About CDO

Prior to coming to Berkeley Law, Terry served as program coordinator at the Office of Public Interest Advising at the Harvard Law School. From 1994–98, he was a litigation partner in the New York office of Kirkland & Ellis. While in private practice, he did extensive pro bono work for groups such as the Conservation Law Foundation and Children’s Rights, Inc. He also helped organize a group of business leaders to provide support, mentoring, and summer jobs for students at a public high school in midtown Manhattan. In 1998, he served as associate independent counsel in the Whitewater and related investigations, focusing on appellate work in the D.C. Circuit and the U.S. Supreme Court. He is a 1988 graduate of the Georgetown University Law Center, where he participated in the founding of the Georgetown Journal of Legal Ethics.

Terry is an active member of NALP, the National Association of Law Placement, and served as the organization's President from 2014-15.

Alex graduated from Boalt in 2004. During his 3L year, the Open Society Institute awarded Alex a Soros Justice Advocacy Fellowship to create the Transgender, Gender Variant & Intersex Justice Project (TGIJP), a legal services and policy organization working to end the abuse of transgender people in prison.

As TGIJP’s Director, Alex worked closely with leading LGBT legal organizations, as well as a variety of racial and economic justice organizations, members of the California legislature, and correctional agencies. Alex also worked as a staff attorney at Justice Now, helping prisoners fight the termination of their parental rights and win competent health care for life-threatening conditions. During his tenure with both organizations, Alex mentored many law students and young attorneys seeking public interest careers. He is eager to use his extensive network of public interest practitioners to help our students in their career exploration and job search efforts.

Melanie joined the CDO after several years of practice in civil rights impact litigation and public policy advocacy. As a staff attorney at the National Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR), Melanie collaborated with a broad range of non-profit and government organizations and worked on numerous civil rights issues, including race and sexual orientation discrimination, prisoners’ rights, and the rights of elders. Before joining NCLR, Melanie was a litigation associate at Latham & Watkins LLP. At Latham, she was heavily involved in pro bono work, including asylum representation and defending the rights of homeless individuals and low-income tenants. Melanie received her B.A. and J.D. from the University of Chicago, where for two years she did criminal defense clinical practice in both the juvenile and adult justice systems.

Eric J. Stern is the Deputy Director of the Career Development Office at the University of California, Berkeley, School of Law. In this role, he oversees Berkeley Law's Judicial Clerkship Program, manages the day-to-day operations of the CDO and is the founding staff advisor for Berkeley Law's First Generation Professionals group. Before transitioning to law school career services in 2006, Eric had a career in politics and advocacy—serving as one of six National LGBT Co-Chairs for the 2008 Obama-Biden Campaign and as a Political Adviser to the John Edwards for President Campaign. In 2003, he was appointed as the Director of LGBT Outreach for the Democratic National Committee, where he developed a national grass-roots infrastructure for the Kerry-Edwards campaign and served as an Iowa Regional Field Director during the general election. Eric received his law degree in 2002 from the Northeastern University School of Law in Boston. While in law school, he interned for the U.S. Department of Justice–Civil Rights Division; the Whitman-Walker Clinic; the Children's Law Center; and the Human Rights Campaign. After law school, he was awarded a Dorot Law Fellowship at the Alliance for Justice.

Minji received her J.D. from Stanford in 2003. Before her return in 2008 to the Bay Area from abroad, Minji worked as an associate in a large law firm and for the Boston Consulting Group in Seoul, South Korea. While in law school, Minji served as a summer associate at Wilson Sonsini in Palo Alto and as a judicial extern for the Hon. Chester Straub of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit. In addition to general private sector career advising, Minji utilizes her experience as a U.S. lawyer who worked abroad to counsel J.D. students interested in pursuing international employment opportunities.

After graduating from Stanford Law School in 2006, Valerie worked as an associate in the Palo Alto office of Cooley LLP specializing in securities fraud and complex commercial litigation. While at Cooley, she provided regular pro bono services through the Legal Aid Society of San Mateo County’s Housing Clinic and Project Homeless Connect in San Francisco. During law school, Valerie worked as a summer associate in the New York office of Fried Frank Harris Shriver & Jacobson LLP and served as a judicial extern in the chambers of the Hon. Alex Kozinski of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. Prior to law school, she was a paralegal and legal assistant in small law offices in Berkeley and Oakland. Valerie received her undergraduate degree from UC Berkeley in 2002.

Before joining the CDO, Sarra spent several years working in law school career development and university advancement (major gifts) at University of the Pacific, McGeorge School of Law. Previously, Sarra was an associate (and summer associate) in the Emerging Companies practice group at Cooley LLP in Palo Alto, specializing in private and public company representation. She later was an associate in the Corporate group of Weintraub Tobin LC in Sacramento before transitioning to university work. Sarra served on the Board (including 2 years as Chair) of the Sacramento County Bar Association Business Section, where she organized continuing legal education, professional development, and networking opportunities for members. Sarra received her J.D. from UC Davis School of Law and her B.A. in English and Spanish Literature from UC San Diego. In addition to general private sector career advising, Sarra is particularly interested in coaching students to hone their networking skills and use self-assessment strategies to define and pursue their ideal legal careers.

Marty is a longtime member of the Cal community. She began her career in the University Relations Office 18 years ago in an entry-level position and progressed to a supervisory role as a programmer analyst in the Information Systems Unit. In her current role, she will manage legal recruiting programs, including coordination of the fall and spring on-campus interview programs. Marty is originally from the East Coast and received her B.A. in Psychology from Rutgers University.

Janine joined the CDO after working in several departments at the law school. A master of organization, Janine ensures that the CDO runs smoothly by providing support for student programs, facilitating collaboration with other units in the law school, and assisting in a variety of tasks. She has brought transferable skills from her 30 years of work as a Public Health Administrator. Her work includes serving with the Government of Guam’s Department of Public Health & Social Services and nearly 20 years of service as The Better Health Foundation’s [501 (c)(3)] Founding Executive Director. Janine received her M.P.H. from UC Berkeley and her B.S. from Montana State University, Bozeman.