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The student panel described how they navigated the competitive application process, touching on location, writing samples, cover letters, interviews, and UC Berkeley Law’s helpful alumni network.

“The California Supreme Court’s limited oversight of the bar is a separation-of-powers violation, and the court should remedy that by taking direct control of the bar,” write David A. Carrillo and Stephen M. Duvernay of UC Berkeley Law’s California Constitution Center.

“A lot of things are coming together right now,” said Erwin Chemerinsky, dean of UC Berkeley Law School. “We have an administration that is being very aggressive toward the media, and a media that is afraid. … And that’s frightening.”

Dormant for several years, the renewed gathering drew clinic leaders from six law schools in the region and addressed myriad topics to empower their mission and maximize their impact.

“When employees have job rights, as most federal employees do, they cannot be summarily fired without cause.” Catherine Fisk of UC Berkeley’s Law School wrote KQED. “Most federal civilian employees are protected by civil service laws that require the government to have just cause and to follow fair procedure to terminate them. That is true even when the government seeks to lay off employees for reasons of cost.”

“It seems to me that the motivation for recommending reconsideration is more ideological than strategic,” said Professor Daniel Farber, faculty director Center for Law, Energy & the Environment. “Trying to overturn the science behind the climate finding is a fool’s errand.”

USDA targets California’s Proposition 12 as part of plan to fight bird flu outbreaks and lower egg prices, Dean Erwin Chemerinsky weighs in.

UC Berkeley Law has announced the launch of the LL.M. Success Academy, an innovative online initiative designed to prepare international lawyers for success in U.S. LL.M. programs.

The affinity group aims to bring together students across a broad range of pre-law school experiences through informal gatherings timed for convenience.

May a president fire anyone who works in the executive branch of government even when there is a statute limiting firing? Dean Erwin Chemerinsky weighs in.

The win is certainly rare and noteworthy by this court but “it’s not a bellwether,” for future death penalty cases, said Elisabeth Semel, a professor and co-director of the Death Penalty Clinic at the University of California’s Berkeley School of Law.

“Throughout American history, presidents — Democrats and Republicans — adhered to court orders even when they disagreed with them,” said Dean Erwin Chemerinsky. “If the president abandons this precedent and instead disobeys the courts, it would put the U.S. in completely uncharted territory. Then we really have a constitutional crisis unlike what we’ve seen before.” 

UC Berkeley Law’s Center for Private Law Theory recently hosted the North American Workshop on Private Law Theory for the first time, welcoming a stellar group of scholars from around the world to discuss research works in progress.

“Replace the corporate income tax with non-voting shares that corporations would issue to the fund,” writes UC Berkeley Law Professor Mark P. Gergen and Stanford Law School Professor Joseph Bankman.

Professors Daniel A. Farber and Jonathan S. Gould — experts on presidential power, constitutional law, and the U.S. Congress, and co-faculty directors of the Edley Center on Law & Democracy — discuss the implications of some of Trump’s first actions.

“Less than a month into Donald Trump’s second term, a case involving his extreme claims of presidential power has already made it to the Supreme Court,” writes Dean Erwin Chemerinsky. “It raises a question of profound importance: Can the president fire anyone who works in the executive branch even when a law limits his power to do so?”

“It is common for authoritarians to look for scapegoats,” writes Dean Erwin Chemerinsky. “Sadly, trans individuals have been that for Trump.”

As the policy director for Long Beach Mayor Rex Richardson, Paul Monge ’18 has a dizzying set of responsibilities managing the implementation of the mayor’s policy and legislative priorities.

“Contrary to what the administration has been saying, there are actually very few non-citizens who have criminal convictions in the country, so the idea that there could be mass deportations of people convicted of crimes is pure nonsense,” said David Hausman, assistant professor at UC Berkeley School of Law. “That’s made up.”

Thirteen professors, including Dean Erwin Chemerinsky, made recent lists of most-cited faculty.

Dean Erwin Chemerinsky joins Education Now as a guest to explore how to balance free expression and open dialogue in higher education.

Dean Erwin Chemerinsky and Ilya Shapiro, senior fellow and director of constitutional studies at the Manhattan Institute join AirTalk to share their perspectives on a number of the Trump executive orders.

Conferring with world business leaders in Switzerland, Patel emphasized the law’s importance in ensuring sound corporate oversight, fostering trust in private transactions, and creating accountability for all stakeholders.

“We are in the midst of a constitutional crisis right now,” said Dean Erwin Chemerinsky. “There have been so many unconstitutional and illegal actions in the first 18 days of the Trump presidency. We never have seen anything like this.”

Dean Erwin Chemerinsky and Professor John Yoo weigh in on whether or how much the Supreme Court might act to check Trump’s authority.

“There’s a vast ideological difference between those that [former Presidents] Obama or Biden put on the bench compared to who Trump put on the bench,” said Erwin Chemerinsky, dean of the UC Berkeley School of Law and an expert on federal civil procedure. “No one should assume the 9th Circuit is a liberal court.”

Former U.S. Department of State legal adviser meets with UC Berkeley Law students to discuss the dangers posed by an expanding institutional imbalance in American foreign affairs.

“For most of American history, it was conservatives who championed states’ rights. Now, the conservative Trump administration is trying to trample the authority of state and local governments — in clear violation of the Constitution,” writes Dean Erwin Chemerinsky.

Assistant Professor Elena Chachko provides analysis of President Trump’s executive orders imposing tariffs and eliminating the de minimus exception for products from China.

Criminal Law & Justice Center Executive Director Chesa Boudin and Professors Colleen V. Chien ’02, Andrea Roth, and Rebecca Wexler spoke at a recent webinar for lawyers across the state.

Professor Pamela Samuelson discusses arguments for/against California bill SB 1047, explains Governor Gavin Newsom’s veto, and considers whether government regulations are necessary to ensure safe development and deployment of AI.

From writing amicus curiae briefs to overseeing student projects and organizations to courtroom work, these professors are extending the school’s influence far beyond its walls — and legal academia.

If Congress and the executive branch does decide to prioritize eliminating Biden’s gas-fired water heater rule, it could bring the application of future EPCA standards into question, said Sharon Jacobs, an administrative and energy law professor of University of California Berkeley.

David A. Carrillo, executive director of UC Berkeley Law’s California Constitution Center weighs in on the legality of a state seceding.

“Indeed, presidential interference with Congress’ budgeted spending violates a federal statute, the Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974, writes Dean Erwin Chemerinsky. “When a federal statute has been adopted that appropriates money, the president has no authority to refuse to spend it.”

A Bronze Star recipient who served in Afghanistan and later led UC Berkeley Law’s Legal Obstacles Veterans Encounter organization, Lynch relishes advocating for former service members.

A packed pro bono plate and a top role at a journal deliver a law school experience that’s deeply connected to her passion for making systemic change, at the street level and in the academic realm.

Professor Daniel Farber, faculty director of the Edley Center on Law & Democracy at UC Berkeley Law weighs in on how the Trump administration’s agenda and policy reversals will impact California.

“For decades, oil and gas companies have been allowed to mislead the public and profit from their products while sticking others with the bill for climate change,” writes Dave Jones, director of the Climate Risk Initiative at UC Berkeley Law’s Center for Law, Energy and the Environment. “That must end.”

Dean Erwin Chemerinksy weighs in on the constitutionality of President Trump’s executive order to end birthright citizenship.

Dean Erwin Chemerinsky writes “when Trump acts unconstitutionally, the only plausible check will have to come from the courts. But will the judiciary, and especially the Supreme Court, enforce the Constitution against Donald Trump?”

Roxanna Altholz, director of the UC Berkeley School Law’s Human Rights Clinic, Medha Raman the Dale and James J. Pinto Fellow at Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights, and Ricky Garza the Border Policy Counsel for Southern Border Communities Coalition argue that the Supreme Court case Barnes v. Felix is a long-overdue opportunity to address a systemic problem: the United States’ woefully inadequate standards for law enforcement use of deadly force.

Dean Erwin Chemerinsky weighs in on the legal status of the Equal Rights Amendment.

Professor John Yoo weighs in on the 14th amendment and Trump’s executive order that seeks to end birthright citizenship.

Mitchell is one of six UC Berkeley graduate students chosen to join the AI Policy Hub, which aims to shape AI’s future by translating scientific research into governance and policy frameworks.

Presented by the school’s Berkeley Center on Comparative Equality & Anti-Discrimination Law, the event draws lawyers and activists in person and virtually to continue efforts to turn the revelations sparked by the #MeToo movement into systemic change.

Dave Jones, director of the Climate Risk Initiative at UC Berkeley Law’s Center for Law, Energy and the Environment, and former California Insurance Commissioner discusses the devastating effects of the ongoing Los Angeles fires and their impacts on California’s home insurance market.