By Andrew Cohen
Putting together Transcript, Berkeley Law’s biannual magazine, poses an enjoyable but weighty challenge: Choosing a cross-section of engaging story ideas from abundant worthy options. The latest issue, in the mail to alumni now and also accessible through a digital version with interactive features or PDF, is a telling example.
Our cover feature details the school’s new leadership initiative — a longtime priority for Dean Erwin Chemerinsky — that is carefully designed to help students become effective leaders in all sectors and all levels of their future careers.
The program includes a growing leadership-focused curriculum created in consultation with accomplished legal industry practitioners, a leadership academy for selected incoming first-year students, and a timely Certificate of Specialization in AI Law and Regulation available to executive track LL.M. students.
“I have long believed that law schools need to do a better job of training the next generation of leaders,” Chemerinsky writes in his dean’s letter. “This new initiative will help Berkeley Law students develop the skills to be leaders in every area of law and provide a model for other law schools as well.”
The feature also highlights the remarkable rise and leadership perspective of Ana de Alba ’07, who grew up in a 500-square-foot home with five other family members, helped her immigrant parents work in the fields from age 6, and is now a U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals judge.
Another feature spread unpacks the sizable impact of our newly renamed Human Rights Clinic (formerly the International Human Rights Law Clinic) over 25-plus years — both on hundreds of students and the many vulnerable communities and individuals they have advocated for — and describes its expanding domestic agenda.
An engaging photo essay offers memorable images reflecting celebratory moments, civility across the political divide, and student life, and other stories demonstrate Berkeley Law’s core priorities of excellence, community, and public mission.
Topics include reducing class sizes for 1Ls this year to improve their learning environment, a self-coached student trio winning the Hispanic National Bar Association’s annual moot court competition, LL.M. students’ growing involvement in our Pro Bono Program, a student’s efforts to mitigate human trafficking, a professor’s research illuminating the ongoing dangers of eugenics, a new fellowship launching criminal justice careers, and the work of exceptional graduates in real estate, litigation, and baseball.
We’re extremely grateful to all the students, faculty, staff, and alums who graciously shared their compelling stories, and we hope you enjoy reading the new Transcript issue.