Highlights of upcoming alumni events. Access the full event calendar and register online, email rsvp@law.berkeley.edu or call 510.643.6673
 
January 7, 2009
Alumni Reception at the AALS Annual Meeting in San Diego
Join Boalt alumni, faculty and friends at a reception during the annual meeting of the American Association of Law Schools. This event will bring together the local San Diego alumni community, alums working in legal education and Boalt's faculty. Hear from Boalt professor and AALS President-Elect Rachel Moran. Special thanks to Paul Konopka '01, associate at Latham & Watkins and Boalt Hall Alumni Association Board Member, for hosting.  
6:30 to 8:30 p.m.
San Diego Marriott Hotel, 333 West Harbor Drive, San Diego

February 10, 2009
San Francisco Alumni Reception with Dean Edley
Please join your fellow graduates and Boalt's Dean Christopher Edley for Campaign for Boalt Hall update. Thanks to Chris Chavez '97, Noel Nellis '66 and their firm Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe for hosting this event.
6 to 8 p.m.
Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe, The Orrick Building, 405 Howard Street, San Francisco

February 24, 2009
Los Angeles Alumni Reception with Dean Edley
Please join your fellow graduates and Boalt's Dean Christopher Edley for Campaign for Boalt Hall update. Special thanks to Mark Pécheck '84 and Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP for hosting this event.
6 to 8 p.m.
Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, 333 South Grand Avenue, Los Angeles.

May 1, 2009
Citation Award Dinner
Save the date for the Boalt Hall Alumni Association's annual gala.  Catch up with faculty and fellow graduates and celebrate the recipients of the Citation, Young Alumnus and Faculty Lifetime Achievement Awards.
The Ritz-Carlton, San Francisco, 600 Stockton Street at California Street, San Francisco

October 8-11, 2009
All-Alumni Reunion
Four days. Two cities. 18 events. We couldn't pack this year's All-Alumni Reunion into one weekend on campus. So we're taking the bold step of offering a four-day program that spans both sides of the Bay.  Save the dates for a moveable feast of good food, fine wine, old friends, and intellectual stimulation. Special reunion events for classes ending in 4 and 9 will also be held.


 
December 2008
Main News

U.S. Presidential Election Analyses with Dean Edley
The post-election analyses in San Francisco and Los Angeles received tremendous turnouts and were greatly enjoyed by all those who attended. Dean Christopher Edley and political experts Maria Echaveste '80, Alisa Nave '04, Guy Saperstein '69, Dan Schnur, and Pete Wilson '62 discussed and debated the campaigns and election results with over 350 alums in San Francisco and over 100 alums in Los Angeles. For photos of the events, please click here. For the San Francisco session, special thanks to moderator Jesse Choper and hosts Jim Brosnahan, Kathi Pugh '90 and Morrison & Foerster. For the Los Angeles session, thanks to moderator and host Bob Willet '74 and his firm O'Melveny & Myers. Read our story about the San Francisco event here.

Hear From Dean Edley About the Campaign for Boalt Hall As It Nears Its Halfway Mark
Don't miss the opportunity to hear from Dean Edley about all the changes being made at your alma mater. Under his leadership and thanks to alumni like you, Boalt has risen to number six in the rankings. The financial aid program is the most generous among the country's top law schools. Cutting-edge interdisciplinary research centers fuel curriculum innovation and learning opportunities. The faculty has grown by more than 25 percent. And renovations and a new South Addition are underway to house a truly great center for research and education. Events will be held February 10 in San Francisco and February 24 in Los Angeles. Check out all the details and RSVP here.

A Special Gift Opportunity
Thanks to recent legislation extending the IRA Charitable Rollover, donors 70 ˝ years of age or older can move up to $100,000 per year per person from their IRA directly to a charity without paying income tax on the money. For more about making an investment in UC Berkeley School of Law through your IRA, contact Andrew Kaufteil at 510.642.7574.

San Diego Alumni Reception at the AALS Annual Meeting
Join Boalt alumni, faculty and friends at a reception during the annual meeting of the American Association of Law Schools on January 7 from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. at the San Diego Marriott Hotel, 333 West Harbor Drive, San Diego. This event will bring together our local San Diego alumni community, alums working in legal education and Boalt's faculty. Hear from Boalt professor and AALS President-Elect Rachel Moran. Special thanks to Paul Konopka '01, associate at Latham & Watkins and Boalt Hall Alumni Association board member, for hosting. To RSVP, register online here, call 510.643.6673 or email rsvp@law.berkeley.edu.
 
Boalt Alumni Group on LinkedIn
LinkedIn logoYou are invited to join the Boalt Hall Alumni Group on LinkedIn, the leading professional network tool online. Now you can leverage the power of Boalt alumni to find new contacts-both Boalt alumni and their contacts, too. Join today!

Be a White House Fellow!
The White House Fellows Program is the nation's most prestigious fellowship for leadership development and public service. Applications are due February 1, 2009 and you can apply online here. Boalt Hall graduate and former Fellow Diane Yu '77 serves as president of the White House Fellows Foundation and Association and is available to answer your questions. Get in touch with the foundation by emailing Executive Director Jack LeCoyer at whffdn@aol.com.

Talk to Students About Alternatives to Traditional Law Practice
Are you a Berkeley Law alum whose career doesn't involve (or no longer involves) practicing law? The Career Development Office would like to hear from you. Students are often curious about what else you can do with a law degree, and we would like to know what our alumni have discovered about alternative careers.

Please contact Sarah Cunniff at the Berkeley Law Career Development Office, scunniff@law.berkeley.edu or 510.643.3161, and let us know what you are doing, and whether you would be willing to be a contact for students interested in alternatives to traditional law practice.

Boalt Holds First Supreme Court Conference
The law school held its first-ever conference on the Supreme Court of California last month, featuring speakers such as former California Gov. Pete Wilson, former state Attorney General John Van de Kamp and justices from the court itself. The event was a unique collaboration between Boalt and the court. "To the best of my knowledge, it's the first event of its kind in the history of the California Supreme Court," Richard Frank, executive director of the California Center for Environmental Law & Policy and one of the Berkeley professors who organized the event, told the Recorder. "Most importantly, it's a first-ever collaboration between the court and this, or any other, law school." Topics included the death penalty and the appellate process, reviewing the court's 2007-08 term, and judicial elections and impartiality. Professor Jesse Choper said the conference could become an annual event.

 
Transcript coming soon
The 2008 Fall-Winter Issue of Boalt Hall's Alumni Magazine Is Headed Your Way

Features include:

Life After Gitmo: Many former detainees of Guantanamo Bay face harsh realities as they try to rebuild their lives.
Also: We interview former detainee Moazamm Begg.

Stem Cells: Entangled in the Patent Thicket
Will stem cell breakthroughs be stymied by a morass of patent claims?

Dig, Baby, Dig! A Step-by-Step Guide to Boalt's Makeover
Under construction since 1951, but the best is yet to come!

Plus: Space Law; Will the Net Stay Neutral?; Rating the Bond Raters; Holly Fujie '78 on Mentoring

And of course, updated class notes!


Have you moved to a new city or job? Do you have a baby on the way? Did you get a promotion? Keep your fellow alums up-to-date with your important life changes by submitting a Class Note. We'll publish your news on the web and/or the alumni magazine, Transcript. And if you don't have anything new to report, just browse our Class Notes page.

Ernest B. Lageson '59 has just had his fifth book published, "Guarding the Rock." Ernie's first two books, "Battle at Alcatraz" (1999) and "Alcatraz Justice" (2002), detailed the sensational 1946 escape attempt from the island prison, and the murder trial that followed. Ernie's father worked for a time as a custodial officer in the prison, and Ernie and his family lived on the island. During the 1946 uprising, Ernie's dad was taken hostage and wounded. Following the unsuccessful escape attempt, during which three inmates and two officers lost their lives, the three surviving convicts were tried for the murder of one of the hostages. His latest book, "Guarding the Rock," began as a manuscript of his father's that was never completed due to his untimely death in 1953. Ernie has revised, edited, and added to the original manuscript and appears as a co-author with his late father. "Guarding the Rock" is the fascinating story of serene family life amid the violence and danger of one of the world's most famous prisons. It describes the day-to-day activities of the convicts, the periodic prison violence, and the fourteen escape attempts, all of which took place alongside the homes of the approximately 300 employee family members who shared the island with the hardened criminal occupants.

In 2006 Ernie and his wife, Jeanne (B.A., UC Berkelely, 1954), together published "The Other Alcatraz, the story of the Alcatraz Western Gull Colony." In 2005 he published "The Lageson Legacy," the Lageson family history.

Ernie's writing career began in 1993 after his retirement from active practice. He began his practice as a deputy district attorney in the Contra Costa County District Attorney's Office. In 1961 he joined the San Francisco firm of Bronson, Bronson, and McKinnon, where he developed a nationally known practice as a civil litigator. After twenty-five years with the Bronson office, he spent the final eight years of practice with Archer, McComas & Lageson in Walnut Creek, CA. He is a member of the American College of Trial Lawyers, The American Board of Trial Advocates, among other organizations, and is a past president of the Defense Research Institute. Ernie still works as an arbitrator in Northern California. He and Jeanne, his wife of 54 years, live in Kensington, CA. They have two children, Kristine and Ernie III and five grandchildren.

Neal Brockmeyer '63 reports: "With the dissolution of Heller Ehrman LLP, I've moved with several of my colleagues to the Los Angeles office of Locke Lord Bissell & Liddell LLP."

Richard F. Liebman '72 has been named as one of the Top 50 Lawyers in Oregon in the 2008 Super Lawyers magazine. He was also named on the Super Lawyers list in 2006 and 2007.

Russell Atkinson '73 shares: "I retired from the FBI in 1999 after 25 years. After two years in management at Internet companies I joined the Valley Transportation Authority in San Jose, where I practiced labor and employment law and general litigation until I retired in 2007. I am now a volunteer judge pro tem in traffic court, but I spend most of my time on my hobbies. My daughter is in the Ph.D. program in chemistry at the University of Texas, and my son is a software engineer for Microsoft in Redmond, Washington. I live in Los Altos."

Steve Venable '90 has been appointed to the Advisory Board of the Cedar Riverside People's Center in Minneapolis, MN. Steve is principal and founder of Surgo Consulting Training & Development, which specializes in providing cutting-edge employee development programs and compliance training. He has been an attorney and entrepreneur for some 18 years; and prior to Surgo, Venable served as general counsel of Jostens Learning Corporation and was owner/operator of Lakeville Ford Mercury. He received a 2005 Minority Business Award from the Minneapolis-St. Paul Business Journal.

Matthew L. Howard '93 reports that he has been named by the National Organization of Social Security Claimants' Representatives as the 2008 recipient of the Eileen Sweeney Distinguished Service Award. The organization is the leading source for continuing education and training for attorneys and non-attorney representatives specializing in representation of claimants for Social Security Disability and SSI benefits. The Eileen Sweeney Distinguished Service Award is given to a person whose "outstanding service has resulted in a significant improvement in the quality of advocacy for Social Security claimants, a significant increase in the availability of advocacy for Social Security claimants, or a significant improvement in the Social Security adjudicatory process."

Nan E. Joesten '97 has been appointed a co-chair of the Woman Advocate Committee of the Litigation Section of the American Bar Association for 2008-2009. Joesten is a partner at Farella Braun and Martel and practices in the firm's Intellectual Property & Technology and Business Litigation departments.

The Woman Advocate Committee sponsors programs on trial and advocacy skills, as well as on business development and issues of interest to women advocates. Additionally, the committee offers numerous networking opportunities and publishes a quarterly newsletter.

Joesten's complex litigation practice emphasizes intellectual property matters, including patent and trademark disputes, trade secret misappropriation cases, and technology-related litigation. She is the partner co-chair of Farella Braun and Martel's Professional Development Committee and is serving a two-year term as president of the Boalt Hall Alumni Association. In 2007, Joesten was awarded the UC Berkeley Foundation Trustee's Citation Award for outstanding service to the law school.

Joesten received her J.D. from Boalt in 1997, and her B.S. in chemical engineering from the University of Colorado at Boulder in 1982, where she currently serves as a member of the Engineering Advisory Council. Prior to her legal career, Joesten was a manufacturing engineer and an advertising brand manager for the Procter & Gamble Company.

Jahmal Davis '97 is in the new partner class at Hanson Bridgett in San Francisco. Jahmal was president of LSAD (Law Students of African Descent) at Boalt.

Neelam Ihsanullah '07 has joined the national immigration law firm Klasko, Rulon, Stock & Seltzer. Neelam Ihsanullah's practice focuses on employment-based, family and litigation-related immigration matters. Neelam worked at the Asian Law Caucus in San Francisco, where she assisted immigrants and citizens whose civil liberties had been impinged at the airport and at the border.

A member of the American Immigration Lawyers Association, she is also a member of the National Immigration Project of the National Lawyers Guild. A member of the California Bar, Neelam received her undergraduate degree magna cum laude from Ohio State University (B.A., 2003).