a career in the public interest or public service sectors, was established in honor of his father’s 100th birthday. The Falik Real Estate Scholarship is for a 3L with an interest in building a career in real estate or land use law and a potential focus on affordable housing.

Falik’s first courses were in the early 1970s, and he returned in 2006. While he’s not an alum, “I have always had a strong connection to Berkeley’s law and business schools,” he says.

He sees his giving, which includes scholarships at Haas and UC Berkeley’s Goldman School of Public Policy and College of Environmental Design, as a way to further the university’s public mission and help ease the decision of recipients to choose a career doing public interest work.

“If you’re pursuing a career doing public interest work you’re simply just not going to be as well-compensated as working in a law firm,” he says. “My feeling is, rather than be discouraged by that, I would like to encourage graduates to follow their passion by working in the public interest arena.”

West’s $5,000 award was funded by the law firm Proskauer Rose to honor Gold, a partner there before her death last year. A specialist in business and employment disputes, Gold was known as a natural leader and a dedicated mentor — particularly for women in the profession.

The words Proskauer used to describe Gold in a tribute to the beloved partner were: “Kate imparted many lessons to us: To be of service and generous; to be kind and lead with love; to show up for one another, listen, support, and live a full life, knowing we are all doing the best we can in the time we have.”

The Gold scholarship has been “a real blessing,” West says, allowing her to focus on her studies and pro bono commitments rather than on finding ways to pay her tuition.

“Because of this support, I’ve been able to take on meaningful projects like my work with PCAP and NGCW,” she says. “I’m sure these projects were instrumental in landing me Akin’s Pro Bono Scholarship, a life-changing opportunity for which I am so grateful. But more than providing financial assistance, this scholarship has been a reminder of the supportive community invested in the growth and success of Berkeley Law students.” — Gwyneth K. Shaw

“I’ve met so many talented and generous students whose careers I look forward to watching, and have learned from many inspiring professors.”

— 3L Juliette West

EXPERT INSIGHT: Environmental law expert Sheila Foster ’88 (left) answers a question from journalist Jami Floyd ’89 at a New York City chapter event.

A senior associate at Hogan Lovells in Washington, D.C., Allen has helped build up the D.C. chapter, working with Alumni Engagement Associate Director David Smith to expand programming and membership.

“When you’ve decided to pursue your career so far away from the community you built during law school, engaging through alumni chapters is a great way to not only meet new people from the Berkeley Law community, but also provide another avenue to support the school,” she says. “I’ve always found it exciting being a part of building something new, and the energy David brings to his role makes it all the more exciting.”

Smith has helped infuse momentum over the past year, recognizing graduates’ varied interests and availability. Events include receptions with Dean Erwin Chemerinsky, presentations on timely issues by alumni and faculty experts, admitted student gatherings, trivia nights, happy hours, hikes, and more.

Bringing together grads currently living in cities across the country, the program has chapters in Chicago, Los Angeles, New York City, San Francisco, Silicon Valley, and Washington. Each has two or more leaders with five to ten alums supporting them and helping with planning. More than 30 people attended the first virtual summit for chapter leadership in November.

“We’ve been offering more variety of events because our alums are at different ages and different stages of their careers and personal lives,” Smith says. “We want to meet them where they are so they can pick what works best for them.”

Anya Ku ’20 grew up in Oakland and went to Berkeley for both undergrad and law school, and says moving to D.C. for a fellowship was intimidating: “I was nervous about leaving my Bay Area community and family, so I turned to the next best thing: Berkeley Law.”

Before moving east, some D.C.-based former classmates alerted her to informal “bar reviews” led by Justin Lam ’21. When Ku contacted him about joining, he said he was moving to New York for a clerkship — and invited her to take the reins. Ku and Olivia Gee ’20, her former Student Association at Berkeley Law co-class president, started hosting monthly gatherings that helped generate excitement for an official D.C. alumni chapter.

“Community was one of the best parts of law school at Berkeley, so fostering that community post-graduation has been fulfilling,” Ku says. “It has been so rewarding to go to events and meet alumni who guide me through new phases in my career development and immediately turn around and offer my own advice to current and admitted students.”

HAPPY HOUR: Regional alumni chapters all across the country host a series of after-work social gatherings.

When she returned to the East Bay, Ku recalled the excitement of supporting the D.C. chapter’s launch and promptly got involved.

“I’ve helped host events, welcome admits, and even planned a Berkeley Law trivia night,” she says. “It’s been great to get to meet more alumni and students outside of pure networking.”

A bit further south, while preparing for his 35-year reunion in 2017, Joshua Lipp ’92 contacted the alumni office to ask about his donations to date. While he knew he had donated each year, “I was surprised I had not given more,” he recalls.

With positive feelings about his Berkeley experience and close ties with many classmates, he describes the cost of his Berkeley Law education as his “best investment ever given that my law degree enabled me to live and support my family ever since, especially when you consider my three years of tuition cost less than what I paid for a year of my children’s preschool.”

Lipp donated more, asked how to get more involved, learned about the alumni chapter and alumni mentor programs, and now partakes in both. On one Silicon Valley chapter hike, he met a young lawyer and hired him at his firm soon after.

“That event benefited this recent grad, this ancient grad, and the entire alumni community,” Lipp says. “Berkeley Law helped me get launched as a lawyer, and the community of alumni was a big help. Now that I’m on the alumni side of the equation, I’m happy to help strengthen that community, both worldwide and locally.”

Despite a busy schedule as a partner at Sidley Austin, Benson Cohen ’04 has spent considerable time growing the New York City chapter, which has expanded its leadership group and introduced more types of events.

“I view our success by the number of new folks who are attending events and connecting — or reconnecting — with the law school,” he says.

A Berkeley Law Alumni Association board of directors member from 2007 to 2020 and the school’s 2019 Young Alumni Award winner, he loves seeing newly admitted students begin feeling at home in the school community. “They are always nervous and eager, and it’s an enormous pleasure to make them start to feel part of something,” he says.

Knowing how vital alumni connections become, both from a professional development and personal relationship standpoint, Cohen loves building alumni bonds.

“Being on the other side of the country, that can feel isolating from the law school,” he says. “It makes these regional chapters all the more important to maintaining those valuable ties.” — Andrew Cohen

The widow of Berkeley Law Professor and renowned legal historian David Lieberman, Brownstein says he “had great respect for students, especially those in the JSP.” Lieberman chaired the program for years and spent much of his career teaching its Ph.D. candidates. He received the university’s Faculty Service Award in 2017 and the law school’s Faculty Lifetime Achievement Award in 2019.

Scheiber, himself an eminent legal historian who was chair and associate dean of JSP for eight years, lost his wife Jane Lang Schreiber in 2022 after almost 64 years of marriage. Jane was an esteemed college administrator, researcher, and author, with whom Harry collaborated regularly on historical and legal scholarship projects, beginning in the 1950s when the couple were students at Cornell University.

Each received the Berkeley Citation, which is the university’s highest honor, given to “distinguished individuals … whose contributions to UC Berkeley go beyond the call of duty and whose achievements exceed the standards of excellence in their fields.”

Brownstein created a student fund after hearing that JSP students from non-traditional backgrounds often had to work summers and lacked the money to do pre-dissertation research. She gladly patched that hole, upholding Lieberman’s legacy of supporting students and their research.

“David had a high degree of empathy and was always willing to work with students who faced difficulties to help them reach their goals,” she says. “He often spent so much time with students that he had to do his ‘regular work’ at night.”

In a similar vein, Scheiber created a student emergency fund to provide grants for students who develop an unexpected urgent need.

“Grad students are often close to the margins financially, and Jane cared deeply about people’s personal lives — none more so than the students,” he says. “Many of them describe how much she meant to them as a friend, mentor, and advocate.”

PATH MATES: Carol Brownstein (right) says creating a JSP fund in memory of her late husband, Professor David Lieberman, honors his deep devotion to JSP students.

A unique interdisciplinary program, JSP promotes the study of law and legal institutions through the lens of several disciplines — including economics, political science, philosophy, sociology, and more — and has launched many standout legal educators and policy experts.

A renowned historian of the 18th century who died in a hiking accident in 2022, Lieberman focused largely on British legal, political, and social thought. He taught core JSP courses and mentored many first-generation university students.

Brownstein describes him as brilliant, funny, and humble, with a knack for bringing together people with disparate ideas. An online memorial page for Lieberman extols his sage advice, his scholarly acumen, and his profound influence on how to treat people with respect and collegiality.

“He made you feel as if you were bringing value to the conversation and that the conversation was the most important thing — not what he had to impart,” Brownstein says.

When Jane Scheiber was ill with cancer, Lieberman made chicken soup and brought it to the Scheibers’ house — typical of his “many similar small acts of kindness for colleagues,” Brownstein recalls.

Deeply involved with UC Berkeley, Jane was the longtime Assistant Dean of College Relations and Development in the College of Chemistry, transforming its philanthropy culture, overseeing pivotal projects, and ultimately bringing in over $165 million. Even after retiring, she volunteered as a special assistant to the dean and helped advance several development efforts.

Jane was also appointed a research associate in UC Berkeley Law’s Center for the Study of Law & Society, and for 20 years played an instrumental role in the programs and publications of the school’s Law of the Sea Institute. Berkeley Law’s annual ocean law lecture is named for the Scheibers, and their jointly authored 2016 book Bayonets in Paradise, on martial law in Hawaii during World War II, became a revelatory and highly praised effort.

When the Scheibers were at UC San Diego in the 1970s, Jane edited and contributed to a series of pioneering course readers on a variety of important subjects. A Woodrow Wilson National Scholar, she co-authored a well-known article on the Wilson Administration and its racist treatment of Black Americans in World War I — countering the dominant narrative of Wilson as a great internationalist.

“Jane had broad interests and great intellectual curiosity, a real capacity for looking at subject matter across disciplines and getting on top of it — just a great gift,” Harry says. “When we moved to Berkeley, she was instrumental in helping develop the JSP Program. Jane was devoted to higher education, loved building infrastructure for good scholarship and teaching, and had great concern for students’ welfare.” — Andrew Cohen