Charles Weisselberg joined the Berkeley Law faculty in 1998. He served as the founding director of the Center for Clinical Education, the Law School’s in-house clinical program, which he developed and administered from 1998 to 2006. Weisselberg also served as Associate Dean for the J.D. Curriculum from 2013 to 2015, and then as Associate Dean for Advanced Degree Programs. He directs the Sho Sato Program on Japanese and U.S. Law, and teaches criminal procedure, criminal law, and other courses.
After graduating from law school, Weisselberg practiced with a private law firm, taught in the clinical program at the University of Chicago Law School, and served as a trial attorney with Federal Defenders of San Diego, Inc. He taught at the University of Southern California Law School for 11 years, where he litigated post-conviction, civil rights, and immigration cases with his students and colleagues before numerous federal and state courts.
Weisselberg’s research focuses primarily on criminal procedure, immigration detention, and legal education. Some of his most recent publications include “Saving the People Congress Forgot: It Is Time to Abolish the U.S. Parole Commission and Consider All ‘Old Law’ Federal Prisoners for Release” (co-authored) in the Federal Sentencing Reporter (December 2022), “Shinomiya-sensei’s Journey to America and Back” in Prospects for Democratic Justice (Nippon Hyoronsha 2022); “On Both Sides of the Atlantic Ocean: Judicial Dialogue Between U.S. and European Courts” in EU Defence Rights in Criminal Proceedings (Hart 2021) (forthcoming); “Impact of the ABA’s Experiential Credit Requirements and Efforts by State Bars to Regulate Admission to Practice in the United States” in the Comparative Law Review (2019) (in Japanese); “Exporting and Importing Miranda” in the Boston University Law Review (2017); “Against Innocence” in The Integrity of Criminal Process—From Theory to Practice (Hart 2016); and “Big Law’s Sixth Amendment: The Rise of Corporate White-Collar Practices in Large U.S. Law Firms” (co-authored) in the Arizona Law Review (2011). For a decade beginning in 2008, Weisselberg also published annual reviews of the Supreme Court’s criminal cases in Court Review, the journal of the American Judges Association.
Weisselberg is active in legal education groups, bar associations, and criminal justice organizations. He is a past chair of the Association of American Law School’s Section on Clinical Legal Education. He has lectured at professional gatherings in the United States and abroad on topics ranging from graduate professional legal education to police interrogation. Weisselberg regularly works with pro bono counsel in trial and appellate cases, and helped launch the Law School’s Ninth Circuit Practicum.
Education
B.A., The Johns Hopkins University (1979)
J.D., University of Chicago (1982)
Charles D Weisselberg is teaching the following course in Spring 2025:
• 231 sec. 001 - Criminal Procedure - Investigations
Courses During Other Semesters
| Semester | Course Num | Course Title |  Teaching Evaluations | Fall 2024 | 231 sec. 001 | Criminal Procedure - Investigations | View Teaching Evaluation |
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