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.
Sophia Wang, Toni Mendicino, and Amina Kirby are recognized for leading immigration rights advocacy, amplifying Berkeley Law’s international law work, and advancing technical innovations in the school’s classrooms and event spaces.
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.
The changing climate’s growing impact is acting as a powerful threat multiplier — exacerbating violence, exclusion, discrimination, and weak state protection and spurring migration from El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua.
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.
Housers at Berkeley and the California Housing Initiative strive to achieve more affordable housing opportunities across the state and help train a new generation of advocates.
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.
Research by J.S.D. candidate Mahwish Moazzam probes compelling questions about AI bias, religious expression, representation, and human dignity in algorithmic systems.
Recent rankings place Berkeley Law as the top public law school in the United States, and studies analyzing scholarly impact also place the school’s faculty among the best at public institutions.
The Edley Center for Law & Democracy event with three former federal prosecutors and the president of a prominent watchdog nonprofit describe growing barriers to investigating the abuse of power by government officials.
As industry defendants increasingly push state judges to adopt strict standing limits modeled on federal standards, the center’s Open Door Project is helping Californians keep their access to the state’s courts.
His research shows how diversity’s values have long been widely embraced by leaders in the military, business, education, and the law, and how it has benefited organizations and society.
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.
Stood up on a quick timetable, the project fits perfectly into the Criminal Law & Justice Center’s work at the intersection of immigration detention and the criminal justice system.
The pragmatic course illuminates the economics and structure of large law firms, the substance of their different practice areas, and how best to succeed in them.
Panelists addressed the growing personal and political threats facing judges, and how modern pressures from social media harassment to political tribalism threaten the independence necessary for a fair society.
Song, a political scientist, started a three-year term as associate dean for the school’s Ph.D. program and an undergraduate major with more than 400 students last fall.
The tax law expert just published a book outlining a plan for fairer taxation at the federal level and is involved with an effort to put a billionaire tax on the ballot in California.
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.
Blockchain & Law at Berkeley and AI @ Berkeley Law both help students learn about timely issues from industry leaders and offer valuable programs, career insights, and networking opportunities.
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.
Stephanie Alvarez, Evelyn Correa, Rosie Rios, and Alejandro Castañeda Zúñiga worked with migrant-focused groups through the program, which earns students academic credit for doing supervised legal work at a nonprofit or government agency.
Berkeley Law, renowned for its innovative legal education and leadership in law and technology, has released the summer 2025 course schedule for the first-ever AI-focused Master of Laws (LL.M.) degree.
Over more than 15 years in higher education administration, Askins has thrived in dynamic, cutting-edge environments. The chance to bring that to the law school, he says, was a huge draw.
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.
Mohamed, an expert in international law, criminal law, and human rights, analyzes what’s happened, what could come next, and how governments and institutions outside the U.S. could and might respond.
His nonprofit Preserving the Stories — which began as a middle school project — has conducted over 200 interviews with former military members to document their memories and insights.
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.
An accomplished performer who has toured worldwide, Browne serves as UC Berkeley’s interim carillonist — playing regular recitals, managing, and teaching in the Campanile studio while pursuing an international law career.
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.
Carrillo, who runs the nonpartisan academic research center devoted to studying the state’s constitution and Supreme Court, has just become editor-in-chief of the book-length annual scholarly volume published by the California Supreme Court Historical Society and joined the society’s board of directors.
Up to 10 incoming J.D. students chosen each year receive scholarship support, leadership programming, coaching, and mentorship to help them learn how best to guide teams, solutions, and growth.
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.
As each hot new idea or gadget has grabbed funders and headlines — from broadband to AI — Narechania has kept his eye on striking a balance between innovation and accessibility.
The school’s Center for Law, Energy & the Environment provided research, data, drafting language, and technical assistance to propel key policy advancements across the climate landscape.
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.
Berkeley Law’s weekly Coffee Chat Series creates timely opportunities for students to meet with over 40 employers and learn about their practice areas in an informal environment.
At a recent panel event, Samuelson said a growing number of plaintiffs claim that developers are illegally making copies of copyrighted works when developing the foundation models underpinning GenAI systems.
Berkeley Law’s 1Ls arrived with a 3.92 median grade point average, 170 median LSAT score, and remarkable diversity — but the numbers tell just a small part of their story.
