Boalt welcomed more than 70 clinical law professors from 10 law schools on February 24 for the 2007 Northern California Clinical Conference. The day-long event featured a diverse program of sessions, including panels on post-9/11 issues in clinical practice, teaching investigation and fact development in the clinical context, and working with interpreters. The conference also examined the latest developments in programs ranging from community-based clinics to human rights and immigration clinics. Participants from Boalt included Ty Alper, associate director of the Death Penalty Clinic, who served as chair of the event’s planning committee; Elisabeth Semel, director of the Death Penalty Clinic; Bill Fernholz ’93, director of Boalt’s appellate and academic support program; Laurel Fletcher director of the International Human Rights Law Clinic; Deirdre Mulligan, director of the Samuelson Law, Technology and Public Policy Clinic; Roxanna Altholz ’99, associate director of the International Human Rights Law Clinic; and Linda Tam ’00, staff attorney for the East Bay Community Law Center.
Activist, cultural historian, and award-winning author Rebecca Solnit delivered the keynote address, speaking on the importance of engaging law students in social justice work and the need to recognize victories which emerge from what is often viewed as a bleak political and social landscape.