It is our great pleasure to announce that Un Jung (Michelle) Kim is the recipient of the 2019 Christopher M. Patti Legal Fellowship, and she will begin her fellowship on September 9. Michelle is a 2018 graduate of Berkeley Law and a 2014 graduate of UC Irvine. Her professional background includes the recent completion of a one-year fellowship with the Family Violence Appellate Project in Oakland—a nonprofit dedicated to helping domestic violence survivors and their children, experience as a law clerk for Legal Aid at Work in San Francisco, and work as a clinic student at the East Bay Community Law Center’s Immigration Program in Berkeley.
The Office of General Counsel (OGC) established this fellowship with Berkeley Law in 2018 in recognition of Christopher M. Patti, Berkeley’s esteemed former chief campus counsel. The fellowship provides a recent Berkeley Law graduate interested in public service the opportunity to work full-time both at OGC and at Berkeley’s Office of Legal Affairs (OLA) for one year.
Christopher M. Patti was a member of OGC for more than 27 years, and served as Berkeley’s chief campus counsel for the last seven years of his life. He was a constitutional law expert and extraordinary counselor who was deeply committed to issues of equity and diversity, including promoting access to higher education for all underrepresented minorities, and securing the rights of the LGBTQ+ community. In August 2017, Chris tragically passed away in an accident while pursuing his passion for road cycling.
Michelle’s strong leadership qualities and clear commitment to social justice issues—particularly in the areas of domestic violence and immigration—make her an ideal choice for the fellowship. We are thrilled that Michelle will be joining OGC and Berkeley OLA in September.
Sincerely,
Charles F. Robinson
UC General Counsel and Vice President – Legal Affairs
Erwin Chemerinsky
Dean, Berkeley Law