While their backgrounds and legal interests vary greatly, common bonds were evident among the trio honored at Boalt Hall's Citation Award dinner March 13 in San Francisco. "Each recipient embodies ideals that help distinguish our law school community," Acting Dean Gillian Lester said of litigator Theodore Olson '65, Professor Pamela Samuelson, and Assistant Clinical Professor Roxanna Altholz '99. "Exceptional legal acumen, vigilant attention to detail, and a deep commitment to protecting fundamental rights." 

Olson won the Citation Award, the law school's highest honor, which recognizes exceptional contributions to the bar, the bench, legal scholarship, the state, nation, and the world. Samuelson won the Faculty Lifetime Achievement Award, which honors the contributions and accomplishments of an exemplary Boalt faculty member. Altholz won the Young Alumni Award, given to a graduate from the past 15 years who has made significant contributions through professional, charitable, or other public service activities.

Read more...

Lions of Litigation dinners allow alumni who are prominent civil or criminal litigators to share their real-world experiences with current Boalt students in the Board of Advocates, which oversees the school's internal and external skills competitions. These intimate dinners-attended by six to eight students, a faculty member, and the alumni host-help create community and connect students with graduates in inter-generational conversations about the law, critical skills, and career trajectories as they prepare to enter the ever-challenging legal profession. 

Our spring Lions of Litigation dinners were a big hit, and more are scheduled for the fall. If you're interested in hosting a Lions of Litigation dinner, please contact Brooke Krystosek at [email protected] or 510.643.5777.

Read more...

Speaking of the Board of Advocates, its teams have had plenty to celebrate lately. In March, Wilson Dunlavey '15 and Christina Farmer '14 won the Saul Lefkowitz Trademarks Competition in Washington, D.C. After winning the San Francisco regional, Dunlavey and Farmer -- coached by alumnae Jane Levich '13 and Lauren Escher '13 --bested four other regional winners to claim the national championship. March also saw the Alternative Dispute Resolution team add to its success as Francis Choi '15 and Andy Coughlan '15 successfully defended Boalt's title in the California Bar Environmental Negotiations Competition. 

LL.M. student Anna Maria Galinska received International Commercial Arbitration Competition's Best Oralist Award, and Liz Long '14 was named best oralist in both of her rounds at the National Environmental Moot Court Competition. Boalt also advanced to the quarterfinals of the National Criminal Justice Trial Competition. At the National Appellate Advocacy Competition, one Boalt one team reached the final round, another reached the semifinals, and Jana Loeb '15 was ranked second-best oral advocate. See more Board of Advocates awards here.

After years of planning, Boalt opened registration for its first online course last month. Fundamentals of U.S. Law, taught by Bill Fernholz, runs for six weeks starting in May and is aimed at international lawyers, prospective LL.M. students, and others who want an introduction to the U.S. legal system. Boalt is hoping Berkeley Law Online will eventually help it reach new audiences, just as the International and Executive Legal Education and summer LL.M. programs have expanded the school's footprint. Students cannot get J.D. credit for the courses, and there are no plans to offer degrees online at this time. 

Read more...

Boalt lost two treasured members of its community recently with the deaths of former professors Joseph Sax and Henry Ramsey, Jr. '63. Heralded as the "father of environmental law," Sax died March 9 of complications from strokes. He was 78. Sax began his environmental legal work in the mid-1960s before environmental protection was even recognized as a legal field. He authored the groundbreaking Michigan Environment Protection Act, known the "Sax Act," which identifies natural resources as a public trust that demands protection. The law became the model for similar statutes in a dozen other states and the basis for international environmental law. 

Ramsey died March 14 following a stroke. He was 80 years old. A distinguished member of the Boalt family, Ramsey became a Contra Costa County prosecutor and trial lawyer after graduating from law school. He then returned to Boalt, where he was a faculty member from 1971 to 1980. During that time, Ramsey also served on the Berkeley City Council. Later in his career, he served as a judge in the Superior Court of Alameda County, and as dean of Howard University's School of Law. A longtime champion of civil rights and social justice, Ramsey was devoted to public service in many forms.

Thanks to the generosity of our wonderful alumni and friends, we're able-and thrilled-to celebrate the completion of Boalt's record $125 million Campaign for Boalt Hall on April 12. This event will include a re-dedication of our Centennial Society donor wall, a campus-wide cocktail reception at the Hearst Memorial Mining Circle, and an elegant dinner inside Memorial Stadium followed by music and dancing. Acting Dean Gillian Lester and recent Dean Christopher Edley, Jr. will offer their thanks and provide an update on the law school, Campaign Co-Chair Elizabeth Cabraser '78 will discuss the campaign's challenges and triumphs, and student speakers will briefly convey how the Campaign enhanced their Boalt experience. For more information or to RSVP, please contact Brooke Krystosek at [email protected] or 510.643.5777.

In April and May, Boalt's Admissions staff will travel coast to coast to greet admitted students and answer questions as the students begin finalizing their law-school decision. Admitted student gatherings are currently scheduled in New York City, Washington, D.C., Los Angeles, Orange County, Silicon Valley, and San Francisco. These events serve as a complement to Admitted Students Day, which offers activities including a mock class, tours of the law school and campus, lunch with current students, meetings with faculty and alumni, and presentations by Boalt's clinical programs, Career Development Office and Financial Aid Office. We hope you will be able to attend an event in your geographical area to meet the next generation of Boalties. Click here to view the calendar of alumni events.

Q: How many Boalt Hall students or faculty have been Rhodes Scholars?

--BC, Oakland 

A. Berkeley Law's association with the famed Oxford scholarships goes back to the program's founding days, when one of California's earliest Rhodes scholars was Farnham Griffiths, a future Boalt Hall professor (1910-13 and 1915-29). During his long career Griffiths was personal secretary to the legendary Benjamin Ide Wheeler, a lecturer in Roman Law at Boalt Hall, one of California's foremost admiralty law attorneys, and a member of the UC Board of Regents - all this despite having a name that sounds suspiciously like a forgotten silent film star.

Read more...

Forty family and child welfare law professors have filed a friend-of-the-court brief opposing Utah's same-sex marriage ban. Boalt faculty member Joan Heifetz Hollinger was one of the three co-authors. The brief asks the U.S. 10th Circuit Court of Appeals to affirm a lower court ruling that found Utah's ban on marriage for same-sex couples unconstitutional. The marriage ban undermines the state's interests in children and child welfare, according to the brief, which seeks to provide a more complete and accurate understanding of the multiple purposes of marriage, and its relationship to procreation and parentage. In addition to Hollinger, Boalt Professors Herma Hill Kay and Melissa Murray are among the 40 signatories, and third-year students Celia DePentheny O'Kelly and Randal Boyd McDonald provided research assistance.

Read more...

How best to reform U.S. copyright law-drafted in the 1960s and badly outdated in the Internet age-is the focus of a conference presented by the Berkeley Center for Law & Technology April 3-4 at the Claremont Hotel in Berkeley. Entitled "The Next Great Copyright Act," the conference welcomes about 200 scholars, policymakers, and copyright stakeholders to explore how current copyright law can be made more understandable and provide a better framework for adapting to the challenges posed by emergent technologies. Session topics include exclusive rights and infringement, secondary liability and safe harbors, music industry-specific reforms, quasi-copyright reforms, and others that affect schools, libraries, archives, and museums.

Read more...

Three Boalt students are working to address the long-term trauma suffered by civilians in South Asia who have sustained ongoing human rights violations without redress. Katie Lynn Anderson '15, Guneet Kaur '14, and Ingrid Perez '15, part of Boalt's International Human Rights Law Clinic, recently met in Nepal with scholars and lawyers to discuss how international and state laws might intersect to protect civilians. The students presented their preliminary research to lead litigators and activists, and prepared comparative legal analyses on the right to compensation for harms endured.

Read more...

Online 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.

From the Boalt Calendar:

April 9: McBaine Moot Court Competition 

April 10: Winning Strategies for Building Strong Client Relationships (in Seattle)

April 10: Faculty Talk with Prof. Jastram in Washington, DC 

April 12: End of Campaign Celebration 

April 17: Faculty Talk with Acting Dean Gillian Lester 

April 23: Class of '06 Happy Hour at the Press Club in San Francisco 

April 24: Admitted Student Event in Los Angeles

April 29: Admitted Student Event in Washington, DC

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.

Follow us on Twitter 

Become a fan on Facebook 

Network on LinkedIn 

AlumNetwork