Kristen Holmquist teaches three courses during the school year, directs the Academic Skills Program (ASP), serves as Associate Director of Experiential Education, and coordinates equity and inclusion projects.
“I honestly have no idea how she does it,” says Eileen Sherman ’18, one of her students and ASP tutors, about this year’s winner of the Rutter Award for Teaching Distinction. “She teaches complex issues in the clearest way, really cares about her students, and gives each of them an equal chance to succeed.”
Established by the late William Rutter—a philanthropist, lawyer, educator, and author—the annual award honors a Berkeley Law instructor who inspires students and demonstrates a deep commitment to teaching.
“The people who have received this award are among my teaching heroes,” says Holmquist, who teaches Estates and Trusts, Constitutional Law, and Lawyering as Problem Solving. “To share this honor with them feels pretty great.”
As the ASP director, Holmquist helps student tutors create exercises for 1Ls to read cases and perform legal analysis more effectively. She also launched a pre-orientation program that offers incoming students—many of whom are budding first-generation professionals— a valuable weeklong introduction to law school life.
Holmquist says she is “incredibly proud that students and faculty alike now think of academic support as integral to our curriculum.”
—Andrew Cohen