The Alumni Guide Program was launched in August 2020 by the Alumni Engagement & Development office. It was intended to be a temporary program in response to the COVID-19 pandemic restrictions, which closed the Berkeley campus. New student orientation and in-person classes were canceled. Nearly 300 alumni volunteered to personally welcome entering 1L and transfer students to our community via Zoom or phone. Many alumni and student participants recommended that we continue this program once on-campus activities resumed.
Our objective for the program remains the same as during our inaugural year: to welcome our newest students to the Berkeley Law community and answer any questions or concerns they may have as they begin the initial phase of their legal careers. We hope that these students will come to appreciate the warmth and humanity that underpins the Berkeley Law community. Almost 200 incoming 1L students take part in the program each year, and we look for a similar number of alumni to be Alumni Guides each summer.
Alumni Guides will be matched with a student in mid-to-late July via the Berkeley Law Connect platform. Guides are asked to contact their students in late July or early August to welcome them to the Berkeley Law community and to answer questions about transitioning to law school. Guides then check in with their student six weeks after classes begin to see how their student is adjusting to Berkeley Law and answer any additional questions they might have.
If you would like to get involved, please contact alumni@law.berkeley.edu