Saturdays: January 25th & February 1st, 2025
9:30AM – 4:30PM | At Berkeley Law school
For Berkeley Law 1L, 2L, 3L and LLM students
This two-day intensive program will turbo-charge your effectiveness as a lawyer. Being able to deeply listen to, and to actually hear, what judges, clients, and opponents are saying, and being able to respond civilly and clearly are key elements to success as a lawyer.
But communicating well is hard, especially when the position of the other person is challenging, or even offensive to you. This hands-on small group program, designed to attract students across a broad spectrum of viewpoints, provides practical exercises and information to help you hone your listening and communication skills by leading you through ways to engage successfully in even the most difficult conversations.
And you will hear from Federal Circuit and District Court judges and Berkeley Law faculty about how they navigate these issues in their own professional and personal lives (followed by an informal opportunity to chat with the panel and other judges at lunch).
Take 10 minutes and apply now! Spaces are limited! Application deadline: December 3rd.
Participating Judges include...
Hon. Daniel A. Bress
U.S. Court of Appeals, 9th Cir.
Hon. Danielle J. Forrest
U.S. Court of Appeals, 9th Cir.
Hon. Haywood S. Gilliam
U.S. District Court, N.D. Cal.
Hon. Johnnie B. Rawlinson
U.S. Court of Appeals, 9th Cir.
Hear from our Listening for Lawyers: Effective Communication Across Differences' Alum
FAQs
- What is it? A two-day workshop consisting of three components:
- Communication workshops led by highly experienced mediators with the goal of increasing each participant’s skills in effective and respectful listening, assertion, and inquiry.
- Professionally facilitated, tightly-structured, dialogue groups on difficult—and sometimes divisive—topics
- Presentations by federal judges and Berkeley Law faculty about the importance of respectful communication in their own lives. (Judges and law school faculty will not be participating in the other two components of the program.)
- What will I get out of it? Extremely valuable lawyering/people skills; a chance to have informal conversations with Federal Circuit and District Judges; and a certificate of completion that you can put on your clerkship applications/resume to let employers know that you understand the importance of these skills.
- Are you trying to change our minds about our positions or foreclose public discussions? NO. ECAD is about building concrete communication skills, so the substantive content and positions expressed in conversation are more or less irrelevant to our goals. We want people with a wide variety of positions and perspectives to participate and we are not looking to change anyone’s mind – we want to give YOU the skills to more effectively communicate your positions, including being better able to hear and understand those of others.
- What will you be doing to make it more comfortable for me to share my opinions? We know that sometimes it is not easy to share your true opinions with your peers. We will be taking a variety of measures, including but not limited to the following: (1) working together as a group to create norms everyone agrees to abide by; (2) requiring that all discussions stay in the room; (3) excluding all phones from the workshop; (4) making sure that small groups will be, to the extent possible, mixed by year in school to increase comfort levels; (5) Using a supportive, professionally-facilitated, tightly-structured format for the dialogue groups.
- Will there be food? Of course!! We will serve a great lunch and will have snacks available throughout the day.
- What are the selection criteria? We seek a small group, with no more than thirty-six participants. Participant selection will be based on multiple factors, with an eye to creating a cohort that reflects a variety of backgrounds, experiences, and opinions. Program spaces are limited, so please only apply if you can commit to attending BOTH dates.
- Will you be sharing my application with anyone? Your candor and demonstrated interest in the program will greatly assist the team in the decision-making process. All of your answers, including your name and basic info, will be kept in full confidence. Only the review team, made up of the mediator faculty and our team at BJI, will have access to your application.
Participants will be notified by Monday, December 16th. If you are not selected immediately, you may be placed on a waitlist if space becomes available.
Got any more questions? Come to our info session and/or email Robyn Lipsky at robyn.lipsky@berkeley.edu!