Spotlights

In a newly published essay, Berkeley Law student Hannah Lukanuski ’21 discusses the inspiring life of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg and her commitment to core Jewish values. A former co-president of the Jewish Students’ Association at Berkeley Law, Lukanuski describes how Ginsburg “fought to fix broken social and political systems her entire life.”

Professor Bertrall Ross was appointed to the Administrative Conference of the United States. The independent federal agency convenes experts from the public and private sectors to recommend improvements to how federal regulations are promulgated and how federal programs are administered. Ross has been assigned to the agency’s committee on rulemaking.

Our Berkeley Center for Law and Business co-developed a new California fund to help small businesses in the state (30% to 40% of which are on the brink of failing) ravaged by the COVID-19 pandemic. The fund, created by a public-private task force, especially aims to target the smallest businesses from historically disenfranchised communities. Read […]

Henderson Center for Social Justice Executive Director Savala Trepczynski ’11 has emerged as a leading national voice on the nation’s reckoning with racism. She recently had her second op-ed published in TIME Magazine (about one role white people can play to advance racial justice) and an essay in Vogue about her great-great-grandmother and Breonna Taylor.

With a growing consensus that race is linked to all aspects of our legal system, Berkeley Law recently held a livestreamed conversation on race and legal education. The panel featured professors Kathryn Abrams, Abbye Atkinson, Ian Haney López, and Russell Robinson; students Serena Nichols ’21 and Ray Durham ’22; and Dean of Admissions and Financial […]

The California Law Review offers several articles on the Berkeley Judicial Institute’s debut symposium about charting a path for federal judiciary reform. Content includes pieces from Berkeley Law faculty members Jeremy Fogel, Peter Menell, and Tejas Narechania, a keynote address from Second Circuit Judge Jon Newman, and other articles by leading judiciary scholars.

The Human Rights Center’s Investigations Lab offers resilience training to students who mine social media videos for human rights atrocities. Center leaders Alexa Koenig and Andrea Lampros are writing a book on coping with such secondary trauma, and Pearle Nwaezeigwe LL.M. ’19 co-launched a website that provides tools for digital resilience. Read more here.

The entire current issue of the Minnesota Law Review is devoted to eight articles from a symposium last year on an upcoming book by Professor Franklin Zimring. Coming out this fall, The Insidious Momentum of American Mass Incarceration argues that mundane facets of state and local government have stymied efforts to reduce excess incarceration in the U.S.

The Global #MeToo Movement, a new book by the Berkeley Center on Comparative Equality and Anti-Discrimination Law, tracks the movement’s worldwide implications. It features updates and insights of 48 authors on six continents, including leading university professors, NGO activists, and government officials, on how women are using social media to confront sexual harassment.

Annie Coker ’29 was the first Black woman to graduate from Berkeley Law and also the first to practice law in California. In a compelling new article that profiles her remarkable life, successful legal career, and enduring legacy, alumni and current students of color describe the inspiration and insight they gained learning about Coker’s path.