Miles Added to Academic Support Team
Suzanne Miles is Berkeley Law’s new Assistant Director of Academic Support. The Academic Support Program provides curricular advising, skills training, and other assistance for first-year students. A 2005 graduate of Stanford Law School, Miles clerked for Judge Susan Graber on the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in Portland, Oregon. Before that she was an Assistant U.S. Attorney, working as a civil appellate coordinator in Portland and as a criminal and appellate specialist in San Francisco. Miles has experience teaching high school and college students, as well as training new attorneys. (09/03/13)
Breyer ’66 Joins U.S. Sentencing Commission
The Senate unanimously confirmed the nominations of Charles Breyer ’66 and two other new members of the U.S. Sentencing Commission, which establishes sentencing policies and practices for federal courts. It consists of seven voting members, at least three of whom must be federal judges. Breyer has been a federal judge in California since 1998. He was a private-practice lawyer from 1974 to 1997, save for a brief stint as San Francisco’s Chief Assistant District Attorney in 1979. Breyer also worked as an assistant special prosecutor on the Watergate Special Prosecution Force and as a San Francisco assistant district attorney from 1967 to 1973. (08/09/13)
Chhabria ’98 Nominated to U.S. District Court
President Obama has nominated Vince Chhabria ’98 as a U.S. District Court judge for the Northern District of California. If confirmed, he would be California’s first South Asian Article III judge and the nation’s fourth. Chhabria is Co-chief of Appellate Litigation and Deputy City Attorney for Government Litigation at the San Francisco City Attorney’s Office, where he has worked since 2005. Previously, Chhabria was a lawyer at both Covington & Burling and Keker & Van Nest. He also clerked for U.S. Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer, U.S. Court of Appeals Judge James Browning, and U.S. District Court Judge Charles Breyer ’66. (08/07/13)
James Mcmanis ’67 Honored As Super Lawyer
James McManis '67 has been named to the Northern California Super Lawyers list for the 10th straight year. A partner at McManis Faulkner in San Jose, he represents Silicon Valley companies on commercial, trade secret, and intellectual property issues. He also represents individuals in civil rights actions, employment disputes, family law matters, and criminal defense. McManis served as Special Master for three different courts in "Technical Equities" cases, which involved the largest securities fraud in California history. He has also been a lecturer at Berkeley Law and president of its alumni association board of directors. (07/19/13)
Patricia Donnelly Assumes Top Tech Post
Patricia Donnelly has been promoted to Assistant Dean for Instructional and Information Technology and Services at Berkeley Law. She had been the school’s Director of Information Technology and Services. Donnelly’s new responsibilities include developing the law school’s online education initiatives and providing administrative and business leadership for its technology unit. Dean Christopher Edley, Jr. said she was “a role model” for other units at Berkeley Law and around campus for her commitment to customer service and innovation. He called her a “superb manager, project lead, collaborator, coach, and adviser.” (07/18/13)
Governor Brown Appoints John Gioia ’82
Governor Jerry Brown has appointed John Gioia ’82 to the California Air Resources Board. Gioia, who will represent the Bay Area Air Quality Management District, is one of two appointments to the board. He has been on the Contra Costa County Board of Supervisors since 1999, serving as chair three times. He also chairs the Bay Area Joint Policy Committee and the Bay Area Air Quality Management District Board of Directors, and is first vice president of the California State Association of Counties. An East Bay Municipal Utility District board member from 1989 to 1998, Gioia also ran his own law office from 1986 to 1998. (07/17/13)
Berkeley Law Hosts Privacy Law Scholars
The Berkeley Center for Law & Technology hosted the sixth annual Privacy Law Scholars Conference June 6 at the Claremont Hotel. The event is invitation-only and alternates each year between Berkeley Law and The George Washington University Law School. Invited scholars and practitioners confront emerging privacy issues and work together to forge greater connections between academia and practice. Participants in this year’s conference included worldwide academic experts from the fields of law, economics, philosophy, political science, and computer science; as well as private-sector attorneys, government lawyers, and advocates. (06/25/13)
Therese Stewart ’81 Wins ABA Award
Therese Stewart ’81 is one of six honorees to receive the American Bar Association (ABA) Margaret Brent Lawyers of Achievement Award for 2013. Presented annually by the ABA’s Commission on Women in the Profession, this year’s award honors U.S. attorneys for their trailblazing legal achievements. The first openly LGBT president of the Bar Association of San Francisco, Stewart co-founded its School-to-College Program, which provides mentoring and guidance to inner-city high school students to help them prepare for college. Stewart joined the San Francisco City Attorney’s Office in 2002 and serves as Chief Deputy City Attorney. (06/25/13)
Tracie Brown ’96 Named to Superior Court
California Governor Jerry Brown has appointed federal prosecutor Tracie Brown ’96 to a Superior Court judgeship in San Francisco County. An assistant U.S. attorney since 2002, Brown co-taught Civil Trial Practice at Berkeley Law during the 2013 spring semester. Before joining the U.S.Attorney’s Office, she was an associate at Cooley Godward Kronish, a law clerk for Judge Margaret McKeown of the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, and a law clerk and associate at Morrison Foerster. Brown, who earned her undergraduate degree from Harvard, fills the vacancy created by the retirement of Judge Kevin McCarthy. (06/25/13)
Nancy Lemon ’80 Wins ABA’s Corbitt Award
Berkeley Law Lecturer Nancy Lemon ’80 has been awarded this year’s Corbitt Award from the American Bar Association (ABA) Commission on Domestic and Sexual Violence. The annual award recognizes the exceptional service and leadership of an attorney who is working to improve the legal responses to domestic violence, sexual assault, and stalking. Lemon, the director of Berkeley Law’s Domestic Violence Practicum, has been teaching a seminar on the topic—the first law school one of its kind—since 1988. She received the Corbitt Award May 9 at an ABA conference in San Francisco. (05/14/13)
Executive Program Hosts Thai Delegation
Berkeley Law’s International Executive Legal Education (IELE) program concluded a two-week intensive training session on E-Commerce regulations for a delegation of judges visiting from Thailand. The high-ranking Supreme Court and appellate court judges were selected to participate in a national Thai competition; they were honored at a closing ceremony on May 10. Since 2010, IELE has provided year-round programs for more than 500 participants from Asia, Europe, Latin America, and Africa. This also marks the fourth straight year the program has trained members of Thailand’s National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission. (05/14/13)
Kinch Hoekstra Receives Mentoring Honor
Berkeley Law Professor Kinch Hoekstra has 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. Hoekstra, who holds a joint appointment with the Department of Political Science, specializes in the history of political, moral, and legal philosophy. An authority on ancient, renaissance, and early modern political thought, he taught philosophy at Oxford from 1996 to 2007. (05/14/13)
Alum Takes Charge of SEC Enforcement Division
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has named Vincente Martinez ’97 Chief of its Enforcement Division Office of Market Intelligence. Created in 2010, the office gathers and evaluates thousands of tips, complaints, and referrals that come into the SEC each year. The Berkeley Law alum said he looks forward to advancing the office’s “meaningful contributions to the protection of investors by further developing our ability to proactively identify risks and ferret out misconduct.” Martinez worked for eight years in the Enforcement Division before leaving in 2011 to direct the Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s whistleblower office. (03/04/13)
Listenbee ’78 Heads US Juvenile Justice Office
President Obama has named Robert Listenbee, Jr. ’78 as Administrator of the U.S. Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention. Chief of the Defender Association of Philadelphia’s Juvenile Unit for 15 years and an attorney there since 1986, Listenbee recently co-chaired U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder’s National Task Force on Children Exposed to Violence. He serves on the policy committees of the National Legal Aid & Defender Association and the National Center for Juvenile Justice. In 2011, Listenbee won a MacArthur Foundation Champion for Change award for his leadership in reforming Pennsylvania’s juvenile justice system. (02/28/13)
Jorde Symposium on Money and Politics
“The Corrupting Influence of Money on Politics” was the focus of this year’s Thomas M. Jorde Symposium. Co-sponsored by Berkeley Law and NYU Law’s Brennan Center for Justice, the annual event tackles constitutional law, representative democracy, and governance issues. Harvard Law Professor Lawrence Lessig delivered the Jan. 29 lecture, which drew hundreds of spectators, and Stanford Law Professor Bruce Cain and Duke Law Professor Guy Uriel-Charles provided commentary. The proceedings will be published in an upcoming issue of the California Law Review. Photos of the event are available here, and lecture slides with audio here. (02/14/13)
Alum Assumes Major Role at Leading Foundation
Thurman V. White, Jr. '80 has been appointed one of three new directors of the Silicon Valley Community Foundation (SVCF), a leading global philanthropic group with more than $2.3 billion in assets. SVCF is the largest funder of Bay Area causes and, in partnership with its individual and corporate donors, issues more international grants than any other U.S. community foundation. White is CEO of Progress Investment, an independent, employee-owned investment advisor with $7 billion in assets under management. Prior to becoming CEO in 2004, he served as the firm's managing director, COO, and president. (01/28/13)
Frank Fahrenkopf ’65 Leaves Gaming Association
Frank Fahrenkopf ’65, the first president and CEO of the American Gaming Association, will step down at the end of June after more than 17 years at the helm. Fahrenkopf spearheaded an era of rapid growth for the gaming industry. The Berkeley Law alum helped establish the National Center for Responsible Gaming and an industry-wide code of conduct. He also played a lead role in developing a task force that promotes diversity in gaming industry hiring and procurement. Fahrenkopf, who chaired the Republican National Committee from 1983 to 1989, co-chairs the Commission on Presidential Debates, which he co-founded in 1986. (01/22/13)
Thomas Henteleff ’68 Receives Leadership Award
Thomas Henteleff ’68 received the Food and Drug Law Institute’s Distinguished Service and Leadership Award, which honors sustained service and contribution to the field of food and drug law. Henteleff, the managing partner at Kleinfeld, Kaplan and Becker, represents clients with an interest in regulations pertaining to drugs, medical devices, foods, dietary supplements, pesticides, and other consumer products. His practice covers the administration and enforcement of the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act; the Controlled Substances Act; the Federal Trade Commission Act; and the Lanham Act. (01/08/13)
Marci Hoffman Wins Campus Librarian Award
Marci Hoffmann, associate director of the Berkeley Law Library, has received the university’s Distinguished Librarian Award. Given every two years, the award honors individuals who "demonstrate a consistent embodiment of the highest standards of librarianship and whose work enhances the quality of the campus’ intellectual community." Hoffman, who co-developed an international web portal called Electronic Information System for International Law, teaches an international and foreign legal research seminar. She is also general editor of the Electronic Guide to Resources in International Law and the Index to Foreign Legal Periodicals. (01/02/13)
Renata Hesse ’90 to Lead U.S. Antitrust Division
Renata Hesse ’90 has been named acting head of the U.S. Justice Department’s Antitrust Division. She previously led the department’s Networks and Technology Enforcement Section, but left to become partner at Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati’s Washington, D.C. office. Hesse returned to the agency in March 2012 as special adviser for civil enforcement and deputy assistant attorney general for criminal and civil operations. Last year, while at Wilson Sonsini, she oversaw a Federal Communications Commission (FCC) review of AT&T’s $39 billion bid to buy T-Mobile. FCC and Justice Department opposition forced the companies to abandon the deal. (12/21/12)
Elena Cardona ’85 Takes Top Post in Santa Fe
Santa Fe, New Mexico recently hired Elena Cardona '85 as its new full-time public defender. The Santa Fe City Council voted in August to create the full-time position for its Municipal Court, a marked departure from the city's longstanding practice of contracting for public defender services. Previously, Cardona handled felony cases for the New Mexico Public Defender Department, which takes on about 70,000 cases each year. Cardona's work included representing clients through appeal and post-conviction proceedings. (12/05/12)
Orrick Names Mitchell Zuklie ’96 as Chair-Elect
The global law firm Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe has chosen Mitchell Zuklie '96 to become its chairman in January 2014. Zuklie’s selection capped an 18-month process in which Orrick's nominating committee obtained direct input from its 370 partners. Zuklie leads Orrick's Corporate Business Unit and is one of the country’s leading advisers to entrepreneurs, technology companies, and the venture capital community. As a student, he won Berkeley Law's Young Alumni Award in 2011 and served as editor-in-chief of the California Law Review. (11/30/12)
Justice Steven Gonzalez ’91 Wins ABA Award
The American Bar Association Solo, Small Firm and General Practice Division has given Washington State Supreme Court Justice Steven Gonzalez ’91 its annual Difference Makers award. A former criminal and civil law attorney, Gonzalez regularly provided pro bono representation to disadvantaged clients. He also served as a trial judge on the King County Superior Court, as a top domestic violence prosecutor for the city of Seattle, and as an assistant U.S. attorney. Long active in community affairs, Gonzalez currently mentors students through the Future of the Law Institute. (11/27/12)
Henry Hecht Honored for 30 Years of Teaching
Lecturer in Residence Henry Hecht was recently honored for his 30 years at Berkeley Law. The first instructor to teach specific lawyering skills at the law school, Hecht guided its first courses in client interviewing, counseling, and negotiation. Three decades later, professional skills comprise more than 15 percent of Berkeley Law’s academic program, with a significant portion taught by leading practitioners and judges. Hecht is also an independent consultant on legal skills training and co-founder of The Hecht Training Group, a group of attorneys who have each taught lawyering skills for over 25 years. (11/06/12)
Brian Walsh ’72 Elected Presiding Judge
Brian Walsh ’72 has been elected Presiding Judge of the Santa Clara County Superior Court for the 2013-15 term. Currently the court’s Assistant Presiding Judge, he will take over his new post on Jan. 1. First appointed to the Superior Court in 2000, Walsh worked in private practice and was managing partner at McTernan, Stender, Walsh, Weingus & Tondreau. He also co-directed the Legal Aid Society of Monterey County from 1972-1974. "Having worked closely with Judge Walsh over the past two years, I know that I’ll be leaving the court’s helm in incredibly capable hands," said Presiding Judge Richard J. Loftus, Jr. (11/05/12)
Alumna Rejoins Disability Rights Advocates
Shawna Parks ’99 has been appointed co-director of litigation at Disability Rights Advocates, a non-profit dedicated to securing the civil rights of people with disabilities. She began her legal career as a legal assistant with the organization in 1994 and returned as a fellow and staff attorney from 2000-2003. Recently, Parks served as legal director for the Disability Rights Legal Center in Los Angeles. She was named a Southern California Rising Star by Super Lawyers magazine from 2006-2009, one of California’s Top 100 Women Litigators by the Daily Journal in 2010, and a juvenile law attorney of the year by California Lawyer in 2011. (10/11/12)
Michael Bamberger Honored
Berkeley Law lecturer and attorney Michael Bamberger has received the 2012 Freedom to Read Foundation’s Roll of Honor Award. Bamberger, a staunch defender of free speech legal protections, is a partner at SNR Denton. As general counsel of the Media Coalition, he successfully challenged dozens of federal, state, and local laws that sought to censor material protected by the First Amendment. Author of the 2000 book Reckless Legislation: How Lawmakers Ignore the Constitution, Bamberger is an expert on limited liability companies and partnerships. He has appeared before the U.S. Supreme Court and nine federal courts of appeals. (10/04/12)
Claudia Wilken ’75 Named Chief District Judge
Claudia Wilken ’75 has been named chief judge of California’s Northern District. Wilken also served as a Federal Public Defender’s Office staff attorney, a private-practice lawyer in Berkeley, and a federal magistrate judge in the Northern District before joining the U.S. District Court bench in 1993. Some of her major decisions have included limiting but upholding San Francisco’s domestic partners law, overturning California’s term-limits law, and allowing lawsuits against school officials for ignoring sexual harassment against students. A former Berkeley Law lecturer, Wilken will remain in the court’s Oakland division. (09/24/12)
Bradley Foundation Honors Edwin Meese ’58
The Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation awarded a 2012 Bradley Prize to former U.S. Attorney General Edwin Meese ’58. Meese is the Heritage Foundation’s Ronald Reagan Distinguished Fellow in Public Policy and chairs its Center for Legal and Judicial Studies. He served as U.S. Attorney General from 1985-1988 and Counselor to President Reagan from 1981-1985. Meese also worked for Reagan in various positions during his years as California’s governor, including chief of staff and senior policy advisor. Previously, Meese worked as an Alameda County deputy district attorney, a solo practitioner, and a University of San Diego law professor. (09/18/12)
New Chief Financial Officer at Berkeley Law
Kevin Argys has been named chief financial officer (CFO) at Berkeley Law. An expert in UC Berkeley data and reporting systems and financial management functions, he most recently was deputy CFO at the Haas School of Business. Previously, Argys worked as the College of Engineering’s Budget and Data Officer, the campus Business & Administrative Unit’s Budget and Strategic Planning Officer, and the College of Environmental Design’s Budget Planning Coordinator. One of three campus-wide leads for the university’s new Financial Planning and Analysis Outreach Initiative, Argys also chaired the Chancellor’s Staff Advisory Committee. (08/24/12)
Professor Robert Cooter Honored in Peru
The Universidad de San Martin de Porres in Lima, Peru, has awarded an honorary doctorate to Berkeley Law professor Robert Cooter. Audience members included the chief justice of Peru and more than 60 judges. The award recognized Cooter’s role in founding the Latin American Law and Economics Association, the importance of his scholarship in Latin America, and his latest book Solomon’s Knot: How Law Can End the Poverty of Nations. Cooter, who has taught at Berkeley Law since 1980, co-directs the school’s Law and Economics Program and is co-editor of the International Review of Law and Economics. (08/17/12)
Miguel Marquez ’96 Joins 6th District Court
Governor Jerry Brown has named Santa Clara County Counsel Miguel Marquez ’96 to serve on California’s 6th District Court of Appeals. Marquez is the first Latino justice on the San Jose-based court in its 28-year history, and the first who did not rise from the trial-court bench. Under his direction, Santa Clara was the only county to join the state in its legal battle against cities to abolish local redevelopment agencies, a position backed by the California Supreme Court. The son of Mexican immigrants, Marquez previously worked for the San Francisco Unified School District and San Francisco City Attorney’s Office. (08/10/12)
Vicki Young ’76 Receives Prestigious Honor
Vicki Young ’76 received the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers’ most prestigious honor, the Robert C. Heeney Award, July 27 in San Francisco. The annual award recognizes the lawyer who best exemplifies the goals and values of the association and the legal profession. A court-appointed counsel in state and federal courts, Young was given the award at a gala commemorating the 50th anniversary of Gideon v. Wainwright, the U.S. Supreme Court case establishing the right to counsel. Before entering private practice in San Francisco, Young was a deputy public defender for Sacramento County and a federal public defender. (08/03/12)
Legal Studies Students Win Writing Awards
Incoming Berkeley Law student Chase Burton won the Law and Society Association 2012 Undergraduate Student Paper Prize for "Spare the Cell, Spoil the Child: Early History and Philosophy of American Juvenile Justice," which also won UC Berkeley’s Library Prize for Undergraduate Research. Fellow Legal Studies honors student Cathy Wang won the American Sociological Association Sociology of Law Undergraduate Paper Prize for "Effect of Work-Family Policy Design and Culture on Women’s Employment Outcomes and Men’s User Rates." Legal Studies Program Director Michael Musheno supervised Burton; Professor Catherine Albiston ’93 supervised Wang. (07/30/12)
Classmates Nominated to Federal Judgeships
President Barack Obama has nominated Jon Tigar ’89 and Fernando Olguin ’89 to federal district court judgeships in California. Tigar was appointed to the Northern District, Olguin to the Central District. Currently a judge for the Alameda County Superior Court, Tigar previously worked as a litigation attorney (at Keker & Van Nest and Morrison & Foerster) and as a public defender in San Francisco. Olguin, the first member of his family to attend college, is now a federal magistrate judge for the Central District. He also worked as a U.S. Department of Justice trial lawyer and is a former partner at Traber, Voorhees & Olguin. (07/11/12)
Robert Cooter Lends Insight at G20 Summit
Professor Robert Cooter was part of a high-profile panel chaired by Mexican President Felipe Calderon at the recent G20 summit in Los Cabos, Mexico. Other panelists included the heads of the World Bank, Inter-American Development Bank, African Development Bank, and World Health Organization. When Chairman Calderon asked Cooter what agenda he'd set for the G20 in the coming years, Cooter replied: "The G20 should build the legal infrastructure for economic growth. Economic analysis identifies the laws that promote growth. Sustained growth comes from creativity, and creativity requires freedom. Freedom is the presence of good laws, not the absence of law. The G20 should legalize economic freedom." (07/05/12)
Faculty Duo Wins National Prize
Professors Lauren Edelman ’86 and Catherine Albiston ’93 have won the 2012 Law and Society Association Article Prize for "When Organizations Rule: Judicial Deference to Institutionalized Employment Structures"; co-authors include former Berkeley Law professor Linda Krieger, Virginia Mellema ’87, and Scott Eliason. The article analyzes how deference to organizational structures such as hiring, grievance, and evaluation procedures influence judges’ notions of legality and compliance with anti-discrimination law. Katherine Beckett, chair of the award committee, said the article "promises to make a significant contribution to a variety of disciplines and to socio-legal studies." (06/26/12)
Harry Scheiber Receives Berkeley Citation
Professor Harry Scheiber has received a 2012 Berkeley Citation, the highest honor of scholarly achievement awarded by UC Berkeley. Scheiber, who joined Berkeley Law’s faculty in 1980, is a prolific author and a renowned scholar in American legal history and ocean law. He has been chair of the law school’s Jurisprudence and Social Policy Program, director of its Center for the Study of Law and Society, and faculty director of its Sho Sato Program in Japanese and U.S. Law. Currently faculty director of the Institute for Legal Research, Scheiber is an active mentor to junior faculty, law students, and UC graduate students. (06/12/12)
Vermont Law Names Marc Miahly ’74 Dean
Vermont Law School has appointed Marc Mihaly ’74 president and dean, effective August 1. Mihaly is currently the school’s associate dean of environmental programs and director of its environmental law center. After graduating from Boalt, where he was editor-in-chief of Ecology Law Quarterly, Mihaly served in the U.S. Peace Corps in Central America. He later worked in the environmental unit of the California Attorney General’s Office and with the San Mateo County Legal Aid Society. In 1980, Mihaly co-founded Shute, Mihaly and Weinberger in San Francisco, one of the nation’s top public interest environmental law firms, and served as its managing partner for 17 years. (04/05/12)
Alan Harris ’68 to Lead National Association
Berkeley Law adjunct professor Alan Harris ‘68, a partner at Farella Braun + Martel, has been elected president of the American College of Construction Lawyers. A fellow with the college since 1992, Harris succeeds his Farella colleague Deborah Ballati. The college consists of the top one percent of the construction bar and includes lawyers, professors, and judges from the U.S., Canada, Britain, Australia, and France. A construction lawyer for more than 40 years, Harris has mediated hundreds of disputes as an arbitrator and court-appointed special master and has appeared in Best Lawyers in America, Super Lawyers, and Legal 500 USA. (03/21/12)
Dr. Linda Zaruba Starts Work at Berkeley Law
Tang Center psychologist Dr. Linda Zaruba recently began a half-time appointment at Berkeley Law. Zaruba, who has worked at UC Berkeley for 25 years, will help students confront issues such as time management, fear of public speaking, stress, grief, anxiety, and more. As a staff psychologist, she's worked with students from across disciplines and has met with law students at UC and in her private practice. Zaruba is also available to consult with faculty members regarding concerns they may have about a student's well-being. (02/29/12)
Barry Krisberg Receives Major Criminology Award
Berkeley Law’s Barry Krisberg has received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Society of Criminology. The director of research and policy at the Warren Institute on Law and Social Policy, Krisberg is a past president of the National Council on Crime and Delinquency and the Western Society of Criminology. He currently chairs the California Attorney General’s Research Advisory Committee, as well as an expert panel investigating the conditions in California’s youth prisons. Krisberg was recently named in a consent decree to help develop remedial plans and monitor many of the mandated reforms within the California Division of Juvenile Justice. (01/30/12)
Vincente Martinez ’97 Assumes Whistleblower Post
The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission has hired Vincente Martinez ’97 as the first director of its new Whistleblower Office. The office pays awards to individuals who voluntarily provide original information about Commodity Exchange Act violations. Martinez joins the group from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), where he served as an assistant director in the Division of Enforcement. He also helped establish and run the SEC’s Office of Market Intelligence, which handles collection and analysis of tips, complaints, and referrals from the public, government agencies, and professional organizations. (01/30/12)
Laura Heymann ’97 Receives Teaching Award
Laura Heymann ’97 has become the first law professor at The College of William & Mary to win the school’s Thomas Jefferson Teaching Award. Established in 1970, the annual award recognizes a William & Mary faculty member with fewer than 10 years of service who has displayed exemplary personal character, concern as a teacher, and influence on students. Heymann, whose research focuses on copyright and trademark law, teaches Torts to first-year students and intellectual property courses to upper-level students. While a student at Berkeley Law, she was elected to the Order of the Coif and served as Book Review Editor on the California Law Review. (01/30/12)
Holly Fujie ’78 Joins L.A. County Superior Court
California Governor Jerry Brown has appointed Holly Fujie ’78 to a judgeship in the Los Angeles County Superior Court. An equity partner at Buchalter Nemer since 1991 and an expert in insurance and surety industry litigation, Fujie served as president of the State Bar of California from 2008–2009 and president of the Boalt Hall Alumni Association from 2010–2011. Fujie, named a Southern California Super Lawyer every year from 2004–2011, has received numerous service awards from area bar associations. She often writes articles and gives presentations on issues of litigation, insurance coverage, and diversity in the legal profession. (01/06/12)
Karen Tani Wins National Dissertation Award
Berkeley Law assistant professor Karen Tani has won the annual John A. Heinz Dissertation Award from the National Academy of Social Insurance. She will receive $2,500 for the award, which honors outstanding research by new scholars addressing social insurance policy questions. Tani’s dissertation, judged by a five-person committee, tracks the evolution of welfare rights. Committee chair Christine Bishop of Brandeis University praised her “use of primary sources encompassing local variations in the administration of public assistance between 1935 and 1965 to provide an elegant and revealing analysis with far-reaching implications.” (01/06/12)
Thomas Klitgaard ’61 Receives Shanghai Award
Thomas Klitgaard ’61 has received the Magnolia Silver Award, the highest honor Shanghai’s Foreign Affairs Office bestows upon foreigners. Klitgaard was the only lawyer to receive the annual award, which recognizes outstanding contributions to Shanghai’s social-economic development and international exchange. A partner at Dillingham & Murphy, Klitgaard was recently a guest professor at Shanghai Economic College, where he led a business management training program for specially selected Chinese managers. He is also an international arbitrator and mediator, and serves on major arbitration panels in Beijing, Hong Kong, and New York. (01/06/12)
Wash. Supreme Court Taps Steven Gonzalez ’91
Washington Gov. Chris Gregoire has appointed Steven Gonzalez ’91 to serve on the state’s Supreme Court. Only the second Hispanic judge ever named to the high court, Gonzalez will replace retiring Justice Gerry Alexander. Judge Gonzalez has served on the King County Superior Court since 2002, winning reelection in 2004 and 2008. He also worked as an Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Washington and as a domestic violence prosecutor for the City of Seattle. Gonzalez currently chairs Washington’s Access to Justice Board and is co-chair of its Race and Criminal Justice System Task Force. (12/22/11)
Henderson Center Student to Aid Commission
Johnny Vasquez, an undergrad assistant at the Henderson Center for Social Justice, has been appointed to the California Student Aid Commission, which gives $1.4 billion yearly to students in financial straits. Vasquez, who himself has received various forms of financial aid, and Ishan Shah of Ohlone College are the commission’s first student members since 2007. The son of a single mother who worked two jobs, Vasquez represents the first generation in his family to attend a four-year university. He has been a legislative liaison in UC student government and a community outreach assistant for the Health Initiative of the Americas. (12/22/11)
Alumnus Co-Chairs U.S. Child Safety Task Force
Robert Listenbee, Jr. ’78 has been named co-chair of the Defending Childhood Task Force formed by U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder. The 13-member task force will hold nationwide public hearings and conduct research about the impact of children’s exposure to violence. Listenbee and co-chair Joe Torre will present their findings and policy recommendations to the Obama administration by late 2012. Chief of the Defender Association of Philadelphia’s Juvenile Unit, Listenbee serves on several boards and committees that advocate for children’s interests. He advises Pennsylvania Governor Tom Corbett on juvenile justice policy and has participated in assessments of the Indiana and Louisiana juvenile justice systems. (12/22/11)