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Co-president of UC Berkeley Law’s Plaintiffs’ Law Association, Ochoa gained prime experience this summer working at the plaintiff-side employment firm Bryan Schwartz Law, P.C., in Oakland.

Host Gwyneth Shaw talks to Hausman about the grant-funded project, which is the first centralized repository of individual-level U.S. government immigration enforcement data and is publicly available.

“Philz appears loaded up on debt and preferred shares. So, for whatever price they’re being potentially sold to the private equity holder — and that could be either through a kind of merger and acquisition transaction or it could be through asset sale,” Professor Prasad Krishnamurthy said. “Either way, after the debt holders get paid off and after the preferred shareholders get paid up, there doesn’t seem to be any money left over for the common shareholders.”

A legal manager at Kaizen Gaming, which is based in Greece and operates in over 20 countries, Anagnostopoulou savors taking on the challenges of a fast-changing industry.

“What the president is doing is illegal. And we ought to be clear about that,” said UC Berkeley Law’s Executive Director of the Edley Center on Law & Democracy, Catherine E. Lahmon.

“There’s no doubt that the Trump administration has increased pressure on Plyler,” said Dean Erwin Chemerinsky. “Certainly, what Trump is doing could lead to cases that would get to the Supreme Court. Could this court overturn Plyler? Of course they could. … all it would take is five justices wanting to overrule it.”

“The defendant has simply listed every affirmative defense that could apply to any of the claims,” said Professor David Oppenheimer, clinical professor of law at the University of California, Berkeley School of Law. “The common term for such an answer is ‘boilerplate.’ The purpose is to preserve any conceivable defense.”

Professors Catherine Crump and Chris Hoofnagle weigh in on AI wearables and the legality of recording everything. 

“The need for accurate information should not be seen as partisan, and Congress should act quickly to restore confidence in government statistics,” writes Dean Erwin Chemerinsky.

“If one believes that briefing, arguing, and deliberating matters are essential to a system of law – and I certainly do – we should be deeply troubled by their absence when the court is issuing major rulings without them,” writes Dean Erwin Chemerinksy.

After more than eight years on Capitol Hill and a rewarding first year at UC Berkeley Law, Bosworth gained valuable Big Law experience this summer at Freshfields in Silicon Valley.

Contrary to claims by the Trump administration, noncitizen voting is “extremely rare,” according to UC Berkeley Law School’s Emily Zhang. “That’s the kind of fraud that they’re saying is happening,” Zhang said. “Now that they are in power, there is a pressure to kind of prove that claim, to demonstrate that this is actually a problem.”

“It is difficult to defend a higher education financing scheme that piles debt on students in most financial need,” said UC Berkeley School of Law professor Jonathan Glater. “But it is even more difficult to defend a higher education financing scheme that punishes or deters those very students whom it should most help.”

Dean Erwin Chemerinsky joins KPFA’s Background Brief to discuss how Trump’s allies are reshaping the legal system by elevating unqualified ideologues.

“The president can’t set conditions on federal funds. Only Congress can do that,” Dean Erwin Chemerinsky said. “The federal government can’t force states to administer a federal mandate. That violates the Constitution.”

“They key is that it has to apply to all law enforcement. It can’t just apply to federal law enforcement,” said Chemerinsky, dean of the law school at the University of California, Berkeley.

“We need safeguards to ensure that this powerful technology is used in a way that advance legitimate law enforcement interests, but that stave off possibilities of abuse,” said Professor Catherine Crump.

Dean Erwin Chemerinsky discusses Andrew v. White and Lackey v. Stinnie which he considers to be the two sleeper cases of the SCOTUS term.

Altholz, director of the Human Rights Clinic, is one of three experts appointed by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights to conduct an independent and impartial investigation of Berta Cáceres’ 2016 assassination.

“They want somebody that they can trust who wouldn’t use the position as a political bullhorn or for carrying out the administration’s broader political agenda,” said Jeremy Fogel, a former federal judge and the executive director of the Berkeley Judicial Institute when discussing judicial district practices and culture for voting on whether to ratify an interim U.S. attorney.

“The test is, if a federal agent acts in an ‘objectively unreasonable manner,’ the state may bring a criminal prosecution,” Dean Erwin Chemerinsky says. “So I think the question is, would a state prohibition on law enforcement wearing masks interfere with the performance of their duties? Is not wearing masks objectively reasonable?

“Being a judge now is more important than it’s ever been in American history,” Dean Erwin Chemerinsky told the audience of hundreds of lawyers and judges at the court’s conference in Monterey. “This is a time when we need judicial courage. We need the lawyers to be courageous, too.”

After 19 years at the school, Schechter — also co-faculty director of the Pro Bono Program — talks about her history at UC Berkeley Law and why she loves what she does more than ever.

“Is there any such thing as a civil rights lien? No,” said Catherine Lhamon, executive director of The Edley Center on Law & Democracy at UC Berkeley Law, and a former top civil rights official under Presidents Barack Obama and Joe Biden. “Not only is it unprecedented — I think the word you’re looking for is ‘unlawful.’”

Professor Daniel Farber joins podcast A Climate Change with Matt Martern to explore effective strategies for combating harmful environmental policies and maintaining progress on climate action despite federal opposition.

Professor Daniel Farber comments on the EPA’s potential rollback of one of its cornerstone climate change findings.

“Although the ultimate outcome in the courts is uncertain, the California Legislature should pass the bill,” writes Dean Erwin Chemerinksy. “If nothing else, the law would be a forceful declaration by this state’s elected representatives that the practice of ICE agents operating in masks and without identification is wrong and must stop.”

“These cases pose profound issues with regard to separation of powers and the authority of the president,” write Dean Erwin Chemerinsky. “They often enormously affect real people’s lives. The justices owe it to all involved and to the country to explain their thinking. “Because we said so” is just unacceptable.”

Ethan Elkind, director of UC Berkeley Law’s Center for Law, Energy, & the Environment weighs in on proposed relaxed emission rules from California Democrats amid gas price crisis.

Four senior scholars — Professors Brian Galle, Joy Milligan Ph.D. ’18, Bertrall Ross, and Kevin Washburn — join Assistant Professors Jason Ferguson and Ryan Sakoda and Clinical Professor Alina Ball, the latest in a transformative wave of hiring since Dean Erwin Chemerinsky arrived in 2017.

“It is terrible that our government is doing this, but it is unconscionable that the Supreme Court stepped in to make sure it could happen,” writes Dean Erwin Chemerinsky. “The court exists to ensure that the Constitution and the laws of the United States are enforced, not to be a rubber stamp for the president.”

Erwin Chemerinsky, a leading constitutional legal expert and Dean of the UC Berkeley School of Law, points out that federal law enforcement still has to abide by state laws while carrying out operations. He says the bill would be unconstitutional if it only applied to federal agents.

Vlacos relishes confronting disability rights and other hot-button issues while working with the Civil Rights and Enforcement Section of the California Department of Justice in San Francisco.

Catherine Lhamon, executive director of UC Berkeley Law’sf Edley Center on Law and Democracy and former assistant secretary for civil rights at the U.S. Department of Education under the Biden administration, said her department was always pleading with Congress for more staff to handle the increasing caseloads. “There is no universe in which we would have needed fewer people,” said Lhamon.

“The Supreme Court’s ruling in Trump v. CASA not only strips federal courts of the vital power to issue nationwide injunctions against unlawful presidential actions, but does so by clinging to a narrow, historically misguided view of 18th-century English law,” writes Dean Erwin Chemerinsky.

“What makes this case different is how much it’s based on facts,” said Erwin Chemerinsky, dean of the UC Berkeley School of Law. “It’s much harder for an appellate court to overturn a trial court finding of fact then it is with regard to legal conclusions.”

The gift from Bob and Colleen Haas honors the distinguished UC Berkeley alumnus and celebrates his name, legendary life’s work, and passion for molding a fairer and more just society.

“It’s absolutely nonsensical and completely irrational,” said Leti Volpp, professor of law at UC Berkeley School of Law. “States and localities that are not covered by these cases may be pressured by the federal government to deny birthright citizenship to children born in those jurisdictions.”

Professor Tejas Narechania weighs in on a bill that would prohibit online streaming services like Netflix and Hulu from cranking up the volume during commercials.

UC Berkeley Law LL.M. alum Rita Powolot discusses how her LL.M. degree helped her legal career in the U.S. 

“From Gaza and Israel to Russia and Ukraine, any meaningful ceasefire must confront state sponsored hacking, internet shutdowns, and an inflammatory barrage of digital disinformation — in addition to the traditional elements of war,” write Betsy Popkin, executive director of UC Berkeley Law’s Human Rights Center and senior research fellow Brett Solomon. “Without addressing these digitally enabled operations, peace deals risk falling short.” 

Tetiana Poudel relishes “contributing to something bigger than myself” to help her country defend itself against Russia, raising money and fueling venture capital efforts to provide supplies, equipment, and medication.

UC Berkeley Law lecturer and cultural property scholar, Carla Shapreau discusses her pivotal role in recognizing the stolen Mendelssohn Stradivarius—comparing its historic family photos to recent images and providing critical provenance research that helped link the instrument to its wartime fate.

“We hope these principles remind us that what unites us as a country, our deeply held underlying values, is greater than what divides us,” write Dean Erwin Chemerinsky and J. Michael Luttig.

Alongside former federal Judge J. Michael Luttig and Drexel Law Professor Lisa Tucker, Chemerinsky created the nationwide effort to promote freedom, equality, and democracy through public education about the protections provided by the U.S. Constitution.

Erwin Chemerinsky, dean of the UC Berkeley School of Law, said lawmakers would have a stronger case to make if their bills target law enforcement at all levels — be it local, state or federal — as opposed to just singling out federal agents.

Professor Diana Reddy weighs in on the attack on the labor movement.

Dean Erwin Chemerinsky weighs in on the Supreme Court’s October 2024 term.

“At a time when our country is so divided, I still optimistically hope that the court might play a moderating — and even unifying — role,” writes Dean Erwin Chemerinsky. “That so clearly didn’t happen this year, as the conservative majority repeatedly chose sides.”

“In my conversations with attorneys across every sector of the profession, from BigLaw partners to solo practitioners, government counsel to public interest advocates, there’s a common thread: Stay grounded and effective amid the chaos,” writes Angeli Patel, executive director, Berkeley Center for Law and Business.