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May 2013
U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder Addresses Graduates 

 

Eric Holder U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, who has served under the Obama administration since 2009, delivered Boalt's commencement speech May 11 at the Greek Theatre. Holder used the platform to promote the use of civilian courts in terror cases, calling critics of the idea "simply wrong." He also discussed national security in the wake of the Boston Marathon bombings, recalled memorable experiences on his own professional path, and told the more than 400 class of 2013 Boalt graduates that they are embarking on legal careers "in an hour of particular consequence, at a crossroads in history." Holder said that when the United States is faced with difficulty or crisis, "our actions--your actions--must be grounded in the bedrock of the Constitution."

Alumni Nationwide Connect With Incoming Students

 

DC Admitted Students Over the past two months, graduates from across the country have met with incoming Boalt students at lively alumni-sponsored events. Hosted by alums at their various law firms, these gatherings have occurred in New York, Washington, D.C., Orange County, Silicon Valley, San Diego, and San Francisco--where large pockets of incoming students reside. The Class of 2016 students gained valuable insight into the Boalt experience and meaningful networking opportunities. For alumni, the meetings provided a chance to serve as ambassadors for the law school and to help answer students' questions about Boalt and the legal profession.

Scholarship Luncheon Honors Both Students and Donors

 

Since Dean Christohper Edley, Jr.'s arrival in 2004, one of his top priorities has been strengthening financial aid to ensure that Boalt remains accessible to all qualified students. That effort is bolstered greatly by the generosity of alumni and friends who provide named scholarships to exceptional Boalt students. Contributors and recipients were honored April 16 in the Goldberg Room at the law school's annual Scholarship Luncheon, where they had a chance to interact and discuss their careers and aspirations. Speakers included Robert Barr, executive director of the Berkeley Center for Law & Technology; Mallun Yen '95, who spearheaded fundraising for a scholarship in his name; and scholarship recipient Lauren Smith '14.

 

"I'm incredibly grateful that I was selected to receive the Robert Barr Scholarship this past year," Smith said. "It will go a long way towards supporting my commitment to public interest and technology law, and it's an honor to receive a scholarship in the name of someone who has built such a legacy at Boalt and in the field of technology law. The scholarship program allows those of us facing immense loan burdens to receive much-needed relief as we attempt to finance an increasingly expensive legal education."

Scholarship Lunch

Faculty, Students Update Alums at D.C. Networking Event

 

Alumni in the Washington, D.C. area recently joined Boalt students and faculty for a networking event on the law school's current and prospective engagement with Washington. Hosted by Philip Kaplan '62 at his law firm, Patton Boggs, the gathering featured a panel discussion led by Jamie O'Connell, Lecturer in Residence and Senior Fellow at Boalt's Miller Institute for Global Challenges and the Law. O'Connell and four Boalt students described Boalt's growing efforts to engage with federal law and policy in the nation's capital. Attendees ranged from recent Boalt graduates to alumni in their 50s and 60s.

 

O'Connell led a panel discussion with Janine Panchok-Berry '14, Jamie Lanphear '14, Jessica Mar '13, and Holly Hutchingis Dranginis '13. Panchok-Berry and Lanphear described the educational and professional benefits gained from the UCDC Law Program, a full-semester externship in Washington that combines a weekly seminar with a full-time field placement, letting students learn first-hand how federal statutes, regulations, and policies are made, changed, and understood. Mar and Dranginis detailed their experience in O'Connell's International Law, Policy, and Development Field Research Seminar, which brought them and six fellow students to Washington over spring break to engage with policymakers and other U.S. government policy experts on human rights and democratization abroad. Much of their work focused on the U.S. response to upheaval in Egypt, Syria, and Bahrain since the Arab Spring. During the trip, O'Connell and the students interviewed 20 current and former high-level officials from such agencies as the National Security Council, State Department, and Defense Department.

Irving Tragen '45 Finalizes Scholarship and Faculty Chair

 

Just a few days before turning 91, Irving Tragen '45 was inducted into the Hall of Merit at San Francisco's George Washington High School, where he was valedictorian of its pioneer class in 1939. A recipient of Boalt's Citation Award in 2010, Tragen was honored for his distinguished diplomatic career spanning more than 50 years with the Organization of American States and U.S. Department of State in posts throughout Latin America and the Caribbean. The day before receiving the honor, he visited Boalt and finalized The Eleanor and Irving Tragen I-House Scholarship for Boalt Students and an irrevocable pledge that will endow The Eleanor and Irving Tragen Chair in Comparative Constitutional and Public Administration Law, along with other supporting programs and activities. Tragen and his late wife Eleanor are among Boalt's most generous supporters and are listed on the Builders of Boalt donor wall. See photos of his visit here

Tragen and Dean Edley

Boalt Forges New Partnership with Peking University

 

Boalt has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Peking University to collaborate on an initiative focused on law in China. Initially, this enterprise will mainly be a vehicle for joint faculty research projects and facilitating the applications of qualified Peking University students applying to Boalt's Professional LL.M. program. The schools also plan to coordinate joint conferences and other types of collaborations. One of several MOUs the law school has signed over the past two years, it signals Boalt's expanding global reach and concerted effort to forge more international partnerships.

Faculty News 
Faculty Rack Up Prizes Aplenty

 

At every turn, faculty members are hauling in a Boalt-load of honors:

  * Roxanna Altholz '99, associate director of the International Human Rights Law Clinic, won the Thomas I. Yamashita Prize through UC Berkeley's Center for Research and Social Change. The award honors her work representing 127 family members of individuals who were forcibly disappeared in the 1980s during Guatemala's civil war. Read more here.
  * Lecturer Trish Plunkett Hurley, a mainstay of the school's first-year skills program, received the school's annual Rutter Award for Teaching Distinction. Read more here.
  * For the second year in a row, an article by Professor Eric Biber was selected as one of the nation's five best environmental law articles by Land Use and Environmental Law Review. The publication, which uses a rigorous two-stage peer review process, will reprint Biber's "The Problem of Environmental Monitoring" in an upcoming issue.
  * Lecturer Nancy Lemon '80 has been awarded this year's Sharon L. Corbitt Award from the American Bar Association (ABA) Commission on Domestic and Sexual Violence. The award recognizes the exceptional service and leadership of an attorney who works to improve the legal responses to domestic violence, sexual assault, and stalking. Lemon, who directs Boalt's Domestic Violence Practicum, has been teaching a seminar on the topic--the first law school one of its kind--since 1988.
  * Professor Robert Berring '74 received UC Berkeley's inaugural Legal Studies Teaching Award. The award will be given annually to a faculty member or lecturer for outstanding teaching in the Legal Studies Program.  
  * Professor Melissa Murray's recent article, "What's So New About the New Illegitimacy?", 20 Am. U. J. Gender Soc. Pol'y & L. 387 (2012), has been honored with both a Dukeminier Award and the Michael Cunningham Prize. Both recognize the best law review articles on sexual orientation and gender identity topics. They are awarded through UCLA Law's Williams Institute, a national think tank on sexual orientation and gender identity law and public policy.
  * Assistant Professor Karen Tani has received a research grant from UC Berkeley's Hellman Fellows Fund for her research project, "States of Dependency: Welfare, Rights, and Governance, 1935-1965." Tani is Boalt's third Hellman fellow--an extremely competitive campus program for junior faculty--since the program's inception in 1995.
  * A Vanderbilt Law Review article by Professor Robert Bartlett was named one of the Top 10 Corporate and Securities Law Articles of 2012 by Corporate Practice Commentator, the leading national peer survey of corporate law scholarship. "Making Banks Transparent" (65 Vand. L. Rev. 293-386) was selected by an annual poll of corporate and securities law academics from a field of more than 550 articles published and indexed in legal journals during 2012.
  * Professor Kinch Hoekstra received the university's Faculty Award for Outstanding Mentorship of Graduate Student Instructors (GSIs), one of only four faculty members so honored this year. The award is sponsored by the UC Berkeley Graduate Council's Advisory Committee and the GSI Teaching and Resource Center.

Center News 
CLEE Presents Its Fracking Research in Los Angeles 

 

Experts at the Wheeler Institute for Water Law & Policy presented a panel on fracking April 18 at the Los Angeles office of Latham & Watkins. The institute is part of Boalt's Center for Law, Energy & the Environment (CLEE). Entitled "Fracking in California: Regulation of Produced Water and Potential Water Impacts," the panel tackled the increasingly controversial issue of regulating hydraulic fracking in California. Focusing on waste water and potential water impacts, the panel discussed CLEE's new report on the issue, which it has discussed with state legislators and other stakeholders. Panelists included officials from the Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Control Board, Natural Resources Defense Council, and California Independent Petroleum Association, as well as Wheeler Institute Associate Director Michael Kiparsky.

Ask the Archivist 
A Bear's Story

 

Bufano Bear Q: I met you when I visited the law school with my son to see the Benny Bufano bear that was a memorial to my uncle, Martin Bordon, Class of 1948. I mentioned my visit to my aunt, and she sent me a letter she received in 1955 describing the day at Boalt Hall when the statue was dedicated. Would you like to have a copy for your archives?

 

--MS, Huntington Beach 

 

A. It is so rare to be able to have such a moving, personal view of a public piece of art. Your aunt's letter brings to life that special day at the law school, and it mentions many people who were important figures in our history. Thank you so much for sharing this with us. I will make sure that it is passed along. It will make your uncle's bear mean so much more to all of us in the Boalt Hall community.

Read more...

Alumni News 
Obama Taps Howard Shelanski '92 to Oversee Regulations

 

Antitrust expert Howard Shelanski '92, a Boalt graduate and former professor at the school, has been tapped by President Obama to run the office charged with reviewing regulations proposed by government departments. Shelanski, chief economist at the Federal Trade Commission, will be the administrator of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, a unit within the White House budget office. A former clerk for U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, Shelanski spent more than a decade on the Boalt faculty before taking a teaching post at Georgetown. Previously, he was a White House economist during the Clinton administration.

 

Donna Petkanics '85: Influential

 

Donna Petkanics '85, an adjunct faculty member at Boalt's Berkeley Center for Law, Business and the Economy, has been named one of 100 "Women of Influence" by the Silicon Valley Business Journal. A corporate partner at Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, Petkanics has provided legal counsel to some of the country's most innovative technology companies, represented hundreds of startups, and advised companies and underwriters in more than 65 public offerings. She is also a founding member of her firm's Women's Initiative Network.

 

Paul Marchegiani '03 Recognized

 

The National LGBT Bar Association recently honored Paul Marchegiani '03 and the Legal Department of NBCUniversal with its Out & Proud Corporate Counsel Award. The award is given to legal professionals who promote LGBT equality through words and actions to create more secure and welcoming workplaces. The bar association's awards event is designed to give "LGBT legal professionals and their straight allies the opportunity to honor distinguished colleagues who have worked hard to increase LGBT diversity awareness in the corporate office and in the community." Marchegiani is NBCUniversal's Director of Business Affairs.

 

ASIL Hails Lauren Groth '11

 

Lauren Groth '11 is the 2013 recipient of the Francis Lieber Prize for her article, "Transforming Accountability: A Proposal for Reconsidering How Human Rights Obligations Are Applied to Private Military Security Firms" (Hastings International and Comparative Law Review 35:29, 2012). The prize is awarded annually, by the American Society of International Law (ASIL), to an author 35 years or younger for outstanding scholarship in the law of armed conflict. A litigation associate in the Washington office of Steptoe & Johnson, Groth earned Boalt's International Law Certificate and was Notes Editor of the California Law Review. This fall, she will begin clerking for Judge Richard Paez on the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

 

Olga Tomchin '10 Nabs Fellowship

 

Olga Tomchin '10 has received a prestigious Soros Justice Fellowship from the Open Society Foundations. She will work at San Francisco's Transgender Law Center as part of her multi-faceted effort to challenge the inhumane treatment of indigent transgender people in immigration detention and improve their access to quality deportation defense representation. Tomchin and 13 Soros Fellows will take on a range of reform issues that relate to efforts to curb mass incarceration, eliminate harsh punishment, and ensure justice system accountability in the U.S. To carry out their work, fellows receive a stipend of $58,700 to $110,250 for full-time projects lasting between 12 and 18 months.

 

Heather Tewksbury '02 Honored

 

Heather Tewksbury '02 has reeled in numerous awards for her work with the U.S. Department of Justice, including an Attorney General's Award for Distinguished Service and a California Lawyer of the Year award for corporate antitrust. The Recorder also named her one of its Attorneys of the Year, and the Daily Journal named her one of the area's Top 20 lawyers under 40. The Attorney General's Award went to members of the investigative and litigation team that successfully prosecuted United States v. AU Optronics et al., participants in an international cartel that fixed the price of LCD panels used in computers, laptops, and TVs sold in the U.S. and around the world. The investigation led to nearly $1.4 billion in criminal fines against companies involved in the conspiracy and a recent conviction of one of the world's largest manufacturers of LCD monitors, its U.S. subsidiary, and its two highest ranking executives.

Student News 
Students Recognized at Public Interest and Pro Bono Ceremony 

 

About 240 people attended Boalt's annual ceremony thanking law students for completing 50 or more hours of pro bono work, completing two summers of public service work, or serving as coordinators for the Student-Initiated Legal Services Project. Their public interest and public sector mentors were also recognized. Sonja Diaz '13, Marissa Ram '13, and Diana Rashid '13 received the Francine Diaz Memorial Award, which honors graduating women of color for exemplary work in social justice. Mike Gaitley and Gina Gemello won the Kathi Pugh Award for Exceptional Mentorship for their help as attorney-mentors at the Student-Initiated Legal Services Projects. Boalt lecturer Stephen Rosenbaum '80 and East Bay Community Law Center instructor Elisa Della-Piana were given the Eleanor Swift Award, which honors Professor Eleanor Swift by recognizing those who strengthen the Boalt community's support for public service.


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connectionsOnline Alumni Networks

 

All law school graduates are invited to join AlumNetwork. Just email [email protected] for your security ID, then visit AlumNetwork here to activate your profile. The online community includes: a directory of alumni, Class Notes, your own personal profile, alumni/ae profiles, events and registration, and more.... 
And be sure to join our other groups: Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter. LinkedIn is a great resource for referrals, job listings and career development advice from Robert White, Boalt's director of alumni career services.


Calendar Cruising

 

From Boalt's calendar:

 

June 20: Rain-Making at Boutique, Small & Midsize Firms:  Business Development Seminar & Networking Reception

 

Location: Klee Tuchin Bogdanoff & Stern, Los Angeles. More information here.

 

July 17: Supreme Court Update with Earl Warren Professor of Public Law, Jesse Choper

We invite you to mark your calendars for a Supreme Court Update and Luncheon with Earl Warren Professor of Public Law, Jesse Choper. July 17, 12pm - 1:30pm at the firm of Rutan & Tucker in Orange County. Space is limited! To request additional information prior to receiving the formal invitation, please contact [email protected] or 510.643.9277.

Boalt Alumni Weekend 2013
September 27-28

Friday, September 27
Panel Discussion, The Net: Utopia or Dystopia?
Saturday, September 28
Back to Boalt Day and Class Dinners


For up-to-date information please visit law.berkeley.edu/alumni or contact us at [email protected] or 510.643.9277.  

Career Corner

 

Support for your career development doesn't end with graduation. The Career Development Office provides resources for alums, including access to the b-Line jobs database and individualized confidential career counseling: resume review, job search strategies, career exploration (including careers outside of law practice), and more. See the Alumni Resources page on the CDO website.

 


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notesClass Notes  
Keep your fellow alums up-to-date with your important life changes by submitting a Class Note. To submit a class note, you will need to use your AlumNetwork ID and password. If you do not have your ID, email [email protected]. We'll publish your news on the web and/or the alumni magazine, Transcript.