California Lawyer magazine has tapped Dean Christopher Edley, Jr., and six Boalt alumni as winners of its 11th annual California Lawyer Attorneys of the Year (CLAY) Awards. The magazine recognized 43 attorneys in 17 areas of practice throughout California who, in 2006, changed the law, substantially influenced public policy or the legal profession, and achieved exceptional results for a client or the public.
Dean Edley was the sole winner in the category of education, cited for transforming Boalt’s Loan Repayment Assistance Program into one of the nation’s most generous loan-forgiveness programs for graduates entering the public or non-profit sectors. Edley was further recognized for expanding and establishing multidisciplinary research centers, including the Berkeley Center for Business, Law & the Economy, the California Center for Environmental Law & Policy, the Chief Justice Earl Warren Institute on Race, Ethnicity and Diversity, and the Berkeley Center for Criminal Justice, and for being the driving force behind the successful Campaign for Boalt Hall.
The six Boalt CLAY award winners include Jeffrey Bleich ’89, an appellate attorney at Munger, Tolles & Olson; Kelly M. Dermody ’93, a litigator at Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein; land use lawyers Craig Etlin ’85, of Morrison & Foerster and Harry O’Brien ’84 of Coblentz, Patch, Duffy & Bass; Ivor Samson ’72, Litigation Chair, Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal, for his human rights pro bono work; and Kurt Opsahl ’97, staff attorney for the Electronic Frontier Foundation.
The CLAY award recipients are featured in the March 2007 issue of California Magazine.