By Andrew Cohen
As UC Berkeley’s chief counsel, Christopher Patti advanced the university’s public mission in meaningful ways: creating more access to higher education for underrepresented groups, advocating for LGBTQ+ rights, and pushing to make equity and diversity core campus values.
Killed by a hit-and-run driver while cycling in 2017, Patti’s legacy has been honored for the past six years through the Christopher M. Patti Legal Fellowship, given annually to one or two recent Berkeley Law graduates interested in public service.
This year’s selections, Phillip Gomez ’24 and Cody Bowlay-Williams ’24, will work in both UC Legal’s Office of the General Counsel and UC Berkeley’s Office of Legal Affairs over one year of full-time appointment. Their fellowship is already providing helpful experience on issues that public and nonprofit entities regularly face — and a reminder of the causes Patti championed.
“I think Mr. Patti’s commitment to serving the university’s mission and serving the public good, was just the natural extension of his commitment to doing the right thing,” Gomez says. “Making sure the university was an institution that embodied inclusivity and fairness, that it worked to uplift Californians of all backgrounds, seemed to be something he cared deeply about.
“Lawyers occupy a unique position in society, and I think Mr. Patti intimately understood our profession’s ethical obligations and built a career around honoring that. Not because it was advantageous to his career, but because it was the right thing to do.”
New university connection
Noting the university’s massive scale and longstanding history as a catalyst for social mobility within California, Gomez appreciates how the research that comes from its many campuses and laboratories has changed the world in significant ways.
“Being a part of such a dynamic institution is really appealing,” he says of his new position. “You get to be involved with some really cutting-edge stuff, and with the huge variety of legal issues and fields you get exposure to while working within the university’s legal department. I really see it as a chance to not just begin my career as a lawyer, but continue my path as a legal scholar.”
The summer after his first year of law school, Gomez worked with the Native Hawaiian Legal Corporation, a nonprofit law firm dedicated to advancing native Hawaiians’ cultural, economic, and environmental rights. The following summer, he worked with the Oakland City Attorney’s Office.
“I that work is comparable to the work of UC Legal, since the university does resemble a large municipal government in many ways,” Gomez says. “More importantly, I think that position prepared me for the reality of public lawyering as a servant of your constituency, especially when the law sometimes positions you in an adversarial relationship with members of said constituency.”
Mission driven
As a student, Bowlay-Williams was active in the Berkeley Journal of Employment & Labor Law, the Policy Advocacy Clinic, and the Workers’ Rights Clinic. Now as a recent graduate, he relishes the chance to broaden his engagement with the university.
“I am very interested in public service and in furthering the UC’s mission,” he says. “In addition, I am interested in getting a chance to get exposure among the UC’s various different practice areas. Rotating across them appealed to me because I can continue to learn about different areas of the law before choosing to specialize in a particular one. I’m particularly looking forward to working on the litigation team.”
During his law school summers, Bowlay-Williams externed at the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California and was a legal intern on the San Francisco City Attorney’s Office Code Enforcement Team. Before law school, worked as an account manager at Google for nearly four years.
“My time at Google prepared me for my work at the UC because I needed to identify customer’s pain points and problem-solve them,” Bowlay-Williams says. “At the UC, I’m also focused on these same priorities.”