Spotlights

According to a National Law Journal study, Berkeley Law ranks #8 in the U.S., up two spots from last year, for 2019 JD grads who landed associate jobs at the largest 100 firms (49%, up from 42%). And the QS World University Rankings, which factor in employer and academic reputation, research citations per paper, and […]

Berkeley Law soared at the recent Tulane Pro Basketball Negotiation Competition. Amir Rousta and Scott Kanchuger (best advocator) won the mock free agency event, besting 37 other teams, and Alexa Homewood, Megan McKnelly, and Sean Kiernan tied for second. Students were rated on their negotiating skills and written work by prominent figures from sports law […]

The Berkeley Center for Law & Technology, the hub of Berkeley Law’s No. 1-ranked intellectual property law program, held its 25th anniversary gala on Feb. 27. The gala followed the first day of an annual two-day symposium, co-sponsored by the center, that this year explored the roles of technology expertise in law and policy.

Professor Robert Merges will receive the 2020 Patent Conference Lifetime Achievement Award. The conference is an annual forum where scholars in law, economics, engineering, public health, business, and other fields share their research. A mainstay of Berkeley’s top-ranked intellectual property law program, Merges will be honored April 3-4 in Boston.

Sexual harassment law was the focus of a daylong program Feb. 7 at Berkeley Law hosted by the Berkeley Center on Comparative Equality & Anti-Discrimination Law. A prominent and diverse group of panelists gave updates on relevant California law, Title IX law, workplace investigation practice, and the global #MeToo movement.

The Duke Law Journal’s Women and the Law issue includes a poignant California Law Review essay by Karen Korematsu. Noting the civil rights work of her father, convicted for evading internment of Japanese Americans during World War II, she says women “must be persistent and advocate for ourselves—just as my father did—if we are going to see real […]

Berkeley Law’s largest clinic, the East Bay Community Law Center, has a new executive director. Zoë Polk, previously the San Francisco Human Rights Commission’s deputy director and lead policy advisor, has advanced social justice projects worldwide. She will lead 80-plus staffers who serve over 8,000 clients and train over 150 Berkeley Law students each year.

Alumna Chelsey Mori ’19 is a cast member of Spy Games, a reality television show that premiered on Bravo Jan. 20. A corporate lawyer in Los Angeles, Mori and nine others undergo physical and mental challenges designed by former CIA, Secret Service, and FBI agents while vying to master the art of espionage.

Professors Pamela Samuelson and Catherine Crump filed an amicus brief in the U.S. Supreme Court on behalf of 72 intellectual property scholars in Google v. Oracle, a major copyright case. The brief asserts that computer program interfaces, which are needed to create compatible programs, should not be protected by copyright law.

The new Law & Social Inquiry issue has a symposium on the award-winning book Working Law: Courts, Corporations, and Symbolic Civil Rights by Lauren Edelman ’86. It includes an article by fellow Berkeley Law Professor Catherine Albiston ’93, who says the book shows how company practices that purport to bar discrimination are often feckless.