The class featured guest appearances from leading practitioners and thinkers with a focus on how CEOs, chief legal officers, and corporate boards are responding to AI’s disruptive potential.
With the climate for judges becoming increasingly fraught, Hiramoto prioritizes her passions as a jurist: pursuing justice in her courtroom while paving the way for new generations of judges, lawyers, and students.
From Silicon Valley startups to established corporate pillars, alums in high-level legal roles are propelling meaningful change in areas such as electric vehicles, finance, consumer goods, and social media.
In Berkeley Law’s mentorship series, lecturer Talha Syed and Zara Tayebjee ’26 discuss office hours, the Socratic Method, and how a half-hour conversation about a pen helped shape a student’s intellectual path.
According to data from reform states, juvenile courts no longer charge youth and families more than $61 million in fees each year, and they have discharged a staggering $783 million in debt.
The $500,000 commitment from Ruth Bell ’67 and her husband Joseph Bell aims to expand the Center for Law, Energy & the Environment’s impact in guiding California policymakers on vital issues.
Professors Khiara M. Bridges, Colleen V. Chien ’02, and Dhammika Dharmapala, and Assistant Professor Manisha Padi were recognized for their scholarly and teaching accomplishments.
With the rule of law under unprecedented pressure, they’re standing up in courtrooms, classrooms, lecture halls, the media, and internationally to fight for justice.
The catalyst for the State Bar of California’s new Privacy Law Specialization, Serrato has built a practical training initiative for senior leaders in data strategy, innovation, governance, and risk management.
For Veena Dubal, mentorship from Catherine “KT” Albiston meant more than academic guidance. It meant permission to pivot, confidence to keep going, and a model for scholarship grounded in care and public purpose.
This year’s honors went to John Burris ’73, Professor Peter S. Menell, Lillian Hardy ’06, and U.S. Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Nicole Berner ’95, with a special accolade for Dean Erwin Chemerinsky.
Jerath and her co-founder incorporated lessons from over 25,000 billable hours to craft a virtual program for law students and new associates “to take the knowledge, skills, and understanding junior corporate lawyers usually spend years piecing together and teach it all upfront.”
Swift’s brilliance and grace inspired the alum, who wishes to remain anonymous, to donate $250,000 to start the fund. He hopes other alumni join him in paying tribute to Swift, who died in 2023 after a legendary career.
Named one of the nation’s 100 most influential corporate governance leaders, Dobrygowski describes the motivations driving both his pioneering work and his new book.
The school’s newest graduates are clerking for the supreme courts of five states this fall — Alaska, California, Hawaiʻi, New Jersey, and Nevada — as well as intermediate courts of appeal in Alaska and Hawaiʻi and state superior courts in Alaska and California.
The landscape includes renowned faculty, lecturers with vast experience in the field, a surging research center, and a top journal that recently held its 50th anniversary symposium.
“This cohort has demonstrated why they will be fantastic litigators in the future,” says Judge Mario M. Choi, a former complex commercial litigator who teaches the course.
Quick start and tenacious defense help Berkeley stay undefeated in the annual Order on the Court basketball game with a 70-46 win fueled by spirited cheerleaders, stellar halftime performers, and hundreds of raucous fans.
Faculty, students, staff, and alumni call Chemerinsky uniquely positioned to lead Berkeley Law’s role in protecting the rule of law, chart an ambitious course for its future, and solidify its long-term financial footing.
The Spring 2026 Transcript also features a photo essay sharing the motivations of student and alumni pro bono leaders, a 2L’s push to preserve the stories of military veterans, and much more.
Combining a full-time field work placement with a weekly seminar, the immersive semester-long program illuminates how federal statutes, regulations, and policies are made, interpreted, and applied in the nation’s capital.
While small towns are a less common path for most Berkeley alums, “the divide between cities and rural areas isn’t as big as we sometimes think it is,” Edwards says.
The gift establishes the Zieff-Leitner Public Interest Fellowship, which will allow a graduating 3L student to spend their first year in practice with a nonprofit organization — at a starting salary of $80,000, significantly more than existing fellowships.
The first university-based center for sociolegal research marked its 65th anniversary with an engaging conference addressing criminal justice, inequality, democracy and civil society, and lessons for and from the legal profession.
JD Genesis recently held a daylong retreat for its inaugural fellows, providing practical insights on the admissions process, shopping and paying for law school, career pathways, wellness and mental health, and more.
Human Rights Clinic Director Roxanna Altholz ’99 relied on support from the law school as she and two other international law experts probed the 2016 murder of the Honduran environmental activist.
Presented by the Berkeley Center on Comparative Equality and Anti-Discrimination Law, the two-day conference featured leading experts addressing new legal developments and the main factors driving recent regression.
Amid an increasingly urgent climate crisis, Dan Adler, Craig Segall, and Alexis Pelosi ’00 bring deep expertise to boost the center’s capacity to deliver effective and equitable policy solutions.
An intuitive problem solver, the senior counsel provides practical and solution-oriented legal advice to the company’s business teams and executives on a wide range of issues.
The New Orleans gathering brought laurels for Field Placement Program Director Sue Schechter, Clinical Professor and Environmental Law Clinic Director Claudia Polsky ’96, Instructional & Educational Technology Librarian Kristie Chamorro, 3L Virginia Frausto-Elizarraraz, and the late Professor Philip Frickey.
Across the legal landscape, the school’s commitment to excellence, community, public mission, and leadership — as well as its entrepreneurial spirit and determined pursuit of justice — was on full display.
As the head of legal at Orange, Inc., Ueda relishes helping expand the increasingly popular Japanese art form of comics and graphic storytelling — and connecting people across cultures.
The group brings diverse expertise in data science, immigration, and criminal, family, and transactional law, expanding the program’s reach and bolstering its mission to advance racial, economic, and social justice.
The civil rights icon, former federal judge, and Berkeley Law visiting professor witnessed violent efforts to block Black people from voting in the 1960s South as a Department of Justice lawyer.
“My role has always been to push the envelope” on gaining civil rights for people with disabilities, says Mayerson, who has taught at Berkeley Law since 1988.
Stromsheim, whose meandering path from nursing in Norway to law in Berkeley led to a successful career as a bankruptcy attorney, also gave $500,000 to the university’s Goldman School of Public Policy.
The content includes featuring our seven new professors, our alumni’s huge impact in the entertainment industry, and new students’ varied motivations for choosing law school — and Berkeley.
The author of immigration law’s go-to guide — now its 19th edition — Kurzban has litigated over 100 federal cases, obtained a $500 million judgment against a former dictator, and represented thousands of refugees.
While still a law student, Ahern developed an innovative calculation tool that eliminates tedious manual work and fuels faster, more reliable decisions that instill greater confidence.
One of the youngest students to graduate from UC Berkeley Law, Cheung created a LinkedIn group for the school’s LL.M. alumni and earned all three available certificates of specialization.
As a public defender, mentor, educator, and volunteer, this year’s Minnesota State Bar Association Lifetime Achievement Award winner continues to make a significant impact.
Isnard’s Spaceadvocat firm helps private space-industry startups navigate the international regulatory thicket — and he regularly taps into his UC Berkeley Law directory for consults.
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.
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.
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.
After helping teach an environmental justice course Jamil went to law school himself, represented the American Bar Association at the United Nations Climate Summit, and is now a federal judicial clerk.
