Spotlights

Professor Seth Davis was a lead drafter of a new American Academy of Arts and Sciences report urging 18-year term limits for U.S. Supreme Court justices. The report states that this would reduce the polarization and partisanship life tenure creates, improve the judicial system’s reputation, and align the U.S. with 49 of its 50 states […]

Five students in our Arts & Innovation Representation pro bono project played key roles in a new report on Afghan artists fleeing Taliban rule: Sarah Davidson ’24 and Lainey Meiri ’23 as co-authors and Julian Cao ’24, Liz Mooring ’25, and Joe Fitzpatrick ’25 as researchers. The Artistic Freedom Initiative report exposes risks Afghan artists […]

Berkeley Law has nine Public Interest Scholars in its 1L class. Established in 2021, the scholarship covers full tuition and fees for J.D. students dedicated to public interest work to reduce the financial barriers they face when deciding whether to pursue public interest careers after graduating. You can read about the new scholars and past […]

Berkeley Law Dean Erwin Chemerinsky received the prestigious annual John P. Frank Award from the United States Courts for the Ninth Circuit. The award honors a lawyer who has shown outstanding character and integrity, dedication to the rule of law, proficiency as a trial and appellate lawyer, success in promoting collegiality among members of the […]

Black Lives at Cal (BLAC) has launched a Self-Guided Black History Tour of UC Berkeley, and stop No. 4 is at Berkeley Law to learn about Annie Coker ’29, the school’s first Black woman graduate. Coker spent over 35 years as a private and public sector lawyer, worked to increase racial diversity in the courts, […]

The expanding reach of our Clinical Program is powerfully reflected in its new annual report. The clinics trained 300 students who worked on myriad projects last school year, advancing social justice via legal services, policy work, and other client-facing projects. The program will add three new in-house clinics and four faculty members over the next […]

Legal Studies Advisor Lauri La Pointe received the American Association of Law Schools’ Pre-Law Advising Award. An advisor to Berkeley Legal Studies majors since 2006, she has helped the major double from about 220 students to roughly 450 this year. The annual award honors a pre-law advisor who demonstrates excellence in all aspects of their […]

The new issue of Transcript, our biannual magazine, highlights Berkeley Law’s momentum with the hiring of eight stellar new professors and the launch or revitalization of four research centers tackling pivotal issues in criminal, private, Indigenous, and reproductive law and justice. Other stories profile impactful advocacy, remarkable students, innovative initiatives, and more. An accessible digital […]

Our “Borderlines” podcast released a special four-part series with International Human Rights Law Clinic Co-Directors Roxanna Altholz ’99 and Laurel Fletcher talking to leading advocates who visited their Human Rights Practice Workshop course. The episodes tackle corporate accountability, defending water protectors and Indigenous rights, gender parity in international representation, and U.N. mechanisms and anti-Black racism.

The new Drug Policy, Education, and Decriminalization (DECrim) Project is one of Berkeley Law’s 40 Student-Initiated Legal Services Projects. Students will examine evidentiary issues in the prosecution and criminalization of drug use across the U.S. while engaging in pro bono work under the supervision of lawyers at the Drug Policy Alliance, which works to advance […]